If you will, open your Bibles
to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. I was on the
way in this morning on the radio. In the car there was a program
and a man was answering people's questions. They were calling
in with questions about the Scriptures and about how things in the Scriptures
apply to what's going on in our country now He was responding
to those people as God in the first person. Not just answering, telling them
what the Lord said, what He says about pestilence, what He says
about these things, but He was speaking as if the Lord was speaking
to them. And unfortunately, what He was
saying was contrary to what these scriptures say. I have two points in my message
this morning, but when we look at those, if we want to know
what God has to say about something, and we see these two points,
if we want to know how that applies to us, we look to His Word. As
Paul wrote, what saith the Scriptures? My two points are going to be,
all men are without hope. What does God say about mankind? And, my second point is there
is hope for the hopeless. Not what I want, but what God
says about eternal hope. Not what I hope He says, what
He does say. How He gives that hope and why
He gives that hope. The title of my message is going
to be Hope for the Hopeless. Hope for the Hopeless. There
are some verses in our text today that are so plain It's so clear. It's in black and white. Clearly,
just straightforward. They're great facts about man
and about God. The hope He's given us. They're
powerful statements. But we can't believe them. We
can't enter into them unless the Spirit gives us faith to
enter into those. Unless we're given the ability
to believe it. Here's an example. Look there
in Romans 3, verse 23. These are plain and clear words
from the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul. So we'll ask
the question, what is the state of mankind before God? We're
ruined, aren't we? Look there in Romans 3, verse
23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Does
that need a long explanation? Do I need to go to college to
be able to tell somebody what that means? It's plain, it's
straightforward, it's clear cut. How can we be justified before
God if we're ruined? If this is true, we're in trouble.
He must do a work in us. He must provide that lamb. He
must provide a sacrifice. He's got to do it in us and then
it's through only the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. That's
it. We cannot do it and we will not
do it. Is that far-reaching? Look here in Romans 3.24, "...being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus." Now, I'll ask you again, does that need a long
explanation? How am I justified? Well, freely, I'm redeemed through
Christ Jesus. It's clear. Those things are
plain and clear. But just because it's plain,
clear, and short, I want to know more about that. Do you? I want
to learn more of these things. There's a semicolon there in
verse 23 at the end of it. That separates two independent
thoughts that are closely related. That's what that punctuation
does. Read those two verses together again, and it will declare our
hopelessness and our hope. And if you're not hopeless, you
don't need hope, do you? Verse 23, 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. If you
are as these texts say you are, if you're hopeless and coming
short of the glory of God, then the only thing that we have hope
in against the torment of hell, against eternal damnation, is
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. Man in his natural state, dead
in sin, unregenerated, we've come short. And since we have
nothing to pay, we have nothing to bring, we have no righteousness
to bring, we have nothing to offer God, He freely gives us. freely gives us redemption. That's
good. I have nothing to bring. In Romans
3, there are several plain statements that the Lord gives us. If He
gives us faith to understand, we will rejoice in. And I want
to look at verses 9 through 31. And I want to look at those as
a whole. I want to go through them verse
by verse. I'm going to make some comments on them. We won't be
turning much today. But I pray that that great Comforter
will come to us. I pray the Lord gives us the
ability to see His Word. Not see what I think, not see
what we want to think, but see what the Lord says about our
hopelessness and who our hope is. All through Romans, Paul
keeps speaking of the uncircumcised and the circumcised, the Jew
and the Gentile. And through the Holy Scriptures,
there's a clear distinction Between those two, between the people
that are God's, His children, His elect, and those that aren't.
It's clear-cut. It's plain. Throughout the Bible,
it's always referred to as us and them. Our and their. We and they. There's a clear-cut
distinction. But with that known, there in
verse 9, Romans 3, 9, Paul asks us a question. What then? Are
we better than they? When you compare the reprobate
we saw there in Romans 2 to a believer, an elect child of God, is there
a difference? Is a child of God better? I can't tell the difference,
can you? Most I don't feel like I act
any different. And side by side, Paul asks, are we better than
they? So here's our first point. All of mankind is hopeless. We're
without hope. Paul answers his own question
there in verse 9, it says, What then, are we better than they?
