Read verses, chapter 3, read
again with me, beginning with verse 19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them that who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. 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. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, or revealed, 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. It's no different, Jew or Gentile,
no different. 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, that's atonement, a bloody Sacrifice,
covering, 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, God, might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus, the man, our second Adam. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? Nay, but by the
law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also. So seeing one God which shall
justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through
faith, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid.
Yea, we establish the law. What a passage. Now, most of
you know that Romans and Galatians, and I want to have you turn again
to Galatians because Romans and Galatians are so similar. They
both deal so very much with the law. And we noticed last week
that Romans Paul says that very phrase, the law, 69 times. So is it important? Oh my. And we've concluded, Paul concludes
much that those who don't know the law, are ignorant of the
law, can't know the gospel. We can't know the gospel without
the law. And those who desire to be under it, they don't hear
it. They don't know it. They don't know it. And it's
another gospel. It's another gospel that would
bring people back under the law. That's how serious it is. And,
Paul even said, if righteousness come by the law, us keeping the
law, Christ died in vain. Jesus Christ did not need to
come here. Charging God with foolishness. And he did not need to die. So
that's how serious it is. Now the believer is not under
the law. Go with Galatians 1 with me.
Galatians 1. Believer is not under the law. Not in any way. He's not under
the law as a covenant, this do and live. So if you're not under
it as a covenant, you can't be under it as your rule of life.
Do you hear me? There's some men back in the
past that I love and esteem highly who were ignorant about that.
They didn't have much light on it. But you can't be under the
law as your rule of life and not as a covenant. The covenant,
this do and live, then gives all of these rules, do these
and live. These are the rules of the covenant.
But if you're not under the covenant for salvation, well, you're under
the covenant of grace, not word. If you're under the covenant
Grace, then you can't be under the law as your rules to live
by. Beside, what rules are you going
to live by? Which ones are you going to take?
And this is what people do. They pick and choose. You can't
do that. If it's going to be under it,
as your rule of life, you've got to live all of it. Even the
ones you don't know. We've been delivered from the
law. This is a good move. Not that we're not under law
to Christ. He is our lawgiver. He says,
whatsoever I say to it, bekeep my commandment. Galatians 1, did you turn there?
Look at verse 6. I marvel, he said to the Galatians,
that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ under another gospel. And what happened was
some Jews came in and said, now, yes, we're saved by grace, but
you've got to keep the law. You've got to be circumcised.
You've got to this, you've got to that. Just pick and choose
them. But look at verse 7. This is
not another gospel. It's a perversion. Those that
trouble you, they pervert the gospel of Christ. And Paul is
the one that said, I don't frustrate the grace of God. If righteousness
comes by the law, Christ died for it. I don't frustrate the
grace of God. I'll make it very quick. This is why they accused
Paul of being like an antediluvian. They accused our Lord of that. Didn't they? You make void the
law. No, we're establishing it by
faith. Not yours. Christ's faith who kept it for
him. Galatians 2, verse 4, he said,
false brethren. Those that would bring us under
the law, false brethren, unawares. We thought they brought in and
came in privately to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus
to bring us again under bondage. Paul in Romans, he gets over
to Romans 8 and he says, we're not under bondage anymore, but
under the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Peter warned
though, he said, but don't use your liberty as occasion to the
plague. All right, so Paul said in verse
5, I didn't give place to these fellas, not for a minute, not
for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue. Verse
16, he said, knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the
faith of Christ, not by the works of the law, for by the works
of the law shall no flesh be justified. And he went on to
say, so if we bring people back under the law, we make them transgressors
and make us transgressors. We're bringing us all back under
bondage, under the curse of the law, and we're all a bunch of
transgressors. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law. A double M, and to offend in
one point. That's how strict it is. And
men would say things like this, too strict, it's too hold it. That's right. That's right. You can't keep it. It's too strict. You cannot earn your way to heaven.
