Matthew 23, as I said, the title of this
message is Religion or True Faith? And most of you, most of you in here who know
and love the gospel, who have had the gospel revealed
to you. Most of you were brought out
of religion, weren't you? I'm sure nearly all of you can
nod your heads to that. You were brought out of religion
and God revealed the true God to you, the true gospel to you. You used to believe another one.
which was not another. He used to worship a God who
was not God at all. Is that right? John, Sheetley,
that's you, Sherry, Heather, most everybody in here who has
had the true gospel revealed to them, who know and love the
gospel. Well, I hope, and you'll be able to relate to what I'm
saying this morning. you'll be able to enter into
what the Lord says here in Matthew 23. And I'm going to, I hope by the
power of the God Spirit, clearly show the differences between
religion and true saving faith. Salvation, or you might want
to say it's the difference between just going to church and being
in the church. We'll give you seven or eight
marks of religion, and then we'll give you several marks of true
faith over in Romans 3. This is where the Lord is describing
these religionists who are called scribes and Pharisees. They were
religious. They looked it, they acted it.
They were churchgoers. All right? And he gives several
marks of this hypocritical religion, of the religionists. Look at
verse 3. He says, all therefore, he said
the scribes, verse 2, and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. sit in the
place of leadership, in the temple, in the tabernacle, and all therefore,
verse 3, all whatever they bid you observe, if they read the
scriptures and the things from the scriptures, observe and do.
But do not ye after their works. Now, here's the first thing about
these religions. and do not. They say and do not. Religion today is talk, talk,
talk. Everybody's got something to
say. Men and women. Everybody's got something to
say. Everybody wants to say something,
but nobody wants to hear what God's Word says to them. They've
got time for that. Talk, talk, talk. Religionists are talkers. You
ever run into any? Where you want. There's one person in here who
I knew when they were in religion. When they first came to me, oh
my, they were so full of talk. And when the Lord began to reveal
the gospel to that person, they began to be quiet. You can't hear with your mouth
open. But religionists have all the answers, don't they? They
don't even know the questions. They've got all the answers.
Don't even know the question. Full of words. but ignorant of
God's word. Christ said they say and do not. Say they believe the Bible and
do not. Here's another thing, verse 5
on down there. The Lord says, well, verse 4
is one. He said they bind heavy burdens,
grievous to be born, lay them on men's shoulders, but they
themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Make
heavy, hard restrictions. Strict standards that they lay
down on the people. Heavy burdens on the people. And they don't keep them themselves. And they don't make any attempt
to remove it. They want men under their yoke. Verse 5 says, All their works
they do for to be seen of men. What they do, they do to be seen
of men. They make broad their phylacteries,
enlarge the borders of their garments, love the uppermost
rooms at feasts, the chief seats in the synagogue, greetings in
the markets, rabbi or reverend, reverend, doctor, doctor, teacher, priest,
father, whatever. Call no man, Christ said, verse
9. Verse 8, Be not called rabbi or reverend. Psalm 111 verse
9 says, Holy and reverend is his name. No man deserves that
title. Be not ye called rabbi, one is
your master, even Christ. All are your brethren, all are
equal. Call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. Talk about
a man who is not your father. Call your father your father,
yes. The scriptures do. But don't call a man who didn't
give birth to you, your father. He's not. You have one father,
which is in heaven. One father. But he says here
in verse 5, they do what they do to be seen of men. They like
the uppermost seats and like titles and so forth. Broad their
phylacteries. What's a phylactery? Do you know
what a phylactery is? A phylactery is a scripture verses
that these Pharisees wore. They actually got scripture verses
like Isaiah and Psalms or whatever and put them in little boxes
and wore them on their heads. So they make broad their phylactery.
They wore some, depending on how many scriptures you knew,
and I think they had to pretty much be able to quote them. Depending
on how religious you were, how big your phylactery was. If you
was real religious, you just had a big box this big on your
head, you know. Man, ain't he religious. Look
at that phylactery. What's the equivalent today?
Be about like wearing a t-shirt, you know, with the scriptures
on, or a bumper sticker. Make broad day bumper stickers.
