Then sings my soul, my Saviour
God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings
my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 3, to the passage that Paul read. I would like to say again what
a privilege it is to be here. I thank the Lord. This is not rhetoric. I mean this. I thank the Lord
for your pastor again. He has been my dear friend, and
I love him, and I appreciate him, and the Lord himself only
knows through trials in my life, how he has
been a help and an encouragement to me. And you're very fortunate
to have a man that God would raise up and keep. I thank the
Lord for you. God would allow the privilege
of his gospel to be here. I was telling the folks at Katie
recently, I said, when the Lord maintains a candlestick, that's
a blessed privilege. I asked him, I said, where would
you go if God removed the candlestick from Katie Baptist Church, where
would you go? I told him, I said, I'll tell
you where I think I'd go. I think I'd go to Central Baptist
Church. That's where I'd go. The message that I bring to you
today is one that I have truly had on my heart since your pastor
graciously invited me to come. I preached this a few weeks ago
in Fairmont, and this is truly what I believe the Lord had me
preach on today. Now, that's a comfort to me because
for is coming up with a doctrinal message, something that is so. You can read commentary and come
up with a doctrinal message, but is this truly what you believe
God would have you preach? Now, this is what I truly believe,
that the Lord would have me preach today. It has been a real encouragement
to me to be studying. these scriptures
and to see what the Word of God has to say concerning the way
that things are with God's people. That's what I want to know. I
want to know how is it really. The Apostle Paul has been dealing
with this blessed truth. That's a big word, justification. What does that mean? Well, let
me just say it like this. Justification by God Almighty
means God's declaration to his people that there is no
record of ever being guilty. It's a big word. Pardon and justification, two
entirely different words. Pardon can be if a king pardons a rebel
against his kingdom. He can relieve, not charge him
with guilt. Not charge him with guilt. But
pardoning a guilty rebel against the kingdom doesn't give that
rebel a right to the king's kingdom. He pardoned him, but he didn't
declare him to be worthy, justified. The Scripture sets forth that
God's righteousness has been imputed. The righteousness of God has
been imputed. How do they know? How do God's
people know? They believe God. That's the evidence. They believe
Him. They believe Almighty God. Verse 22, I'll begin here. It 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." Now, this righteousness of God, is
it because of their faith? Is God declaring a man justified? righteous because that man or
because of that man's faith. Is that the reason that God looks
and says, because you believe. I declare you now. To be righteous
in my sight, faith is not the ground of our justification before
God, because therefore justification would be by my work. I observed that. I boast in it
if justification was because of my faith. Righteousness is through faith. It's known
and believed by faith, by the means of God-given faith. All
men have not faith. God gives faith to those that
he has justified. That's how they know it. They
believe God. Now, this faith is said to be
the faith of Jesus Christ. You know, there is a faith that
believes that there is a God, but it's not saving faith. Let me show you something that
may surprise you. Do you know that a man can believe
that there is a God, that He is all-powerful, that He is the
Creator of all things and not be converted? Do you
know that James 2.19 says, Thou believest that there is one God? Do you know who else believes
that? Well, James says the devils believe
that. They believe in tremble. You
say, well, now that's a different word. No, it's not. Do you know
you can look up the word the devils believe in tremble? Look
it up. The same word believe in James
2, 19, the devils believe And when the Philippian jailer said
to Paul and Silas, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved
in thy house. Look up the word. It's the same
word. You say, well, then what's the
difference when it comes to the faith of Jesus Christ? Well,
saving faith. our faith that sets forth that
God Almighty has saved a man, is not that I merely believe
that there is a God, that He is sovereign. Whenever the Lord
Jesus Christ spoke to the demons in the demoniac of the Gadarenes,
when they said, Have you come to torment us before our time?
Don't cast us into those swine over there. Do you believe that
they thought he was sovereign and that he could do whatever
he wanted to do? Well, obviously they did because they were trying
to appeal to him to do something to them to kind of give them
an avenue. They knew who he was. What is
the difference? It's not to believe. that He
came into this world. History will reveal that. But
let me ask you this. Do I believe that when He came
into this world, that Almighty God had everlastingly loved me
and chose me, and that Christ came into this world as my representative,
and that He actually went to the cross and was actually made
sin, what I am by nature, the source of it. The source. Two words for sin. One of them
means the source of, and the other means the evidence of.