Like Psalm 24. Who shall ascend on the holy
hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands. Are your hands clean? Perfectly spotlessly. He that
hath a pure heart. Peter said, you've purified your
heart and obeyed the truth. Believe in Christ. Have never
lifted up your soul out of the vanity. Psalm 24. Never lifted
up your soul out of the vanity. All your life you've lived perfectly
for the glory of God. Never sworn deceitfully. Not
one word of untruth out of your mouth. Always been pure, honest,
good report. Love, mercy, grace, truth out
of your mouth. Who can say that? That's what
Psalm 24 says. Hope. Psalm 24 says, well, open
the gates. Open the gates of glory. Somebody's
coming in. Who is it? The King of Glory. The King of Peace. The King of
Salem. The King of Rochester. Jesus
Christ is his name. Well, look behind me. His train
is filling the temple. It's all those that he brings
in. He's the Lord, our righteousness. What's the purpose of the law?
Romans 3. Go back to Romans 3. so much in Galatians that there's
not enough time. Romans 3. And as I said, the
believer is not under the law as a covenant or rule of life. If it's not your covenant, it
can't be your rules of life. It can't be. You can't just keep
what you like and leave the rest. Our Lord gives us commandments
in the New Testament, and all the epistles are written He says,
do this, not to earn heaven, but for his glory. And his commandments
are not grievous. His yoke is easy. His burden
is light. And it's not to earn heaven,
but for his glory and for our good. But not the Mosaic law. Not the Levitical law. And the
law is given to reveal sin. That's why God gave the law.
To show God's holiness and righteousness, a reflection of His holy character,
and to reveal our unholiness, our sinfulness, our depraved
nature. Look at verse 19 again. We know
what things soever the law saith. That means all of it. Whatever
it saith, it saith to them who are under the law. That is, were
born under the law. But Christ came to redeem His
people from under the law. We sing that song. Bruised by the fall, Christ hath
redeemed us once for all. O glorious Calvary. In verse 19, he says, every mountain
that he stops. That every mountain that he stops.
Verse 23. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Go to Galatians again. You might
as well keep placing Galatians, but look at this. And Paul says
it in Romans 5, Romans 7, but Galatians 5, I'm sorry, 3. What is the purpose of the law
then? What's the purpose of the law? Paul answers that. He asks the question, verse 19.
Wherefore then serveth the law? What's the purpose? What's it
served? What purpose does it serve? It was added because of
transgressions. Transgressions. Now, no doubt,
the law came and restrained some sin. The law said the eye for
an eye, tooth for tooth. Boy, you know, still today over in Islamic countries,
if you caught stealing, And they'd still go by that lolly that cut
off your hand. Boy, you'd think twice about
doing it again, wouldn't you? So it was somewhat of a deterrent.
But did it not, the strength of sin, the scripture says, is
the love. Explain that. I will. You tell
one of your children, don't go through that door. You see that
door right there? It's closed. Don't go through
it. Whatever you do, don't touch
it. What are they going to do? Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve. You
think you can do it? Resist it. Don't eat that fruit. One thing. What'd they do? Are we better than that? Oh,
God's proved All right, Galatians 3, verse
19 says, no, yeah, Galatians 3, 19, isn't that something? Romans 3, 19. I never noticed
that. Verse 19, he was added because
of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise
was made. Who? Abraham? No. Verse 16, Abraham,
his seed were the promises made, but he doesn't say seeds as of
many, but one, thy seed, which is Christ. God's got to give
you eyes to see through that dark, you know, that covering
seed. Abraham, Abraham, if you'll do
this, you'll do this. No, God, he was counted righteous. It's not for doing anything. but the bleeding. Righteous, God says you're righteous. The law was given to reveal sin. It wasn't given to give life.
Paul said that if there was a commandment that could give life, then Christ
indeed can come. Now, right back to Romans 5. I think I'm through with Galatians.
Yes, I am. Today. But Romans 5. Look at verse 20. He says in
verse 20 of Romans 5, the law entered, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound. Chapter 7, look at chapter 7,
verse 10. The commandment which was ordained
to life, that is, just do and live, I found to be death. The law is holy, the commandment
is holy and just and good. Was then that which is good make
death of God forbid, but sin that it might appear sin. Working
death in me. You see, who the Lord makes alive,
he first does what? Kills. Didn't he say that in
Deuteronomy 32.9? I kill and I make alive. He's got to kill you. He's got
to kill your God. He's got to kill you. It's got
to slay you by the law. It's got to show you your guilt. It's got to be guilt before there's
pardon. It's got to be utter helplessness before you see your
only help. Hopelessness before you see one
hope. And it's not in yourself. It's
in Jesus Christ. Isn't that good news? Was it
a lawman? No, it's a schoolmaster. And
bring us to Christ. Teach us. You are guilty on all
charges. Always have been, always will
be. Tell me, you older believers,
are you a better person now than you were in the beginning? Oh,
we grow in grace and hopefully grow more like Christ, But then
you foul up, you fall, you fail, you sin. Then what do you think?