No, and no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles
they are all under sin. When we look at the saved and
the unsaved, we are all the same man by nature. We're all in the
same boat. We're all helpless. We're all
made of that same lump of clay. One vessel may be to honor, but
one vessel to dishonor. That's the glory of the potter,
isn't it? Clay has no say in it. Clay's only what he makes of
it. Is that true for you? Are you a publican or a Pharisee? Why wouldn't Paul say that God
elected a better people? Why didn't Paul say that the
Lord looked in his crystal ball, as some people say, down to the
angles of time and said, well that person is going to choose
me, I'm going to choose them first. Why wouldn't he say that?
Why didn't he write that? Look here at verse 10. As it
is written, as it is written, there is none righteous, no,
not one. We ask that question, what sayeth
the Scriptures? The Scriptures say none are righteous,
no, not even one. It makes no difference what I
think. It makes no difference what you think. It makes no difference
what somebody on the radio says to people or what comfort people,
what grandma says, grandpa says. It makes no difference. What
does the scriptures say? What's written in the scriptures?
What does God say that mankind is? Psalm 14, David wrote, the
Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone
aside, and they are all together become filthy. There is none
that doeth good, no, not one." That's only one of the places
that Paul was referring to when he said, as it is written. That's
very clear and that's very true, but the only way we can believe
that is if the Lord gives us faith to believe it. We can understand
those things, we can declare them, and so all men, like that
Pharisee, All men are sinners. Look at them. That public that
said, I'm a sinner. That's what we need the faith
to have, to see. Not just that mankind's wicked,
but that I'm wicked. There in verse 11, Romans 3.11,
there is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. Many people say, well, I'm looking for God. Well, I'm seeking
the way. Trying to find a higher way.
I've been out looking for it. No man has ever sought God in
his own will. No man ever will seek God in
his own will. The Lord told Isaiah in Isaiah
65 verse 1, I am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found
of them that sought me not. And I said, and he says this
twice, behold me Behold me unto a nation that was not called
by my name. David wrote again in Psalm 27,
When thou didst say when the Lord spoke to David, Seek ye
my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
And the Lord said, Seek me, I'll seek you. If a sinner finds God, it is
because God found him first. If a sinner seeks God, it's because
God sought him first. And if we love Christ, why is
that? I'm just such a good person, I'm so wonderful on the inside.
No, because He first loved us. That's why we love Him. Everything
that we try to do in and of ourselves is not profitable. Look there
in verse 12. They are all gone out of the way. What way? They
went from the way of God, didn't they? They are all together become
unprofitable. There's no profit. All flesh
is grass. What's grass? We'd eat that grass along my
fence. I've got to get rid of it. Just
throw it away. Give something for the kids to
do. Dispose of it. It's not worth anything. I don't
keep it. I want rid of it. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. That rich young man asked the
Lord a question in Mark 10, but he didn't ask the God-man, he
asked a man. He did not know God. Mark 10,
17 it says, And when he was gone forth into the way, there came
one running and kneeled to him and asked, Good Master, what
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said
unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but
one, and that is God. If that young man believed Jesus
was the Christ, he had spoken correctly, hadn't he? Calling
Christ good is to call him God. He is God. But he set himself
equal to God. He assumed that he could accomplish
whatever there was. What do I have to do to gain
eternal life? He said the right thing, but
he wasn't given belief. And who Christ was, was He? Men
and women say that there's good in everyone. That's our thoughts. I've said that. I believe that.
There's a little bit of good in everybody. We trust people,
trust strangers, don't we? God doesn't see it that way.
We can think that all we want, but the Lord says different.
Look in verse 13. Everything we say is filthy. It says, "...their
throat is an open sepulcher." That's an open grave. and their
tongues, they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips." Poison comes out of our mouth as naturally as poison
comes out of a snake's mouth. We don't think so. Does a snake
think that what comes out of its mouth is poison? It comes
from it. It's not despising it, does it?