And however many bumper stickers you got, telling how much you
love Jesus is how religious Why do they do that? To be seen
of man. To let everybody know, I love
Jesus. That's what I saw on a bumper
sticker yesterday. A woman said, I heart Jesus. You know, I love Jesus. Whose
name's first? Well, I. Why are they doing that? To tell
everybody how much they love Jesus. To be seen of men. Read on. Down here it says they love to
pray. Verse 14, make pretense of prayer. Public prayer. Why do most people
pray in public? To be seen of men. I had a fellow
actually ask me one time. We were on the subject. He said,
well, how are people going to know if you're a Christian? He said, I want everybody to
see that I'm a Christian. Case closed. They do what they do
to be seen of men. People, we don't pray so that
people will know we're praying Christians. Matthew 6, Christ
said, when you pray, don't let your right hand know what your
left hand is doing. When you do your alms, don't do what you
do to be seen of men. Be careful, he said. Take great
care that you don't do what you're doing so that other people see
you and say, well, look what he's doing. He must be a Christian. He's praying. Is there anybody that can do
that? If there's anybody that can actually do that in public?
without a mind at all to people looking at them, then fine. But one man on the top side of
this earth can do that. They're conscious of other people
looking at them. That's religion. Did you ever
do that? Joe and Nancy, did you all pray
in restaurants? Well, like I said, if a person
can do it without consciousness of anybody looking at them, then
fine. But if they are at all conscious of people looking at
them and what they're thinking about them, bad. To be seen. All to be seen. To
be seen. To be seen. That's a mark of
religion. Look at verse 13. Here's another one. Verse 13. One of these scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. You neither
go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to
go in. Shut up the kingdom. They reject the gospel. Religion
rejects the gospel and doesn't want anybody else
believing it either. Men and women are so devoted
to their denominations to their so-called churches and organizations,
to their traditions and so forth, to their free will doctrine.
Men are so married to their free will doctrine that they absolutely
thumbs down, reject the gospel of God's sovereign grace, and
don't want anybody else believing it either. They'll tell you to
go anywhere. It doesn't matter where it is.
Anywhere but down there where they preach grace. Isn't that
so? You ever had anybody do that to you? Now, I've told you about
the old church, haven't I? I've told you. So maybe somebody
hasn't heard of this. There's a fellow years ago that moved
into town up in Ashland and asked a fellow he worked with, who
was a member of 13th Street Church, asked the fellow where—no, no,
no, no, he asked somebody else. He asked somebody else. where
he could go to church. And the fellow said, go anywhere
but 13th Street. That's what he said. He said,
go anywhere but there. Go to a Catholic. Go down to
a Jewish synagogue. Go to the Islamic temple. Go anywhere but down there where
they preach God as God, and Christ as true Savior, and man as dead
sinner. Anywhere but there. That's what the Lord is saying
here. They reject it, and they don't want anybody else believing
it either. Well, as it ended up, that fellow, he ended up
where the gospel was, and he stayed there for forty years.
Well, shut up the kingdom. That's not the old church, that's
another story. All right, verse 14, here's another thing. Woe
unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Now these are the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ here. I'm not just bashing religion
this morning, I'm telling you what Jesus Christ said. Maybe somebody in here is in
it. Verse 15, "'Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows' houses, and
for a pretense make a long prayer. Therefore you shall receive a
greater damnation.'" Devour widows' houses. How's that? Money. Money is the root of religion
today, isn't it? You will not, you cannot turn
off the TV and watch a religious program without that fellow or
woman or whoever asking you for money. You cannot. It will not
happen, will it? It just won't happen. Somewhere
along the line, they're going to ask you for money. And it
takes a lot of money. It takes a lot of money to run
these big businesses. That's all they are. big religious
organization. It takes a lot of money. And
do you know who the principal supporters of these big religious
organizations are? Ask people who have done these
surveys and so forth of those who watch and support. The majority
of those who support this religion going on today are women. And that with women. Lord knew what he was talking
about. You see, widows, women, women without a husband to consult,
you know, a multitude of counselors are safety. That could apply to a widow work,
couldn't it? Sure it could. Widow women, a
woman without a husband or a man without a wife to consult, to
keep in check, to compare some Discretion, you know, just taken
in, gullible by these fellows, gullible to these fellows. Easy
prey to a slick-dressing, slick-talking preacher. Look at another thing
here, verse 15. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, to come up a sea of land and make one proselyte.
