Again, Romans chapter 3. The story behind this message
is, I was sitting on my front porch with my father, and he was telling me about preaching
this very message. He gave me all eight of these
questions. We were sitting there talking,
and I said, Boy, that's good. He gave all eight of those questions
and the eight answers from these verses. I said, Boy, that's wonderful. I want to preach that. And I
called him back later on to make sure of the questions, wrote
them down. And the story behind the story
is that And he said a young man came up to him one Sunday morning,
night, Wednesday, or whatever, after the service, and he had
kind of a perplexed look on his face, a young man about eighteen,
nineteen years old. And he said, I just don't understand. So I believe, I think I believe
what you're saying, but I really don't think I understand." So
he said that caused him to start thinking and reading. And this
message was given to him from Romans 3, and the title of it
he gave was, and is the title that I'm giving, repeating, The
Way Made Plain. The way made plain. It should
be very plain. If you're seeking, our Lord said,
ask and you'll receive. Lord, I want to know the truth.
You'll receive. Seek, he said, you'll find. Seek
to know me, to know salvation, you'll find. Knock, which means
ask to have it open. He said, he'll be open to you.
He'll be made plain. If you're a seeker, an asker,
a knocker, he'll be made plain to you this morning, just from
reading Romans 3. All right, I'm going to ask eight
questions. If you didn't hear it this morning on the radio,
then you'll hear it again. If you did, you'll hear it again. First question is, what is our condition before
God? What is the state of man? What does God say about us? Very
simply put, what does God say about us? Not what do people
say, what do the preachers say, what do people think, what do
you think, What does God say, God's word say about us? Look at verse 19. Now, we know
beyond a shadow of a doubt, we know that what things soever
the law sayeth. What's the law? What law? It's
all the law. That's the word of God. That's
everything God wrote. Isn't that the law? When you
talk about the law, whatever it says. It says, to them that
are under the law. Well, who's that? Well, every human being that's
ever been born is under the dominion and the rule and the rules of
God Almighty, right? All right? What things soever
the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law. So that's
everybody. What does it say? That every
mouth may be stopped. In plain, modern language, God's
Word says to us, shut up. Doesn't it? Don't tell me what
you think. Don't tell me how you think it
ought to be or what you think it is or what so-and-so said
about it. Shut up. Doesn't he say that, Brother
John, in other places? Be still. Let your words be few. God's in heaven, and you're on
earth. Don't give the sacrifice of fools. Every mouth will be
stopped, and all the world—now here it is. Here's what God says
about everything. All the world—say world means
everybody, doesn't it? All right? All the world become
what? Guilty. That's what God's Word
says about mankind. Guilty. The margin says, subject
to the judgment of God, under the condemnation of God. That's
what John 3, verses 17 and 18, most people don't know John 3,
17 and 18, they just know verse 16. It says that those who believe not
are condemned already, under the judgment of God. Up
in verse 9, we read that, didn't we? It says, Both Jew and Gentile
are all under sin, or that is, under the influence of, under
the dominion of sin. Is that what it says? Is that
what God's Word says? You're reading it with me. Verse 10 and following gives
a description of everybody. Verse 23. Now, people, if you
read with me those verses. If you read with me verses 10
and following, there's none righteous, none that understandeth, the
throat's an open sepulchre. Were you applying that to somebody
else? Were you thinking, yeah, that's those sinful people, that's
those sinners out there. I'm a saint. If you are, if you were, you
missed it. Because he started out saying there's none righteous,
no, not one, didn't he? And then he goes on to describe
it. And if you're honest with yourself, and you know yourself
something of your own heart, your own evil thoughts and imagination,
you will have to admit, all this applies to me. Right? Is your throat, your mouth, is
your mouth more full of praise than cursing? Is there somebody
in here who, if you mash your thumb, you say, well, isn't God
good? Is there one such like that? Are you more prone to the other
rather than blessing? Come on now. I'm trying to find
a sinner because I've got some good news for a sinner. All right. Okay. All right. It says guilty. But guilty! Are you with me? We've heard this before, haven't
we? Everybody in here has heard this before. I've preached this
hundreds of times. But I'm looking forward to it. You won't hear the good news
unless you've heard this bad news. You won't hear the gospel, it
won't mean a thing to you unless you're guilty. Are you guilty?