We don't despise what comes out of us. My Sunday school teacher,
when I was a child, said, forget to put deodorant on and you get
out and get a little sweaty. Other people find that a whole
lot more offensive than you find that offensive. That's the truth,
isn't it? We might smell a little bit to
ourselves, just a little bit, but to everyone around us, boy,
it's a whole lot worse. We don't find fault in ourselves.
The Lord said that speaking of the Poison coming from their
lips. O generation of vipers, how can
ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh." That poison that comes out of our
lips comes out of a bad heart, doesn't it? Verse 14 says, "...whose
mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." Cursing there means
blasphemy against God. Not just saying what we consider
cuss words, but it's to blaspheme against God. bitterness is complaining,
murmuring. Do we do that? Do we speak and
think things that aren't true about God? Do we assume what
God's providence is? Do we blaspheme Him by assuming
what He's doing in the lives of men and women? Do we complain
and gripe about what comes to pass? I do. If I'm honest with people, I
don't stand there and lie to you. I get frustrated and concerned
when I shouldn't. It says in verse 15, their feet
are swift to shed blood. The mouth is the proof of the
heart. What comes out of the mouth, the source of that is
the heart, but our feet are our actions, what we do. Men are
quick to go against God and are quick to attack others. I'm swift
to put blame anywhere but me. Kimberly can verify that. I didn't
do anything wrong, so the first thing I do is cut somebody else,
turn it on somebody else, judge someone else. That's almost like
it comes natural to me. It's my nature, isn't it? Verse
16 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." Naturally, mankind thinks what we do is
right. But we don't fear God because we don't know Him. We
have not been drawn to Christ. And the result of that is deadly. Everything that a man does leads
to destruction. We're arrogant enough to think
that it doesn't. Look in Proverbs 16, it says, "...the way that
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death." We think we know what's right. If a person fears God,
they will run to the cross of Christ. If the Lord truly puts
fear in him, puts knowledge of who God is and who we are, that's
our only hope. That's the only place we can
run. Moses said, I wish they knew their end. I wish people
I love knew what was in store for them, what the Lord declares
is in store for all of us. Judgment. We'll face that one
day. If we stand in our own, we'll be
in trouble. But if we have a mediator, if we have a substitute, that's
called a savior, then we have hope. If we attempt to come to
God by any means other than His Son, we're heading to destruction.
How do we know that? How do we know we truly are these
things? What's the proof? What proves
to us in our lives that I'm this wicked man? That's in these verses.
Look here in verse 19. 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 and all the world may come may
become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." We would have never known our sin
if the law wasn't given. That's purpose to us. It proves we would have never
been good enough for God. That's common nowadays. People
trying to get good enough to go to heaven. They've got to
get just so righteous and so sanctified that now they're good
enough, you can pass that line. You can go on. But that's me
and that's you outside of Christ. We're dead under that law and
it shows our sin. But now that hope. The first
part was rough. If it stings some, that's good.
My dad used to tell me, he said, if I made you mad, that means
you was listening to me. That's a good thing. But the
truth of God always slays men. It pierces us in our hearts.
As we read these things, we're brought low. But then the Spirit
of God, throughout Scripture, we're shown these horrible things.
That's saddening. It brings us down. And it says,
but God. We've plainly seen and clearly
seen the ruin of man. Now let's see the redemption
of man. We've talked about the natural man. Now let's look at
the God man. Look at verse 21. But now, with all these things
being said, but now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. What is the law
being a witness? We just saw that it reveals our
sin, doesn't it? It's a witness to us, that our sin's ever before
us. We can't be good enough for God,
but it's a witness of who Christ was. It verifies Jesus of Nazareth. He accomplished all of it. Every
jot and tittle, it declares Him. That is the who we're brought
to, that schoolmaster. It brings us to the instructor,
doesn't it? The law also declares Jesus is the Christ. He's the
only one that could and did fulfill the law. But do we ignore the
law? If we're dead to this law, I
know I can't keep it. I know I can't do it. Do I just
ignore it? Do I cast it away? and live however I want to, that
believers sin more so grace may abound. I've been accused of
that. Paul's been accused of that too.