When he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell
than yourself. A proselyte. He says they encompass
sea and land, go to great lengths to make one proselyte. What's proselyte? That's a member,
that's a convert is what that is. A convert, a member of their
organization. Go out to great lengths, ride
bicycles for miles, or whatever. cup of sea and land, door to
door, to make one member. Why are they doing it? So that
people will hear the gospel and bow the knee to the sovereign
God? So that people will hear about the blood of Christ that
cleanses us from all sin? So that people will glorify God
so that sinners will be brought from darkness into his light? So that people will be brought
to Christ to glorify him, to know him, to win Christ and be
proud of him? No, to be a Mormon, to be a member of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church, to be a member of the Jehovah Witness, or to
be a member, for that matter, of the Baptist Church. This is
what Christ said. This is what Christ said. To
make one proselyte. And when they make that person
their member of their organization, they're twofold a child of hell.
They're lost then, they were in darkness of sin then, now
they got religion, they're in double darkness. And refuge lies. Cup of sea and land. And they do it by any means they
can, don't they? You know how they approach people
now? The whole crux of this door-to-door stuff now is family issues. I
had two of them approach me recently. I was out shoveling manure in
the barn, and two of them came up, two women, and said, Sir,
are you interested in the family issues? Are you interested in
the needs of our children and families? Do we have fathers
that are better fathers and mothers that are better mothers and homes
that stay together? And so, well, certainly. Who's
not? See, it's sneakity. family issues. Trying to get a proselyte. This
is not about the glory of God or the salvation of a soul. It's
about a member of their organization. Look at the next thing, verse
23. Turn down, look down there. Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, you pay tithe of men, and it's incumbent, very
careful, taken up with little things. Why, you've got to dress
this way or that way or wear your hair a certain way or your
beard or your whatever it may be, you know, drive this certain.
You've got to look active. Just taking up a little thing.
Tithe. Better tithe. When preachers get on the subject
of money, it'll be tithing. Tithe. Tithe. Did you hear tithing?
John, did you hear tithing? Where you came from? Henry? Tithing? Did the preacher stand
up and say, Tithe, God will bless you. You better tithe now or
he'll kill your cattle or your children or something. Tithe
now. Give every ten percent. Belongs to the Lord. Better give
it now. If you do, he'll bless you. Did
you hear that? Sure you did. Did you hear that? You ever heard that darned out?
Tithe. Preach tithing. Little things,
you know. Read on, it says, if omitted
the weightier matters, weightier matters of the law, judgment,
which are judgment, mercy, and faith. Judgment. How can a man
be just and justified? Mercy. The fact that we need
it before the law, we better have mercy. Faith, what is it? How is a man
saved? What is saving faith? Now, that's what matters. Oh,
my, blind guides, he says, straining the nets, swallow a camel. Money,
you see how money, Christ is the one that said the love of
money is the root of all evil. Here's another thing, verse 27,
Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, you like whited sepulchre.
Graves, that is, appear, which indeed appear beautiful outward,
look good outwardly, but are within full of dead men's bones
and uncleanliness. Appear beautiful. Here's another
mark. They appear beautiful, but they're dead. Why did gravestones
look so moral? Religionists, do you know some
people that you work with, people you know, neighbors? Oh, they're
so moral, aren't they? So moral, clean as a hound's
tooth, the old saying goes. So moral, but so dead, this is
what Christ said, so dead like a grave, white, outwardly spick
and span, but decay within, like a dead body. We've seen, everyone in here
has gone to a funeral and seen a dead body lying in a casket.
And what nearly everyone says is, oh, they look so good. As
a matter of fact, after the embalmer gets done with us, we'll look
better than we've ever looked. And religion will clean you up.
It'll clean up your act, but it won't put away one sin. It's so moral. and become advocates
against drinking and smoking and cussing and swearing, buddy.
But within they hate God. That's so. You know why religionists look so good, so
moral? It's like these dead bodies.