Guilty. What the judge has to say in
the end, his summary judgment, won't mean a thing to you unless
you're standing there handcuffed with stripes on. It won't mean
a thing if you're sitting out in the audience saying, yeah,
he's guilty. What the judge says doesn't matter to you. But if
you're the one standing there guilty, what this judge has to
say in the end is good news. Guilty. Jew and Gentile, Jew
and Gentile, even those who claim to Look at chapter one, back
to chapter one. So you just got a 15 minute message
on the radio. You get 45 now. This is the rest
of the story. Chapter one, verses 17, let's
see. I'm sorry, chapter two, chapter
two. Yeah, chapter two, verse 17. through 20, talking about
the Jews, is called a Jew and they rest in the law and make
their boast of God. That is, they know God, they
know his will, they approve things that are more excellent. That
is, they live a better life and they are more instructed out
of law. They believe the book is God's word and they are confident
that there are guides of the blind, a light to them that are
in darkness. They are able to teach those, those old dark Gentiles,
you know. Instructor of the foolish, teacher
of babes. I know a lot of people like that. I think they have a handle on
the law. Paul thought he did too, didn't
he? Saul of Tarsus? Yeah, I've got the law down.
I keep it. I wear this and I wear that and
I don't wear this and I don't wear that and I don't go here,
I don't go there, I don't drink this, I don't smoke this, I don't
do this, I don't do that. I keep the law perfectly, and
concerning the righteousness which is of the law, blameless." Do you now, Paul? Do you now,
Saul? Do you know this law? Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. But, but, but, guilty. But I'm guilty. Isn't that what
it says? All that are under the law wasn't
saved. What does it say? Guilty, even those that keep
the law. Well, I kept the law from my youth up. Guilty. Our
Lord, in the Sermon on the Mount, magnified the law, didn't he?
He said, you've heard it said by them of old times, I shall
not commit adultery. He said, I'll examine you. Whosoever
has looked on a woman, ever looked on her and said, boy, ain't she
nice. Guilty. Who's ever said rape, or a fool,
or somebody pulled out in front of you in their car, and you
could just, oh, it'd be his brains. Guilty. Murder. Guilty of murder,
road rage. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. That's what God says about it.
It doesn't matter what a man thinks about himself. what others
say about it. Not he that commended himself,
or others commend, it's whom God approves of. All right, here's
the next question. Is that undeniable from God's
Word, what it says about mankind? Religious or irreligious? It
doesn't matter if he's gone or she's gone to church or worn
her dress to cover her toenails all her life. Am I being too hard here? This
is God's Word. All of sin that comes shall be
the glory of God. All right? What can we
do about it? What can we do about this? We're
guilty. What can we do about it? Verse 20, all right? Verse
20 of chapter 3. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. By doing or keeping
or striving to try to keep the law, it doesn't matter what law
you're talking about. The moral law, it's in commandments.
By the deeds of the law, no flesh is going to be declared good,
righteous, just, without sin. That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. we can do about it. We're guilty, and there's nothing
we can do about it. Why? Because sin's not in a thing. Sin's not in a liquid. Sin's
not in a bottle, and it's not in a box. If it were, if you just not touch that bottle,
you'd be without sin. But there's sin. You know, our Lord, and I'm not
condoning anything. You know I'm not condoning anything.
But our Lord shocked the religious people of His day. Absolutely
shocked those teetotalers and so forth of His day by turning
and looking at them and saying, Are you listening to me? There's
nothing that goes into the mouth that's foul for me. Because it
goes out in the draft. He said, This is where the defilement
comes from. Why is a man a drunk? Did the
liquor make him do it? He's a drunk by nature. He did
it. It's called alcoholism, a disease. Yes, it's a disease. It's called
sin. Nobody forced a man to pull up
and pick that bottle up. Huh? Nobody forced somebody to
stick a needle in their eye. No, sir. They do it of their
own free will. Huh? And they keep doing it.
Keep doing it and suffer with it. Suffer the consequences of
it. You can't treat them like they're
poor, you know. I realize now, I'm not getting
on there. I realize, you know, people need help and all that,
but there's no help. People become guilty, there's
help. All right? God's perfect, God's
holy, God's perfection is in thought, word, and deed, every
jot and tittle of the law. James said this, to offend in
one point is to be guilty of the whole law. See, by the deeds, verse twenty
says, by the deeds of the law of no flesh shall be justified
in the sight. I wish I could say that to this whole religious
world. I wish religious United States of America that calls
itself the moral majority, I wish I could tell them all. By the
deeds of the law, I wish I could tell this community of law keepers
and good mark, that by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be
justified in this sight. Can't, you can't. There's nothing
we can do. We're guilty before God. Well,
all right then. Where, is there righteousness?