Look at Romans 3 up in verse 8. He says, and we be slanderously
reported and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good
may come, whose damnation is just. self-righteous, legalist,
and not a group of people, individuals. That's what our nature is. They'll
attack the gospel by any means. They attacked Christ while he
was on this earth. They accused the church of old,
of licentiousness. That means that you've got a
license to sin. You ought to just do whatever you want. And
they accused faithful men of God in this day too. That will continue until the
Lord brings His last sheep home. It won't change. It hasn't been
any different. It's not any different now and
it won't be any different tomorrow. This will keep happening. But once
we taste that liberty that Christ provided, we see the purpose
of that law, how it reveals our sin and it declares that Christ
is the one that completed it. What do we say? We say with David,
I love your law. That's what brought me to know
Christ. Thank you, Lord. Law exposes our sin and points
us to Christ. There in Romans 3.22 says, 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. The only
difference between God's elect and those that are without Christ
is the grace and mercy of God Almighty. Who maketh thee to
differ? He does. Verse 24, being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, that means a mercy seat, an atoning
victim. 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." You've got to read those three
paragraphs there as a whole, those three texts as a whole,
but we've got to chew on it some, don't we? There's a lot there. It says first there in verse
24, justified freely by His grace. Being given that law, we see
we cannot and will not seek God. There's nothing that's good in
us, but God through His grace has justified us and put us in
Christ. Freely. Without cost to us. Without our works, without our
worth. Nothing in us. He's freely given us that. How
did He do it? It says there in verse 25, God
set Christ forth to be a propitiation. That word propitiation is used
twice in the scriptures. Once here and once in 1 John. It means a mercy seat. Christ
was a fulfillment. Now there in Exodus 25 when the
Lord told them how to establish the mercy seat in the temple.
How they put it together and how to put the cherubims on each
side facing each other overlaid in gold. It's where God will
commune with His people. He said, you're going to build
this mercy seat and that's where I'm going to meet you. That's where I'll
talk to you. And it rested on top of the ark. Remember what
was inside that ark? That was the law. That's where
we put it, wasn't it? That mercy seat rests on the
completeness, on the completed work of that law on top of the
ark. Christ is the atoning victim. His sacrifice, Him being the
victim on the cross, we are atoned. Atonement means at-one-ment.
We are brought back into communion with the Lord. He ensures that
He brings peace between us and the Father. Our warfare is over.
And Christ was set forth by God to accomplish this work. He declares
God as both just and a justifier. What does it mean they're just
and justifier? The Lord said, I will by no means clear the
guilty. He has to be just. He's given this law. He's holy. We only understand what that
means in part. He doesn't do what's right. What he does is
right. And he said, I will in no means clear the guilty. That
means he has to uphold it. But it also says he's the justifier.
That's why we read, but now. Throughout the Scripture we read,
but God. We're in trouble if He's just only. But He's the
justifier. He's provided the means and the
ways of reconciliation. He's given us that Lamb, that
substitutionary Lamb. He's given us Christ, our substitute.
The wrath we deserved was laid on Him. The psalmist said, He
bore our sins in His body on the tree. He was made sin for
us that we might be made His righteousness. God executed His
justice for sin of His people in the blood of His Son. And
since He provided that Son, He provided that substitute, He's
the justifier. We didn't provide it. I don't
justify myself. The Lord does it. He's the one
who provided Christ. Knowing this, knowing that the
law declares we can't satisfy God, knowing that Christ completely
fulfilled it, knowing He's our justification, He's our justifier. Do we brag about that? No, we tell people. We tell them
for sure, don't we? But do we have pride in our grace,
the grace that the Lord's given us? It's excluded, isn't it?