You think, I haven't learned anything. Haven't I learned anything? Am I no better than I was when
I was a 16-year-old boy? Do I still have the problem with
the same thing I did when I was a child? What's wrong with me? It's this thing called sin, and
you can't get rid of it. It's going to be with you till
the day you die. But, God, sent His Son in this world to condemn
sin in the flesh. Our Savior. Like old Simon Peter. Can a man walk on the water?
No! Can you rise above this world
and sin and temptation and your own sin? Can you get above, live
above sin? Can you? No! But He did. He did, just for
a little while. He walked above this sea that
represents this world of sin that men drowned in. And for a little while he was
above it, but then it didn't last long. And he looked around,
and boy, the things of this world, you know, for a little while.
When did we rise above it? Only. Seems like only when we're
sitting in here in the ark. We're sitting in here. The city
of refuge seems like the world doesn't trouble us with. We seem
like we're above it. But then we no sooner get out
the door than what? We start sinking. What are we going to do? What do you do? Lord, save me. Shortest prayer in the Bible. Three words. It was effectual. Now, Romans 7, look at verse 14. We know that the law
is spiritual, I am carnal. So many idiots say, this is Paul
talking about when he was unconverted. What about Romans 6, was he unconverted
then? No, he said, O wretched man that
I was. Did he say that? Did he say that? In 1st Timothy 1.15, did he say,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I was
a chief. Is that what he said? No, he didn't. And neither do you, whom the
Lord has really done a work, a new birth. You know that if
there's any good in you, it's that new man, and you have nothing
to do with it. It's that new man. Not of yourself. And the sin in you, Paul said,
the sin is not you, it's that sin. Yeah, I see law, two laws,
roaring in my memory. Do you? He said, this old man
brings me into captivity to this place, and this new man wants
to rise above me. But this new man is still captive
in this flesh. He can't get out one of these
days. He's going to be like that worm that he is. He's going to
be put in a cocoon. And then one day, we're going
to fly away. And we're going to be gone. Rise above this world of sin.
So we'll be with the Lord forever. We'll be just like Him. No sin.
But until then, look how we grovel. here below, fond of these earthly
toys. Our souls, how heavily they go
to reach eternal joy. Dear Lord, and shall we ever
live at this poor dying rate? Thy love to us so... Our love to thee so faint, and
thy love to us so great. Come, Holy Spirit, heaven and
dove. So the law is good, but Isaiah
59, this is, oh, I love this. One of the brethren and I were,
I was trying to remember where it was and I found it. But in
Isaiah 59, Isaiah was a fine man, wasn't he? Isaiah was a
prophet. Isaiah was a godly man, a holy man. But he concludes
himself here, like Daniel. He says we. All through this,
he says we. He doesn't say these unbelieving
we. Look at Isaiah 59. God says in
verse 2, your iniquities have separated between you and your
God, and your sins have hid his face from you, and he will not
hear. Down in verse 4, none call it
for justice, nor any plead it for truth. They trust in vanity,
and speak lies, and conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake
us. We wait for light, but behold
obscurity, for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope
for the wall like the blind." You know, the people in Sodom,
it says the Lord struck them blind. It says they were, stumbled
over each other, groping for the wall, trying to get in. Well,
let me ask you something. and the Lord convicts you of
it, and for a while you seem, I'm over that, and go right back
to it. Anyway, what's wrong with you? Didn't you learn your lesson?
Not completely. It's going to take a lifetime. It's going to take a lifetime.
Look at verse 12. Our transgressions are multiplied
before thee. Our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions are with us. For our iniquities, we know them
too well, don't we? Others don't, thankfully. Others
don't see what we're thinking, even this morning. Now, here's the gospel. Look
at verse 16. And he saw that there was no
man. There's none good, no not want,
none that calleth for truth, none that seeketh for justice.
Is there no man? And he wondered. No intercessors, therefore. Therefore, his arm brought salvation
unto him. Who's the arm of the Lord? To
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Isaiah 53. Jesus Christ. He made bare his holy arm. His
right hand, his holy arm has got us the victory. Who's that?