That's for sacrifices in the Old Testament. There was a sin
offering and a trespass offering. One of them set forth Christ
dying for the source of and paying the debt of the transgressions
of, whenever the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, was He
actually made sin? Was He made what I am before
Almighty God is being born in Adam? Did He put away my guilt? Did He, that was His soul, His
being, made a sacrifice for sin? Did Almighty God truly, truly
deal with me? Brother Scott Richardson. I was
talking to Brother Scott one day. If I've ever been truly a blessed
man, The Lord blessed me and sent me to Fairmont to give me
a man like Scott. I sat down one day and I talked
to him. I said, Brother Scott, I need
to talk to you. I want to ask you something.
I said, you know, when the scriptures say that Christ was made sin, I said, I want to ask you, what
are your thoughts on that? Oh, he knew where I was coming
from, you know. He said, listen, let me tell you something. He said, when the Lord took water
and made wine, was it really a glass of water and it had a
little sticker on it that said wine? He said, when Christ was
made flesh, was He really flesh? When it says that He was made
sin, He said, was he really just kind of, sin just kind of stuck
on him? Or was he actually made the guiltiness? He said, if he wasn't made what
I am before Almighty God and God dealt with him truly. Oh,
Scott Richardson. He said, if God didn't deal with
him as my substitute, truly, I didn't die there. He said,
I don't have any hope. He said, now I'm going to tell
you something. He said, we want to be careful not to ever say
anything offensive concerning the Lord's glory and his honor.
But he said, don't you ever take away from the glory of what he
did. Don't you ever do that. I thought. Thank you. That's all I want
to know. Did God Almighty, what do I believe? I believe. that when he died,
that God put away my guilt. His soul made an offering for
sin. Even, verse 22, the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. You know, There's some wording
there that I think bears bringing out to understand that this is
the way it is. I'm preaching here this morning.
Here's a group of people. Everybody that's hearing my voice
hears what I'm saying. They hear the truth set forth. Now, this gospel that is preached,
it's unto all That is, it's toward all. That's what that word means. It's unto, it's toward all. You know when the Lord told His
disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
preacher. I listened to you this morning
on radio. I bet you a lot of people did. And it was unto. Everybody that heard that radio
broadcast this morning, as long as they tuned in, they heard
it. It was unto them. It was toward them is what it
was saying. The gospel is preached. We're
putting Brother Scott's messages like Brother Henry's are being
put on the Internet. I'm going to tell you something.
I get a report. You know, where there's messages,
it's obviously they're being heard over in Yugoslavia because
somebody downloaded one of them. It's unto all. It's there. You've
got a computer, just click of a button, and there it is. It's
unto all. But I'll tell you this, this
gospel is upon all them that believe. That is the righteousness
of Almighty God rose God's people, God's believing, regenerated
people. So this gospel is unto all and
upon all them that believe. There's no difference. That's
what the Scripture says. There is no difference. Why?
Verse 23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory Of
God. I. I think about this word every
time I see that word glory. I. I think about the the heart
of that word. The heart of the word glory it
means the opinion. The thinking. That's what I mean
just. Here again, I mean, just look
it up. That's just a word, the glory. It means the opinion,
to think. And that was made evidently clear
to me when Moses asked the Lord, show me your glory. I used to read that scripture
and I thought whenever Moses asked the Lord that, it was like
the Lord, I thought, just kind of bypassed his answer. I mean,
his question just didn't even say anything. I mean, just Show
me your glory. You know, I always think glory.
I used to think of this, you know, bright, beautiful and sunshiny
rays. Show me your glory. And the Lord
told him, because this is what Moses asked, I want to know what
you think. What do you think? If I'm talking
to your pastor, I'll ask him something. You know what I want
to know? I want to know what you think. That's what I'm asking. I'm not just saying something
to hear myself say it. I could have said it to myself
if that's all it was. I want to know what you think.
What do you think about this, Paul? What's your thoughts on
it? That's what matters. Show me your glory. And you know
what the Lord thought? I will have mercy on him. I'll
have mercy. I'm going to have compassion on him. I'm going
to have compassion. Not of him that willeth, not
of him that runneth, but God that shows mercy. Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. There is no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the opinion of Almighty God,
the glory of God. It's God's glory to conceal a
matter. That's how God thinks. God thought it's right. God owes
no man any explanation. No difference. There's no difference. No difference in character, Jew
or Gentile. All of them descend equally.