Without us keeping the law. to have to be righteous. God's
holy, God's righteous, God's good, and by no means heaven's
place where there's no sin, no unrighteousness, no iniquity,
no sinners. Is there righteousness without
the law? I was hoping you'd ask that. Verse 21, But now the righteousness
of God The holiness of God, acceptance with God, approval of God, without
the law, is manifested, is revealed, is made clear. Without the law,
without us keeping the law, it's made clear. It's even witnessed
by the law. The law even says so, and the
prophets. You see, up in verse 20, he said,
by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul said, when the law
came, when the commandment came, when he said, I finally understood
that it was spiritual, it required perfection on my inside, not
just outside, but in very thought. He said, it killed me. Didn't
he, John? He said, it slew me. When the
commandment came, he said, I just died. I was dead in trespasses
and sin, though religious. I found out I was dead. The law
of Cain. The law is the knowledge of sin,
you see. That's the moral law, the Ten
Commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Guilty. You know, covetousness is idolatry.
If you've ever wanted anything or anyone other than God, you've
been guilty. Do not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain. If you've ever used God's name
on your lips in any way, but praise and glory and thankfulness,
guilty. And on and on, the moral law,
thou shalt not steal, commit adultery, and so forth, guilty.
All right? That's what the moral law says.
But the Levitical law now, we're talking about the ceremony in
a two-day period. It's these things you've already
heard. The Levitical law, the moral law, the Levitical law,
the ceremonies, the tabernacle, the types, etc. Well, that's
right. Which came first, Vicki, the moral law or the Levitical
law? Which came first? The moral law,
right? The Ten Commandments, thou shalt
not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt
not. And then came the ceremonies and the tithes and the pictures
and the sacrifice. See, by the law, the moral law
is the knowledge of sin, guilty, guilty, guilty. And God says,
now here's the way, here's the way, here's the way. Blood, blood,
blood, blood, blood. See that? By the moral law is
the knowledge of sin. By the biblical law is the knowledge
of the remission of sins. See that? Is there righteousness
without the law? Yes, it's manifested by the law. The law tells us that. It's not
you keeping it, because you're guilty as charged. And then the
law goes on to say, now, here's where remission is. It's not
you. It's blood. All right? Here's the next question.
I'm hoping you'd ask this. Where is this righteousness then?
This righteousness without the law, without us keeping the law.
Where is it? This acceptance, this approval
of God, where is it to be found? Look at verse 22. Paul said in Romans 10 that many
people are going about trying to find it, didn't he? Lots of
people going about, well, I'll join this church. Maybe they've
got a handle on it. I'll join this church. They've
got this special thing where they do this a special way. Now
I've got it. Now, now I've got it. Now, God,
I'm right. I'm right with God. And in a
little while, everything just seems a little bit wrong, you
know. So you go on down the road. Here it is down here. If I just
do this, if I just worship on this day as opposed to that day,
there's wrong on that day. Here's the day I worship. And
you're going about to establish Who's got it here? Where is it
to be found? Look at verse 22, "...the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ." How many times
have you heard us say that Jesus Christ is all the religion you'll
ever Huh? Christ said, come unto me, all
you that are laboring in religion and heavy laden with rules and
regulations, I'll give you rest. Come to me, he says. Don't go
there, don't go here. Come to me, Jesus Christ. Only one can do anything about
this righteousness you need. You need it? I've got it. I've
got it. You can't do it. He can't give
it to you. I've got it. You can read that with me, by
the faith of Jesus Christ. It doesn't say faith in Jesus.