You know what they do to a body, don't you? They make it look
real good on the outside and take the blood out of it. That's this body of religion
today. Ain't no blood in it. Boy, it
looks all flowery. It's all flowery, isn't it? So
good looking. Full of the formaldehyde of pride
is what it's full of. Formaldehyde of pride, if you
take a note. No blood in it. Look at verse 28. Here's another
thing. He says, "...outwardly appear righteous unto men, within
ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." Outwardly righteous.
I've had people tell me this before and tell my wife this. I say, well, you don't look like
a preacher. And boy, I'm thinking, thank
you. Because you can spot them, can't
you? Can you spot them? Oh, I've walked
in Now, like that wedding yesterday, man, you knew who he was, didn't
you? You knew who the preacher was. I've walked in restaurants,
and I'd point to a fellow. One time, I was with Fred Wood
down at Winston-Salem, and we walked in a restaurant, and over
there in the midst of a group right in the middle, center of
attention, people all around him, you know, he had his hair
a certain way, and I said, Fred, correct me if I'm wrong, right
there's a preacher in there. He said, yep, he brings it down
here so and so. He's saying you've got to look
a certain way. If you're going to be religious, don't you? You've got to look religious.
And you've got to talk religious. And you better be praying. You
better look religious. Christ said that's what religious
do. They like to look religious. Outwardly appear righteous, but
he says within, full of hypocrisy. Oh my. Do you know, and I don't
know how to have you turn, but you can write this verse down.
Luke 16, 15. Luke 16, 15. Our Lord said, that
which is highly esteemed among men. is an abomination to God. And those who make an attempt
to look the most religious, and people think, oh, they're
so religious, is an abomination to God Almighty. That's so. Christ said that.
Look at verse 29. He says, "...whoa unto you scribes
and Pharisees and hypocrites, build the tombs of the prophets,
and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous." What that means
is they brag on the dead and kill the living. When Moses came along, they despised
Moses and bragged on Abraham. Elijah came along. They despised
Elijah and bragged on Moses. When the apostles came along,
they despised the apostles and bragged on Elijah. When the Reformers—Martin Luther
and so on—came along, they despised them and bragged on the apostles. And when present gospel preachers
now, present men who are preaching the same thing, Luther and Knox
and Whitefield and all are preaching, they despise them and brag on
Luther. Oh yes, you'll hear these fellows
talking about Whitefield and Spurgeon and Luther, who absolutely
detest the gospel they preach. Build the tombs of the prophets. and kill the apostles. Isn't
that so? All right, let me give you some marks
of true faith. That's religion. Were you in
it? Did you hear all that and see all that, where you came
from? Did you think that? Were you ever in that? Jeanette, is that the way you
were, the way your preacher was? Wasn't it, John? Those of you
who came out of religion, Ricky, were you religious? That's pretty much the way it
was, wasn't it? Huh? Yeah, it was. All right, here's several
marks of true faith. Now, John Newton gave these.
Look over at Romans chapter 3. Turn over there. No, don't turn
there yet. Don't turn there yet. Turn over
to the book of Genesis, chapter 1. We're going to go to Romans
3. You could find it if you want.
But here's several marks of true faith. This was given by John
Newton, a great preacher, John Newton, whom everybody sings
his hymn, don't they? Oh, how everybody loves John
Newton's hymn. You know what John Newton's hymn
is, don't you? The one he wrote? Amazing Grace. Oh, how everybody
brags on John Newton. John Newton wouldn't come within
a mile of these places where they're singing at. Well, he said these seven things
here, true saving faith. Number one, if you take a note,
number one, true saving faith, true mark of salvation is one
who knows who God is, a knowledge of who God is. That's where saving
faith starts. A knowledge of who God is. Our Lord said in John 17.3, I'd
love to let Andrew or Jennifer or Hannah stand up and say this. Could you do it? Jennifer said so. She said she
could. I will not do it. But our Lord
said, do you know, adults, what it says? John 17.3. Christ said,
this is life eternal. that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. This is
eternal life. This is salvation. That they,
speaking of His people, that they might know the Only true
God. God who is only God. The God
who is truly God. This is salvation. This is a
mark of saving faith. And you know where it starts?
It starts where the Bible does. Look over in the Scripture. Verse 1. Genesis 1, verse 1. This is where saving faith starts.