Come short. I'll tell you this, there's no
difference in their need either. I need the Lord to show mercy
to me just like you need Him to show mercy to you. All men
come short on their obedience to the law of God. All men, all
of sin comes short. What? In obeying. Love the Lord thy God with all
your heart, mind, soul. Honor father and mother. He said, I never killed anybody. Have you ever thought any ill
thoughts against somebody? Have you ever looked on a man
or a woman and thought any ill thoughts, disrespectful thoughts
towards them? The Lord told them, He said,
you committed murder, adultery in your heart. All of sin had
come short of the glory of Almighty God. I think about the Lord in John
17, for he said, I've glorified thee on the earth. I've glorified
you on the earth. How is that, Lord? I finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. This is what he was sent
to do. He came into this world and brought
out a righteousness for all that the father had given him before
the foundation of the world. And as their representative,
he obeyed. And in him, I did too. If I be one of his, I did too. I glorified you on the earth. What was the evidence that the
Lord had done this? Well, the Father spoke from heaven. That's how we know it. That's
how God revealed to us. This is my beloved Son, whom
I'm well pleased. of the place, he said, you hear
him. What he's got to say, you hear him. Verse 24, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Now. Justification. Is absolutely the work of Almighty
God justified. Freely. by His grace, declared
righteous before the law. I told Brother
Paul a minute ago, there was a few years ago before I left
Tennessee, a couple of fellows, I may have given you this illustration
before, but it's still a good one. There was a couple of fellows
that robbed a bank, and they got hemmed up by some police
officers in downtown Brentwood just between Franklin and Nashville.
And the police officers, they had a gun battle going on. I
mean, this thing was raging. And another police officer, a
woman, drove up, responding, and she drove up close to one
of the bank robbers. And that bank robber saw her
and began to run through the intersection with his gun drawn
and was going to assassinate her in her car. And all of the police officers
saw what was going on and in a hail of bullets cut him down
and killed him right there in the street. And the radio announcer
was giving a summation of the event after he said that the
event had been reviewed by the judge, the court, and the police
officers that they were ruled justified. You know what that
means? The law found them not guilty.
There was no evidence of any guilt whatsoever justified. The declaration of innocence
based on the imputed righteousness of Christ, that which I owed
before the law of God as a man, that which I owed before God's
law, what God demanded. I've come short of the glory
of God. I've come short, fallen short
of what Almighty God demands for righteousness. What does
God demand of me? Absolute perfection, obedience. without any deviation whatsoever. I've come short of that. But
with His righteousness charged to me, God Almighty has justified
me. Justified me. Let me ask you
this. When did God justify me? And before you answer this question, let me just remind you of a passage
of scripture in Malachi, where the Lord said, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not concerned. Let me share another something
with you, Brother Scott. I don't want to give you all
of his secrets, you know, but I'm going to tell you something. A wealth of information. We were talking one day and he
said, this is usually how you'll start off, got something for
you. That usually means, you know how horses, you know, got something for you. He said,
lay down the immutability of Almighty God. God never changes. God never changes. OK, in case you didn't get it,
God never changes. He said, lay everything you know
on the immutability of God. And he said, you'll stay straight.
God never changes. Let me ask you something. Whenever
Almighty God declares that he has justified his people, declared
them to be. Righteous before him. At what point did God look upon
his people unjustified? And then changed and then started
seeing them justified, Scott said, at the point that you say. God changed from this to this,
he said, therein you err. Therein you err. You say, well,
I don't think that he justified them until Christ actually died
on the cross. Well, then let me ask you this,
then. Are you saying that before Christ died, that he looked at
Moses and Abraham and and all of the Old Testament saints and
receive them into heaven, into glory, unjustified? Are you saying that? Then therein
you err. Therein you err. I'm going to
show you that in just a minute. Almighty God has justified freely
by His grace at the point That you say he
changed in attitude, in time, in effect, in purpose, in will,
in the point you say he changed. You're wrong. You're wrong. You say, well, I don't think.