Everybody believes in Jesus. Don't they? Ask them. Anybody
on the street will tell you, yeah, I believe in Jesus. What
do you think I am? Heretic or pagan, man, yeah,
I believe in Jesus. Even a drunk sitting on a bar
stool, you believe in Jesus? Yeah, I believe in Jesus. It
doesn't say that, does it? Faith in Jesus. It says faith
of Jesus Christ. And I'll have you know it says
that five times. People think it's a misprint. No, it isn't. It's misprinted
five times. In Galatians 2 and 3, in Ephesians
3, in Philippians 3, in Romans 3. Just so we know it, it's in
the third chapter three times. The faith of Jesus Christ. Well,
what are you talking about, preacher? What are you talking about? Explain
it to me. Make it plain. All right, let's
make it plain. It's what we're guilty of. There ain't nothing we can do
about it. live in a cave for the rest of
our lives and never look at a TV set, and grow our hair down to
our feet, and just drink water and eat bread, and read our Bible,
it won't make us holy before God. Because God says guilty. Because without, you can't do
a thing about your thoughts. You can't do a thing about this
heart. That's the reason that publican that went into the temple
smote on his breast. Remember that? What was he doing?
He realized where the problem was. It's in here, and I can't
do a thing about it. God's righteous. I can't be righteous. God demands perfection. I can't
do it. That's the reason Jesus Christ
came. Do you know why he came? Jesus Christ came to establish
righteousness of the law. He didn't come to show us how
to live by the law, although he did. Do you understand me? He showed us this is the way
a man ought to live, and strivers, we know we can't. That doesn't
keep us from striving, but we ought to know that God doesn't
accept that. That's not good enough. that
when Christ came and lived thirty-three and a third years to establish
that there's no doubt, and looked at everybody and said, somebody
charged me with one sin, and nobody could. And even God from
heaven said, well pleased for his righteousness sake. God said, I'm well pleased with
this man, I approve of this man, he's righteous, he's holy, I
accept him. Nobody else is guilty. I accept
him." And Jesus Christ said, now, I give this righteousness to
all that the Father giveth me. I did it. I did it all. I worked
it out. I wove this seamless robe of
righteousness myself. And I use this illustration all
the time. No, no. It's the best I know. It's all I know. It's all I know. This is all
the preaching I know how to do. The only object lessons I know. Jesus Christ, see, we're naked. We're naked. We stand over here
naked. God sees everything about us.
Guilty, guilty, guilty. Every flaw, every blemish. Christ
is over here perfectly clean, spotlessly white. He took it
off. That righteousness, that perfection,
that he lived in the body of a man, he took it off. Like that child laying in the
field in their pollution, you know? He came by and said, Live! He said, what first thing he
did was he spread his skirt around. That's when God can't see the sin clothed
in his righteousness. You see, it's by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ upon us. Faith of, upon us. He made it. He appeared. Is that clear? He did it. We get it. Do you get it? Is it plain now? Not by what
we do, by the works of righteousness. Now, it means that there's no
place to be justified. There's a flaw in it. There's
a flaw in it. His work was without sin. And if God sees it, who's it
for? Here's the next question. Who's
it for? Verse 22, "...upon all them that believe." Believe what? They haven't got
a righteousness. That they're naked. It's upon all them that believe.
Believe what? That they're naked and they need a covering. That
they're unrighteous and they need a righteousness. That they're
bad and they need somebody to raise them. That they're a rotten
sinner, worthy of hell, guilty, and they need pardon. That's
all they believe. Why do they believe? Well, even
that's a gift of God. It's not a verse there. Because
boasting is going to be excluded. He said boasting is excluded
by the law of faith. Well, what does it cost? Here's
the next question. What does it cost? Well, I need
it. This righteousness. Christ has
got it. It's for all that believe. Well,
what does it cost? Verse 24, being justified freely. Now, you'll have to walk. I thought it was free. Come,
buy wine, buy milk, without money, without price. Now, if you quit
this, quit that, and come down and say, I asked this question on the
radio this morning. I thought it was a pretty good one. Has anyone in here ever heard
of somebody going to the doctor? And the doctor said to them,
you're too sick. I can't treat you. You're too
sick. You have to go home and come
back when you're better. No, I don't. You're too sick. You go somewhere
else. Huh? Has anybody ever heard of that
foolishness? I'll tell you what my doctor
said to that fellow. He had a little knot on his neck.
