If you will follow along in your
Bible or listen very carefully as I read from mine, it should
be very clear to you what the Bible says about salvation, about
how a human being can get to God or live with God or have
eternal life. I will be reading from Romans,
chapter 3, and the title of this message is, The Way Made Plain. I am going to ask eight questions
in the course of this message and answer them from this chapter
in God's Word, eight questions and eight answers. from Romans
chapter 3. All right, the first question
is this. What is our condition? Or what is the state of man before
God Almighty? What does God Almighty say about
us? Verse 19 of Romans 3 says this,
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 become guilty before God." Now, this
is what God's Word says about us, about all of us, that the
whole world is guilty before God. Under the law, God made
the law, the moral law. And he says that man has broken
it, totally, completely broken it. Every single man, woman,
and young person who's under that law, it says, is guilty
before God, subject to the judgment of God. All the world. And up
in verse 9, it says, we've proved both Jew and Gentiles, they're
all under sin. Jews, that was the religious
people of the day, and Gentiles, the irreligious, all the world. Look at verses 10, 11, and 12.
It says, As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together. All together
become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. And verse 23 says, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. So our condition is we are
guilty as charged by the law of God. Even those who claim
to know and keep the law, the Jews, they are guilty. The second question then is,
what can we do about it? What can we do about being guilty? Verse 20 of Romans 3 says, Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, no flesh declared innocent or accepted by the deeds
of the law. So the answer to this question
here, what can we do about it? Nothing. There is nothing we
can do about it. The Scriptures many times says
it's not by works of righteousness, by the deeds of the law, by the
works of the flesh, not by works. No amount of good works, no amount
of right living can make us justified or accepted by God. Nothing. Why? Because God is perfect. God is holy. God demands perfection
in keeping his law, not just in outward form, but in thought,
in word, in deed, in motive. And that means every jot and
tittle of the law, too. James said in James 2, verse
10, to offend in one point is to be guilty of it all. So what
can we do about it? Nothing. There's nothing we can
do. No works of the law will make
us righteous before God. Well then, the next question
is, is there righteousness without the law? Is there some other
way? Can we be accepted some other
way without us keeping the law? Is there righteousness, acceptance,
with God without us keeping the law? Yes, verse 21, look at it. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested or made clear, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. He says the righteousness of
God, the acceptance with God, Justification before God, without
us keeping the law, is revealed, is written about in that very
law and prophet. Look at verse 20. It says, now,
by the law is the knowledge of sin. By the moral law, the Ten
Commandments, thou shalt not committed adultery, thou shalt
not kill, thou shalt not steal, and so forth. By that law is
the knowledge of sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
his Sermon on the Mount, he magnified that law, or that is, he blew
it up. He showed what it requires, that
it requires perfection in thought. He said to hate someone is to
be guilty of murder. To look on someone in lust is
to be guilty of adultery. So by the law is the knowledge
of sin. And by the Levitical law, that
is, the sacrifice of lambs and all of the laws that were given,
washings and so forth, the tabernacle and all the rites and ceremonies,
by that is the knowledge of righteousness, acceptance, salvation. Well,
where is this law? This is the next question. Where
is this righteousness without the law? What is it and where
is it to be found? Where is this acceptance? Where
is this approval of God, this perfection which God will accept
without us keeping the law? Where is it? What is it? Verse
22. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ. By the faith of Jesus Christ. It doesn't say faith in, though
we must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is written just
like it's written, and it's written the same way four or five times
in the New Testament. The faith of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God. The
holiness. The acceptance. Justification
before God, complete acquittal with God for us, for the guilty,
is by faith of Jesus Christ. By the faithful keeping of the
law by Jesus Christ for us. You see, Jesus Christ didn't
come here to show man how to keep the law. or what to do to
live right, though he did show us what right living is, he didn't
come to show us how to live right so that we can do it and God
will accept us. No. Christ came to be a righteous
representative, a righteous substitute, a righteous replacement. the Messiah, the Savior for the
guilty, for lawbreakers, for sinners. He said, I didn't come
to call the righteous. Why, if righteousness, Paul said,
if righteousness come by us keeping the law, why did Christ come? Why did He come? He died in vain,
the Scripture says, and that's a serious thought, serious charge. No, Christ said, I didn't come
to call the righteous, but sinners. but the guilty. Christ didn't
come to help us get started. He came to finish the work. Christ
didn't come to show us the way, but He came to be the way. Christ didn't come to show us
how to live. He said, I'm come that they might
have life, to give life, to live for us. and to die to pay for
our unrighteousness. What can we do? Nothing. What
can Jesus Christ do? Everything. He did it all. Christ is all. Here is my next
question. Who is this for? Who did He do
this for? Who is this righteousness for?
Who gets this righteousness? Who did Jesus Christ live for
and die for? Verse 22 gives us the answer. It's unto all and upon all them
that believe. There's no difference. All and
all that believe. All that believe. Every guilty
sinner that needs a righteousness and believes that only Christ
has it, that they don't have it, but Christ has it. For every
guilty sinner that believes that, it's for them. Now, it doesn't
say it's for everyone without exception, but it's for those
that believe. It's not for those who don't
need it and don't want it, this righteousness. It's not for those
who believe they have one and they don't need Christ's righteousness.
No, it's for guilty sinners who believe that they need Christ
and his righteousness. That's who gets one. That's who
gets this righteousness. Well, here's my next question.
What does it cost? What does it cost us? What do
we have to do to get this? We'll look at verse 24 and we'll
find the answer. It says, "...being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus." It's free. It's by grace. That's what grace
means. A free gift. Unmerited. earn favor, a gift. A gift is free. It's not something
you earn. If you earn it, it works. Paul
went on to say that in the book of Romans, that if you do something
to get it, that makes it works. But if it's just given to you,
imputed to you, charged to you, bestowed upon you, that's grace. Well, that's salvation. What
does it cost? Nothing. It's not like some would
tell you, well, if you quit this and quit that, then God will
save you. If you quit your meanness, quit
your drinking and smoking and cussing and chewing, then God
will save you. Let me ask you something. Have you ever heard
of anybody going to the doctor and the doctor saying to that
person, well, you're too sick. Come back when you're better.
No, and neither will the great physicians say that. The well
need not a physician, but they that are sick. No, this is for
the chief of sinners. This is for the worst. This gospel
is for publicans and harlots, demon possessed, and it's absolutely
free. Absolutely free. Well, let me
ask you this, the seventh question. Who planned this? Who thought
of all this? Look at verse 25 here in Romans
3. whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood." God did this. God purposed this whole thing
before the world began. Before there was ever a sinner,
there was a lamb slain. Before the prodigal came home,
the calf had already been fatted. This is God's purpose before
the world began. Well, why? Why did God do all
this? Verse 26 gives us the answer,
"'To declare,' I say at this time, his righteousness, that
he might be just and a justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.'"
That God might be just to declare Christ's righteousness. God's
well-beloved Son has the only hope for sinners. And Paul said
over in Ephesians that it is to the praise of the glory of
his grace, for his Son's glory, for God's elective, purposing
glory. God's favorite subject is His
Son, and the subject and the song of the saved in eternity
is the Lord Jesus Christ, the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. Well, I hope the way was made
plain to you this morning. And if you would like this message
on cassette tape, write to us. We'll send it to you free of
charge. Until next Sunday, good day.