At the point you say he changed, you're wrong. Let God be true
and every man alive, I don't understand that I can buy that. I'll buy that part of it. I can
truthfully tell you there's some things I don't understand too. Almighty God has set forth, justified
freely. Romans 8.1. Therefore now no condemnation
to them that be in Christ Jesus. How long have you been in Christ? that Almighty God merely pretends
that His people in Christ are righteous. They are righteous in Him. One might ask, are you saying
that there is a nature, there are two natures in a man? I will just read the last verse,
verse 25. Paul has been, under the inspiration of the
Spirit of God, setting forth what he sees in himself. He had
admitted in verse 18, I know that in me, now this is really
me, this is really me, that is in my flesh, that old Adamic
nature that dwelleth no good thing. I know that. Verse 21, I find then a law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. Verse 23, I see another law in
my members warring against the law of my mind. Evidently, there's
two things there. But look at verse 25, I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I
serve the law of God, for with flesh law of sin. One might ask,
is there the possibility that there is a nature within a man
that doesn't sin? I said, no, it's not just a possibility.
It's so. That which is born of God sinneth
not. That which is born of God sinneth not. There is a new nature. why his seed remains in him. That which is born of Adam can
do nothing but sin, absolutely without a doubt. That which is
flesh is flesh, and that's all it will ever be, this thinking
that the new nature is infused into that old nature. That which
is flesh is flesh. That was Spirit's Spirit, and
they're contrary one to the other. Well, I think being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, this
last verse, verse 25, not only has Almighty God Now,
here again, lay down the immutability of God. God doesn't change. Whenever Almighty God, I say
that whenever I don't even I can't even figure out a word to use
when it starts talking about. Eternity, we speak of eternity
past, eternity future. The Lord set forth eternity back
here. When Moses said, ìWho shall I
say sent me?î Let me just tell you how the Lord set forth eternity.
You tell him, ìI am.î Well, when was he the ìI am?î
Well, he was when Moses, he spoke to Moses. He was, or is now,
as weíre speaking. And Iíll tell you this, he is. It never changed. Whenever Almighty God eternally,
the I Am, chose His people in Christ, in that everlasting covenant,
this is how David said it, this is all my salvation. He hath
made with me. That is, to be. That is, it is
to be. It is to be. he hath made with
me an everlasting covenant." All of the sure mercies of the
spiritual David. What were all of those sure mercies?
Forgiveness, adoption, justification. All of them. All of the sure
mercies of our spiritual David. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. It's ordered in all things. All
of the things are in order. I say it like that. And you know
what? They're sure. This is where they
are. How long have you been like that?
It's an everlasting covenant. The Lord said, I love righteousness
and I hate iniquity. And he said of his people, I've
always loved you. Well, if he loves righteousness, He hates
iniquity, and he's always loved his people in Christ. David said, He made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and it's sure.
It's all my salvation. That when Almighty God looked
upon me. Here, look at this, verse 25,
whom God has sent forth for ordained. to be a propitiation, a satisfaction,
appeasement through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. Now, that's a that's a scripture.
When you read that, it's almost you can read over that right
quick and you say, well, that's that sounds real. That's. That's
biblical, that's real, that's scriptural, but what did he say? If you ever get a hold of this,
what's being said in this book, the book of Romans, this verse
right here, let me tell you what Paul the Apostle had set forth. God had foreordained, set forth. He set him forth, set him apart,
Kelly, his chosen, his elect. God who first trusted. Who first
trusted in Christ? The Father. He first trusted. We trust Him. But who first trusted
Him? He set Him forth. He foreordained
Him. He ordained Him before. Appointed. Chose. Set Him apart. He foreordained Him. to be a
satisfaction. 1 Peter says, 120, who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested
in these times. He was manifested in time, but
he was foreordained to be the appeasement. Almighty God set him forth. to be the satisfaction. We would believe Him, faith in
what He has done, for is that what is being said?
Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in His blood, we believe Him. But I'll tell you who believed
Him. The Father believed Him. the foundation of the world. Almighty God, in His blessed Son, forgave His people. All of the sure mercies of David,
He forgave them. If my son did something when
he was growing up, And I told him, don't do that. And he did
it. I can, in my little fickle mind,
I can kind of understand if I'd say, I forgive you. I just, I'm
not going to charge you with that. But let me tell you the
fullness of what this says, is that Almighty God did not impute
did not charge their sin. That's forgiveness. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not charge, not impute guilt,
not charge him. If I'd forgive Gabe, I just didn't
charge him for what he did. I just didn't spank him that
time. He got off maybe once. But to
not charge God's people, when did Almighty God, and here again,
now you remember, At the point that you tell me that God changed
from this to this, therein you err. At what point did God's
people, when were they looked upon as being chargeable in relationship
to the everlasting surety? I go down and borrow some money.