He said, come back when it gets a lot bigger. He said, come back
when they get not so big that everybody is saying, what's that
knot on your neck? This is what God says to us in
the Word. You come back when you're guilty. The well don't need a physician,
but who? They that are sick. You come
back when you're sick. When you're sick and tired of
religion, when you're sick and tired of yourself, you come back,
and I'm the great physician. And what it will cost you is
nothing. I freely give it. Freely give
it. By my grace. By my grace. You see this gospel? Three. It's
for the chief of sinners. is for the worst. Mercy is only
for the worst. I wonder if we understand what the Scriptures who says, who Christ was talking
about, publicans and harlots, people, harlots. You're not married parts? You've never
been a harlot, have you? You don't have to be one, but
you have to be as guilty as one. You have to feel like it. Let
me tell you something. Mary Magdalene and Mary the Virgin, Both sat
equal at the feet of Jesus Christ. Yes, sir, buddy, Mary the Virgin
needed pardon for her sins, complete pardon, just as much as Mary
who was a harlot. Mary the Virgin may have never
done it, but she thought it. Mary did it. They both needed
mercy. It's free. Free. A gift. That's what grace meant.
A gift. This gospel is for publicans
and harlots, demon-possessed sinners. I didn't come to call
the righteous, he said. You've got one. But sinners,
need one? Need a righteousness sinner?
Boy, if I could ask of a show of hands right now, I'd do it.
But I ain't going to. You show God your hand. You raise
your hand to God. This is what it means to lift
up the holy hand. You raise your hand to God. Who needs a righteousness? Do it right now to God. Don't
move a muscle. But do it right now from your
heart. Who's going to rotten no good
sinner naked before God, just guilty as charged that needs
a pardon? Me! Me! The first! So who planned all this? This
is good news to me. Isn't this good news? It is to
every sinner. That's what I said. He says,
free, full, free, pardon, final, perfectual, you can't do anything
about it, can't be undone. Who shall lay anything in the
charge of God's elect? Who shall separate us from this
purpose, this salvation? Nobody and no thing can do it.
Once God's, well, I've just answered my question. Who purposed it? God did it. Man has never thought
of such a thing. Man has got all kinds of conditions
and precepts and so forth. He has got to do it, doesn't
he? Makes him improve upon it. He can't do it. God did it. It says there in
verse 25, whom God set forth. God sent forth. God sent his
Son. Why? To be an example? No. Set forth means sent forth. Set forth. Display. Put on display. To do what? Be an example? A propitiation. You know what
propitiation is? You know what pitch is? Remember
going back to Noah's ark? What he smeared all over that
ark? Black pitch. That's the rosin
from a pine tree. It's been crushed. It's the ooze
that comes out of the blood of a pine tree, the blood of a tree,
that covered that ark inside and out. Christ, God sent him
forth to be a bloody mess to cover our soul, to pitch this
ark, to pitch this tabernacle so she won't spring a leak, so
she floats. So there won't be any condemnation
that's coming on everybody else. It's the pitch. Ask old Noah,
what kept that boat afloat? Pitch. Pitch. I love that. He had it all over
him. Noah, pitch, pitch, pitch, pitch,
pitch, pitch, pitch, pitch. You ask an old sinner, what's
your hope? Blood, blood, blood, blood, blood. Blood, blood, blood. What's your hope ahead? But haven't
you done our blood?" Well, God sees what you do. No, God sees
the blood. But you cleaned up your life now. No, it's the blood.
Don't you hear me? It's the blood. Not anything
about me. It's the blood. If it weren't for the blood,
I'd make shipwreck. I'd spring a leak. I'd fall out. Propitiated. That's an easy way
to remember that big word. Propitiated. Propitiated. Well, why? Why did God do all
that last one? Why did he do it? Verse 26 says,
to declare, I say at this time, whose righteousness? Read it. Verse 26. Can everybody
read that? To declare, I say it this time,
whose righteousness? Well, there's Polly. She used
to be a bad girl. Now she's a good girl. Look at
her. She cleaned up her life. She's
a good girl. She's still a sinner. God sees her as righteous though.
Why? His righteousness. She's wearing
a robe. She's wearing a robe. There's
Polly. Look at that robe. Look at that
robe. Where'd you get that, Polly?
You look beautiful. He made it. He made it, he said. Declared his righteousness. And
that's all heaven's going to be about. A bunch of sinners
who've been robed in righteousness. Who did it? He did it. Well,
who saved me? He saved me. Didn't He call me? But didn't He choose Him? No,
He chose me. He saved me. He called me. He
washed me from my sins in His own blood. He made me righteous. He did it. He did it. He did
it. He did it. Is it plain now? The way made
plain? All right. Now, it's one thing