We're looking at the book of
Romans this morning, Romans chapter 3. And for all who listened to
this this morning, for everyone who is truly, sincerely interested
in the truth, I strongly urge you to read the book of Romans. for yourself. Read it prayerfully. That is, asking God, the Holy
Spirit, to reveal it to you and carefully. And if you say like
the eunuch, how can I understand except some man show me? Then
I would urge you to write to us or call us and we will send
you tapes that we have preached on this book. We have preached
verse by verse through this book of Romans several times over
the last 15, 16, 17 years. And my pastor, who pastored the same church for
over 50 years, wrote a very good, very good commentary, a very
plain and understandable commentary. on the book of Romans as well
as the other epistles. And if you would write or call,
we'd be happy to send them to you free of charge, no cost,
just simply because we want you to understand this. This morning, Romans chapter
3, now the Apostle Paul is the writer of the book of Romans,
but this is God's Word. God led the Apostle Paul to write
this book. And in chapter one, he is dealing
with the Gentile world, or that is, the whole world other than
the Jews. And he's dealing with or speaking
primarily of people who make no profession of religion, people
who are openly agnostic or unbelieving or immoral or wicked or outwardly
openly immoral people in chapter 1. Then in chapter 2, he is speaking
to those who make a profession of religion, the Jews, those
who claim to believe the God of the Bible. And in our modern
day, it would be those who claim to be Christians. And in chapter
3, now he says, are we, verse 8, he says, Or verse 9, I'm sorry. Are we, that is, us Jews who
claim to believe God, are we better than they, these Gentiles,
these unbelievers? No and no wise, he says. We've
proved that both Jew and Gentile, they're all under sin. That is, before the all-seeing
eye of God, all-knowing God, they are guilty. as charged,
lawbreakers, sinners before a holy God. And then he quotes from
Psalm 14. In verse 10 of Romans 3, he's
quoting Psalm 14, the first three verses. He says, there is none
righteous, no, not one, that is righteous, perfectly holy
before God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understand
it. That is, no human being by nature
that understands God. There is none that seeketh after
God, he said. That is, by nature, naturally
speaking, there is no one who will seek after, call upon God
Almighty unless God does something for them and to them." Verse
12, they are all gone out of the way. They're together. That
is, he's lumping the whole human race together as unprofitable. He says, there is none that doeth
good, no, not one. We all have the habit of calling
someone, he's a good man, or she's a good woman, or he's a
good boy, or a good girl. That's not what God's Word says.
People, listen to God's Word. This is the only thing that matters.
Our opinion or what anyone says or thinks does not matter. Only what God's Word says. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. One time a rich young ruler,
well someone said to our Lord, said, good master. And he stopped
that person right then. He said, why do you call me good? There is none good but God, he
said. That is in the purest sense of
the word. Good, through and through. Mind,
that is in thought. Heart, that is purpose and motive. And action, word and deed. So, this is what the scripture
says. This is a description of all
men, women, and children by nature. a description of all men, women,
and children by nature. Now, when God Almighty, the Holy
Spirit, sets up residence in a human
being, when He gives new birth, a new life, a new creature in
Christ Jesus, and though this is hard to understand, it is
true, but He creates a creature within a human being like Christ. who loves holiness and righteousness
and desires to do good and so forth, then that person is like
Christ. But that does not mean they are
completely without sin. They will not be completely without
sin until they die and go to be with the Lord. Well, he says
there are none good, no, not one. And the law, he said, Now,
in verse 19 of Romans 3, the law, God's Word, the law. He says, We know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law.
Who's that? Who's under God's law? Well,
all men, women, and young people who are born upon this earth.
All by nature, they're born under the law of God. accountable to
the law of God, responsible toward God to keep his law. Well, what does the law say?
Well, in the very beginning God said, this do and live. He told Adam, do this, don't
do this, you'll live. If you break it, if you disobey,
you'll die. He said, dying, thou shalt die."
Well, but he says here in Romans 3.19,
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, that is, everyone
must shut up, and all the world may become guilty before God,
that is, Jew and Gentile, religious, irreligious, all What the law
says, what God's word says is shut your mouth. You're guilty
as charged. Guilty on every count. Guilty
before God. The God who looks on the heart.
God who sees all, knows all. Guilty as charged. Now Paul is
addressing throughout this epistle His self-righteous pharisaical
brethren, his kinsmen, he says over in Romans 9 and 10, he says,
I could wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen. And in Romans 10, he says, I
bear them record. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for them is that they might be saved. I bear them record.