If my mama signs a note, as soon as the bank realizes that I can't
pay, they're going to look at my mama. And you know what? They're
not looking at me anymore. At what point did the father
look to the surety? He always looked to the surety.
He never looked to the saints. He never looked to the elect.
He was the everlasting surety. But what right did God Almighty
have? What right? You look at this
right here, whom God set forth before ordained to be a propitiation,
the satisfaction, the appeasement through faith in His blood. Christ
was slain before the foundation of the world and the mind and
will and purpose of Almighty God. You say, well, He actually
came in time. I'm going to end this message
in just a second on that last part of this verse dealing with
that very issue right there. I know He came in time, but the
I am saw Him eternally. Through faith in His blood to
declare God's right for the remission of sins that
are past, what right did God have to say, I'm not going to
charge you with your guilt? everlasting. What right? He looked
at Christ and trusted Christ. It was God's will to never, because
he never changes. What right did he have to say,
I'm not going to charge you. I'm going to charge you, Vicki. Why? Because he everlastingly
charged his son. He never looked at me. To declare
His righteousness, His right. What right does He have? What
right do I have in Adam? All of my righteousness, my right,
is filthy rags. That's what I... You don't have
any right. What right do you have? To stand
before Almighty God and say, I must be accepted. You don't
have a right. Your right was forfeited. By
disobedience, you have no right. What right do I have? I'll tell
you what right I have. The right, the righteousness,
the faithfulness, the obedience. What right? The righteousness. What right do I have? I'll tell
you what my right is. It's righteousness. It's right. What does the father say of the
son? This is my beloved son, well pleased. What does he say
to all those in that day? What does he say to all the sheep?
Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness, his
right for the remission, for the forgiveness, for the non-imputation
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. What does that mean? Well, you
say, well, that means that God just kind of looked and kind
of said, I'm just not going to count it for a while. That's
not what that means. You say, well, doesn't the Scripture
say that God winked? You know, that the Lord kind
of, you know, Acts 1730. What does that mean? I'll wrap
this up, Paul. Acts 1730. And the times of this
ignorance God winked at. But now commandeth all men everywhere
to repent, does that mean that God just kind of overlooked for
a while for an understanding of that scripture? Just just
turn back just to Acts 14, 16. Here's the here's the setting
forth. Who in time past suffered all
nations to walk in their own ways, is that there was a time
when God Almighty had sent the gospel, the prophets, to the
Jews. And God allowed men to forgive sin. He is a just God. And He does that which is right
and just and holy. What right? He trusted his son, looked to
Christ, who first trusted in Christ. To declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. What does that mean? It means
that God was pleased that 4,000 years after the fall that Christ
came In the fullness of time, this is the last verse, Galatians
4, 4. Why did he come 4,000 years after
the fall? Through the forbearance of God.
God was pleased to send him 4,000 years. But I'll tell you this,
when he came and died on that cross in the fullness of time,
Galatians 4, for, but when the fullness of time was come, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons." How long have they been sons? Well, the Scripture says, because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son, whereby
we cry, Because you are sons. God doesn't change. God doesn't
change. Almighty God declared His people eternally. God who never changes. Forgave them. And the very heart
of forgiveness is God Almighty said, I will not impute sin to
you. To declare His righteousness,
His right for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. God Almighty in the fullness
of time sent Christ. You say, well, they weren't justified
until He actually shed His blood. Then were they unjustified before
him, and then they became justified? Be careful. Whenever you make that statement
that God changed, you're wrong. God doesn't change. I don't change. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Why was I not consumed? the moment
I was conceived in sin, because God Almighty forgave me in an everlasting covenant that
was ordered in all things and was sure and was finished. It was done. And He who does
not change has sent forth this blessed gospel And God's people
will hear it, of God who doesn't change. And they'll stop and
they'll say, now that's amazing grace. Okay. 268 in the green hymnal. Thank you,
Brother Marvin. Thank you, Lord, for that message.
So many points, so many things. I was blessed by it, especially
though God is not changing. 268, what do you think? We'll sing the first and last
verse. How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can he say than to
you he hath said? To you, who for refuge to Jesus
hath fled. Last verse. The soul that on
Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert
to his foes. Should endeavor to shake, I'll
never, no never, no never forsake.