Look at verse 27, Romans 3.27. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. The God of all grace has given
His people faith in and of Christ. We saw it last week. It's a gift,
isn't it? He's given it. That's our law and that's our
rule of life. Faith. That's what dictates our paths
in this world, doesn't it? We look to our Savior. We depend
on Him. We trust Him. But we don't boast in it. It
says there, verse 28, Therefore we conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Christ, that sinless
sacrifice, that mercy seat we looked at, has justified us through
His faithfulness to the Father. Not of our works, but of His
works. Not of our faith, but His faith. I don't want my own
faith. I pray the Lord gives me faith,
but I don't want it to come from me. That's not what the Lord
requires. He requires total and complete
faithfulness. Trust in Him. My substitute did
that. He walked this earth and in everything,
facing the cross, facing death. I'm going to die and I trust
that you'll raise me again. That's the faith you were given,
Bob. That's yours now. It's yours now, Mike. Verse 29,
did He do this for physically Israel only? Is this just for
those people over in the Middle East? In that nation? That that token of circumcision
was given? That picture of a heart work
Look at verse 29. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing
it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
the uncircumcision through faith. There is one way that God redeems
sinners. It don't matter if you're a Jew
or a Greek, rich or poor, educated or uneducated. There's one way
we're redeemed. One way we have hope. He saves
through Christ only. Period. There's no other way
to Him. Verse 34, I'm sorry, verse 31. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
the law. That's what I have people I care
for look me in the eye and say, you just throw the law away,
don't you? You don't care for the law. I don't make it void,
I establish it. How do we establish the law?
We establish it by saying I couldn't keep it. I'm not able to keep
it. We establish it, I can't keep
it now. We establish it by saying I can't
keep it tomorrow. Never have, won't be able to.
And I won't be able to grow up and get stronger and pick myself
up by my bootstraps and work on keeping the law later. But
I do declare Christ kept it for me. That's how we establish it. He said, I think not that I've
come to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy,
but to fulfill. I believe he fulfilled it. I establish, I lay the foundation
that Christ fulfilled the law for me. I didn't fulfill it for
him. He fulfilled it for me. You say
the same thing. These scriptures are clear that
we cannot fulfill it. They are clear that Christ did
fulfill it, and He did it willingly. If you're hopeless, according
to these Scriptures, there's something for you to hope in,
isn't there? If the Spirit's entered your heart and made you
see and believe that we're hopeless, and Christ is our hope, there's
nothing to fear. We see that law, we see our hopelessness
in it, and that hurts. But we say, well, I can't do
it, and he did. Now we rejoice, don't we? We
established that law. Like, David, I love that law.
It's wonderful. Turn over to Ephesians 2 and
we'll close. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
12. that at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh to the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. He's made it one man. Having
abolished in His flesh the entity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in Himself of twain one
new man, so making peace. Our warfare is over. And that
He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the entity thereby, and came and preached peace to
you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through
Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." For
those that are nigh, those people that hear this, they sit underneath
faithful preaching of the gospel, that's what the Lord does. He
preaches to you that we were sometimes having no hope, but
now in Christ we have hope, don't we? Those that are far off. Right now there's somebody that's
far off. The Lord has sheep walking up and down these streets. We'll
see this as we get to Galatians this week. The fruit of the Spirit. How do we treat people? Do we
avoid that law and throw it away? I don't care about that. I'll
live however I want to. My sisters and my brothers in
Christ are out in this world right now and they don't yet
know Him. If that's a waitress, would I go up and Be harsh with
them? Well, no, that might be a child
of God, couldn't it? There's many that are far off,
but what will happen? He came and preached peace to
them. I'm glad He preached peace to me. I pray He preaches peace
to every one of His children, and He will. They'll all be called
home, won't they? Alright, I hope that was a blessing
to you. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful
for your law, and it shows what we truly are. Thank you for giving
us the knowledge of our depravity. Thank you for showing us we're
unable. Through that, you show us that Christ was able. Keep
us looking to him, Lord. Keep us always faithful to this
gospel, this good news. Preach peace to our hearts. Lord,
reach out to those that are nigh here, those that are close, that
understand now. Continue to put peace in Christ
in us and focus our hearts on it. And those that are far off,
Lord, call out your sheep. Those throughout this nation,
throughout the world, you promised you will, we trust you will,
but make us eager to be fruitful, Lord. Broadcast this gospel. Tell everybody what we are and
what Christ has done for us. Let us be witnesses, Lord. Tell
the truth of what you've done. Be with your people everywhere
as they gather, Lord, as they gather their homes and they go
through these trials with their work and families and comfort. And give them that peace that
only you can give. It's only found in Christ. It's
in His name that we ask it. Amen.