They have a zeal of God. They're sincere about their religion,
but it's not according to knowledge, and they're ignorant. And they're
lost, he said. He's addressing these brethren
of his, these pharisaical religious brethren mostly. And Paul was
once just like they were. He thought he kept the law. He thought he kept the law. Paul
knew the law. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. the
tribe of Benjamin, and he was a doctor of the law. And the
next several chapters are devoted to dealing with the law. But
here in verse 20, he says now, after he said, the world is guilty
before God, and the law just tells us to shut our mouths. No one can say they've kept the
law perfectly. I had a woman tell me one time,
She said, I don't know much about the Bible, but I know you better
keep those Ten Commandments. Well, she obviously did not know
much about the Bible, but if you're going to stand before
God pleading the Ten Commandments, you better keep them in thought,
word, and deed. You better have kept every one
of them perfectly, because God doesn't look God doesn't see
as man seeth. Man looks on the outward countenance. God looks on the heart. Psalm
24 says, Who shall ascend unto the holy hill of the Lord? He
that hath clean hands, that is, never sinned, pure heart, that
is, perfect motive, attitude, never lifted up his soul unto
vanity, or sworn deceitfully. Perfect. Absolutely as perfect
as God. Holy is God. If that's the ground,
if that's what you're going to stand on before a holy God, an
all-seeing God, the law of God, that you've kept the law, I keep
the law. Many pride themselves in keeping
the Sabbath when they don't have a clue what the Sabbath is. The
Sabbath is not just a day. Sabbath day, which is Saturday,
it never has been anything but Saturday. Sabbath day. Sunday
is not a Sabbath. Saturday is the Sabbath day,
Hebrews 4 is devoted to that subject. It says that God finished
His works, and even so, all those who keep the Sabbath, they rest
in Christ who finished the work of God for them. He is the Lord
of the Sabbath. He is their Sabbath. And many claim to keep the Sabbath
just like these Jews of old. They prided themselves in keeping
the Sabbath, but they broke it on every hand because they rejected
Christ and they were going about to establish their own righteousness.
They wanted to be accepted by God on the basis of their law
keeping. Verse 20, "...by the deeds of
the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." By
the deeds of the law, no flesh, not one human being, will be
declared by God just, holy, pure, acceptable by God in His sight. Not one. Oh, how I wish these
law keepers, or those who think they do, would read that verse,
Romans 3.20. That's what Paul was dealing. They have a zeal, but it's not
according to knowledge. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness, their own law-keeping standard before
God. But he says in verse 20, by the
law is the knowledge of sin. If someone really understood
or heard the law, they would see that it does not give life. It does not tell us necessarily
how to live in order to have life, eternal life, but it tells
us We've broken it. Our Lord in His Sermon on the
Mount magnified the law. That is, He blew it up to expose
our guilt on every hand. He said, I tell you, you've heard
it said by them of old times, thou shalt not commit adultery.
He said, I say unto you, whosoever shall look on a woman to lust
after her hath committed adultery already. And on and on he goes. He talks
about hate, covetousness, and so forth. Breakers of the law.
The laws and knowledge of sin. And he goes on now. I've got
to get to this in a hurry. He says, now, the righteousness
of God without the law, that is, without us keeping the law,
being holy before God, accepted by God, is manifested. It's revealed. It's witnessed
by the law. Moses and the law and the prophets
tell us about how we may be accepted by God. Verse 22, it's the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
that believe. That is, Jew, Gentile, there's
no difference, it doesn't matter, male, female, rich, poor, young,
old, black, white, it does not matter. The righteousness of
God being considered holy, justified by God. Keeping the law as being
considered holy by God is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all
them that believe. In other words, and I didn't
read that wrong, by faith of, that means Jesus Christ kept
the law for His people. Who are they? Those that believe
Him. Those that see their guilt. Those that call upon Him. Those
that need Him to be their righteousness. The Lord our righteousness. He is called Jehovah Sid Kenu. Jesus Christ is Jehovah Sid Kenu,
the Lord, the righteousness of his people. I'm not saying we're
free to break the law. Not by any means. I didn't say
that. But I'm saying to all that look
to Christ, believe Christ, trust Christ. He is their law keeper
and they are justified by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, write to us or call, and we'll send you this cassette
and others from the Book of Romans if you so desire. Until next
Sunday, may the Lord bless you. Amen. Okay.