In the beginning, God created. that God is the Creator. Sounds simple, doesn't it? We
say every good Christian believes that. Oh, no, they don't. No,
no, they don't. Some kind of evolutionary creation
is accepted now. It's down the line. Even the
Pope. Why did I bring him up? Well,
he believes that. Why is it so important we believe
God created everything? Well, let me see if I can give
an illustration. There's a desk in my house. There's
a desk in my house that I made. I took the wood, I planed it
down, I cut it to size, measured, drew a plan, measured, cut, started
cutting, gluing, nailing. Sanding, varnishing, finishing.
I made that table. Who does that table belong to? Me. Why? I am the creator. All right. What can I do with that table?
What the table allows me to do? Huh? Do I have to ask the table, may
I have your permission to do whatever? No. I made the table. Cannot I do with my own what
I will? Yes, I can. If I wanted to throw it in the
fire, could I do it? I sure could. If I wanted to
leave it where it's at for a good use, for my glory, can I do that? I sure can. That's God. He's Creator. He can create one
vessel of honor and throw it in the fire. That's absolute
predestination. I don't care what you call it,
that's God. Or he can make one a vessel under
his honor and save that person from the fire. He can do it,
can't he? He's creator. You see the necessity
of believing that God created all things. Creator. He's sovereign. God's God. Our
God's God. They asked David in Psalm 115.
They said, David, here's our God. Here's our God right over
there on the shelf, around my neck. Here's my God. He just does what we allow Him
to do. We let God be God. We let God
into our hearts. He was knocking, and oh, we didn't
want, but we finally decided. This is our God. They said, David,
what about your God? He said, My God's in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. David said, Your God does what
you want him to. My God does what he wants to. And you do what he wants to.
That's God. Rock Barnard one time was sitting,
well, he was at a meeting one time. He was preaching what I'm
preaching. You think not? Buy a tape. From start to finish,
he was screaming this, God in God! Well, he was preaching that
message one time, and there was some old idol-worshipping Armenian
sitting in there, and he did not like what Barnard was preaching,
and he had asked Barnard over for dinner before that, and he
couldn't take it back. So Barnard went over to dinner
with that fellow, that day and said they were sitting at dinner
and that fellow wasn't touching his food, Barnard was, he was
eating. Finally the fellow kind of pushed
away from the table and said, Brother Mark, he said, my God
won't do what you say. Barnard kept on eating. He told,
I think he told my dad later on, he said, I figured I better
get my food eaten before I get thrown out of there. He said,
I was hungry and I wanted to finish my lunch. And so he said,
Preacher, didn't you hear what I said? I said, my God won't
do what you say. Arno put his fork down. He said,
I suspect you're right. Your God won't. But the God of
the Bible will. He does what he will. in the
armies of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say, You can't do that. Yes, he can. This is true
saving faith. Knowledge of a God who is God. Anybody who doesn't worship that
God is an idolater. He's not saved. And I don't care how much zeal
they've got for their God. If their God's not God, they're
just religious. They're not saved. You're saying a man must believe
in the sovereign grace of God to be saved? That's exactly what
I'm saying. You're saying a man must believe that God, the elect
Son of Salvation, to be saved? That's exactly what I'm saying.
Why? Because God said it first. Are
you saying? No, I'm not. No, I'm not. God's
saying it. God's saying it. I'm just repeating
it. Here's another mark. Here's another
mark. True saving faith. True saving
faith is a knowledge of who man is. Joe, if you find out who God
is, you'll find out what man is, won't you? You see God like Isaiah saw Him
in chapter 6, you see God as He is, boy, you'll see yourself
as you are. Won't you? Didn't you all? Didn't you? Didn't you, Roberta? I bet you you're one of those
sickly ones. I know you are. One of those self-righteous religious
women. Wore your hair up in a bun. You'll see who you are. A no-good,
wretched sinner. Worthy of that damnation I was
talking about a while ago. Not worthy to be saved. Not having
a right to be saved. Not that God ought to save you. That you come to the conclusion
that God ought not to do anything but damn me. What man is. What man is. I want you to look
at something. Genesis chapter 1. Look there if you're still
there. Genesis 1. I want you to look at something. Most people have a high notion
of man. They have high thoughts of man.