That's Jesus Christ. Not your hand. It's not your
arm. It's Christ. Look, He brought salvation. His
righteousness, it sustained. He put on righteousness as a
breastplate. He went to our captive, our captor,
Satan, first thing. Righteousness as a breastplate.
Satan, who tempt us in all points, he was tempted. And those fiery
darts bounced off. Bounced off. Got a breastplate. This is our captain, you see.
He went out before us. David met Goliath, the accuser
of the brethren. And he met him head on. And as
a man, Jesus, the man, repelled, repulsed all those temptations. Satan found nothing in Him. Then
He lived all those years. Then He went to the cross. And
that's where he really did battle with the God of this world. And the God of this world bruised
his heel, but buddy, he crushed his heel. Right then and there.
He spoiled his goods. He took them from him. Who's
that? You. But what? I still feel captive. Well, you
kind of need to. You need to. You'd never call
on Christ. You'd never call on Christ. Like
the people in Psalm 107. They'd never called on God until
they got in trouble. And then they called. And what
does it say? And He delivered them out of all their trouble.
Sent His Word to shield them. This is wonderful. Christ our
righteousness. It's not a thing. It's not a
doctrine. a person. He put on righteousness like
a breastplate. And Isaiah 42 says the Lord is
well pleased for his righteousness sake. And I'm here to tell you
he's well pleased with us for his righteousness sake. We're
accepted in the blood. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. Faith in who? Jesus Christ. Repentance
toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith toward Christ.
And here it is, the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness
sake, and He's well pleased with us. We're accepted in the Lord,
our righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ, the scripture
says, of God are you in Him, who of God is made unto us all
that we need. Christ is all. Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification. Did He not say? For their sakes
I sanctify them, that they also might be sanctified. Both he
that sanctified and they that are sanctified are one. By one
offering he perfected forever them that are sanctified. We're
sanctified by the body of Christ once for all. He doesn't sanctify
and you improve on us. No, sir. Sin separates you from
God and Christ joins us to tell you. Set us apart from His glory. What set apart the animals and
the ark? What set apart the animals? Huh? The ark. Nobody. He chose them. But you know what? When He brought them in the ark,
He changed their nature. The lion ate straw. They all
got along. But that was His Word. It was
His Word. They had nothing to do with it. That no flesh is glory. He said,
no flesh is no glory. You see, God gave, here's what
self-righteous people say. Well, they brag on their will,
they brag on their acceptance of Him, they brag on their improvement
of God gave me this gift and I've improved on it. Well, this is to all who believe.
You know that? You know who this is for? In
Romans 3, it says to all who believe, by the faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Oh, I believe. Lord, help my heart. Justified
freely by his grace. It's a gift. It's not an earner. It's a gift. Justification by
faith. through the redemption, the price
paid by Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree. You know, have you ever
done something, said something, whatever, and you thought, you
did it against someone, and you want to make up for it, and you
say, I'd like to redeem myself. Let me redeem myself. Let me
do something to make up for this. And no man can redeem his soul. We sin too much. It's too great,
and it's against God. And we don't have any redeeming
qualities. We can't make up for it. Christ
did. God shall see the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. Jacob, one time, Esau was coming
after him with a herd of men. Esau was coming after him with
a herd of men. Jacob had swindled his brother. scheme to nab against
his brother. He was a cheap Jacob-lover. And
Esau, his brother, was coming after him. He knew it. But Esau said, I don't need this
thing. Esau, miraculously, his heart
was changed toward Jacob. He said, I don't need it. What
is all this? He said, I've set this to appease you. He said,
I don't need that. But God was appeased by Christ's
blood. Christ's life. Paul preaching
at Antioch, and some of you who know this scripture, these were a bunch of Gentiles,
and he was preaching at Antioch the same gospel that he preached
everywhere to Jew and Gentile. And he said, I'm here to tell
you that be it known unto you, brethren, men and brethren, through
this man, that is Jesus Christ, has preached unto you the forgiveness
of sin. And by him, by him I say, remember
Paul saying that? By him I say, and Romans 3, by
his righteousness, by him I say, by him all that believe are justified
from all things from which he could not be justified by the
law of Moses. That's good news. The only person
that's not good news to is a Pharisee. A Pharisee. They don't like that. They like thinking that we're
keeping love. They like thinking that they're
above others. I'll tell you who loves it. Publicans
and harlots. I'll tell you who loves it. Zacchaeus. He just said, come
down, I'm coming to your house, and you're a son of mine. What
did Zacchaeus do? Nothing. What did he do after that? He
believed. He believed. Just counted on Him for righteousness.
You can't do that. He just did. I keep bringing up the woman
caught in the act of adultery, and they brought her to the These
lawyers, these self-righteous Pharisees who represent the law
or thought they kept the law, they brought this one guilty
person to the one who wrote it. The one who wrote the law. And
they said, the law saith that she is to be stoned. What saith
that? This was the Lord Himself in
mercy and grace having the law bring her to Him. to hear what
he would say about the law. What'd he say? Not guilty. And every one of you are guilty. Everyone who thinks he's not
guilty is guilty. And the one who says they're
guilty, completely justified. I'm all for that. You can't do
that. I just did. And I tell you, there's one person
in that room, from the bottom of her heart, was shabby. Thank
God for his free justification by Christ, the blood of Christ. Good news, no condemnation. Man, let's go home, shall we? You know why we're justified.
He was raised again for our justification. The next message is going to
be Christ raised for our justification. Christ justified by His blood. The redemption paid. The price
paid. Sin paid. God satisfied. God's
just and justified. Justify means to render or regard
as righteous. Just. Innocent. Holy. Who can say that? I heard a man one time dealing
with Romans 5.1, therefore being justified by faith. It's not
the only time it says that, by faith, justified by faith. And
he took, he was too, well, he dealt with it wrong. He said
there ought to be a comma there. He said, therefore being justified,
comma, by faith. There's not a comma there. He
said, we're not justified by our faith, but we're justified
by Christ. Hold on now. That's what it says. But here's
the point. Faith is not of yourself. It's the gift of God. Faith is
evidence of things not seen. It's the gift of God. It's according
to the working of His mighty power. Faith didn't come from
you. It came from God. And what He gives justifies it.
Right? That's what it means. If you
believe, God will justify it. Because God purposed to justify
you before the world began, and it's as good as done. But you've
got to repent, and you've got to believe. But you're going
to. He's not willing that any should perish, but they're all
going to come to repent. You're going to hear the gospel.
You've got to hear the gospel. Repent of your sin. Cry for mercy,
call on the Lord to be saved, and when you believe, you're
justified. But was that when you were justified? No. It was
when God said it. And in time, you believe, and
that's evidence that God chose you, and God called you, and
that you belong to Him. Being justified. We're still
believing. If you don't believe tomorrow,
you won't be justified. You're being justified. About
faith. Faith without work. We're not
saved by work. We're not saved by work. If you don't have any,
you're not saved. Explain that, preacher. I don't
need to. That's just the way it is. But that's not of yourself. None of it's of yourself. You
don't produce works. You're the branch. She's the
vine. Branches don't produce fruit
of themselves. It comes from the vine. Right? Why do you say that? Because
it's so. And it's for his glory. Of me is thy fruit and poundless. And no pleasure for glory, but
shall glory. And he uses Abraham. I was going
to say, we'll get to chapter 4. It's supposed to be in chapter
4. But he uses Abraham as an example. Now let me just sum
it up for a second. He said, what about Abraham? Was he justified
by words when he offered? No, hold on here. Long before
he had Isaac, God called him out of idolatry, a 75-year-old
man. Abraham is the example of God's
sovereign, electing, saving grace and revealing grace. And long
before the law was ever written, Abraham was justified completely. So does he believe. Why do you
believe? I gave you life. Gives you life,
you have to believe. Well, what did Abraham do? He
never did keep the law. There never was a law written. The Mosaic law wasn't written.
Not until Moses. So it's not the law. Why did
the law come later on? For you to live life. No, Adam
and Eve broke that in the beginning. When Moses was writing the law,
the people were down there breaking it. And before he came down with
the law to show it to them, he lashed it on the ground and said,
you broke it already and you're not going to keep it. And then Moses said, let me tell
you about somebody that's coming to redeem you from the law. Moses
wrote of me, Christ said. He's witness. Christ is witness.
Bible, and by the prophet, the Redeemer. Amen.