They have low thoughts of God. Don't they? Most people feel
like man started out low and is getting high. That's what
evolution believes. Don't they? That man started
out low like a monkey and he's gradually evolving. Well, you
know, the opposite is true. Man started out high and got
real low, low as you can get. I'll show you. Genesis 1, look
at verse 31. God, after he made man, he saw
everything that he'd made, and behold, it was very good, creating
the image of God. Yes, man was creating the image
of God. A marvelous creature, a wonderful creature in the image
of God Almighty, created high, higher than any other creature,
more noble than any other creature. Now, I don't know if you've ever
seen this before. This is the first description
of man, a high and noble being. Now look at the last words in
the book of Genesis. This means in the beginning,
Genesis. Look at Genesis chapter 50. A man started high, and God looked
at him and said, he's very good. Look at the last words in the
book of Genesis. So Joseph died, being 110 years
old, and they embalmed him, and he put in a coffin in Egypt. Right there. See, this is the
book. This is the beginning. of all theology or understanding. This is it. This is the book
where the foundation of all theology, or that is, who God is, what
man is, what salvation is, this is where it starts. Stan, this
is it. It's the beginning. And it started out saying man
was created high, but in the end it said he's dead. He's in
a coffin in a pagan land. Isn't that striking? That's man. He's dead. Look at
Isaiah 1 sometime for yourself. Not right now, but sometime for
yourself. Read what God says about man. It's not a pretty picture. He
says, from the sole of your feet to the top of your head, There's
no soundness in us. Listen to the description. This
is Isaiah 1. He says there's no soundness
in us. Nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Putrefying sores which have not
been bound up, neither any ointment poured in. Putrefying. Have you
ever seen a putrefying sore? I was telling you about that
horse of mine that had a big abscess on her leg. One day it
just exploded. And it was absolutely nauseating.
The stuff, the putrefaction that came out of her leg. I would
make you throw up now if I really described it to you. He says
that's man! God says that's us! That's what the Bible says about
man. a sore, and that's all that comes
out of these mouths of man, by nature. To God, to God, that same place, Isaiah 64, 6,
says, are righteousnesses, man's religion, man's good works. Barbara, he gives an absolutely
Nauseating description of man's good works, doesn't it? You know
what he's describing, don't you there? Filthy rags. He comes up with absolutely the
worst thing he can think of. Most stinking. He says, that's
man's goodness. Unless it's washed in the blood
of Christ, that work, unless it's for the glory of God, to
the name of Christ, with no thought of self or self-glory to itself,
God says, it just stinks to me. Do you see why religion is such
an abomination to God? Why? Self-glory. I look over Romans 3. Romans
chapter 3, all right? True faith. True faith is a knowledge. You say, well, there's some goodness
in everyone. No, there's not! Romans 3 says, there's none that
do it good. John, is that what the Scripture
says? None, none, not one, he says. Isn't that what he says? There's none that do it. Look
at it, all right? Look for ourselves here. Romans 3. Romans 3, verse
10, there is none righteous. Well, he's such a righteous good
man. No! No! Oh, but look at him. No! Oh, preacher, now he's gotten.
No. Read on. There's none that understand
that. None that think of that. They're all gone out of the way.
Together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
Their tongues, deceit, poison of asp under their lips. Mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. You people are, some of you,
if not most of you, are regenerated. The salt of the earth. Tell me
what comes out of your mouth quickest. Tell me what comes
out of your mouth the quickest. Bissing? Or murmuring? Huh? Tell me what
comes. A compliment? or a backbiting
gossip. Tell me! You know yourself, don't
you? Yes, this is us, this is man. Read on. Destruction and misery
in their way, swift to shed blood, way of peace they've not known,
no fear of God before their eyes. Verse 19 says, The law sayeth.
Now we know, salvation knows it, saving faith knows it. Whatsoever the law sayeth, it
says to them that are under the law, why? What's the law say? It says one thing. Guilty. G-U-I-L-T-Y. Guilty. If you know God, you know who
man is, what man is. Right? All right. Now, if you know those two things, if you know those two things,
God's going to bring you to this third thing. You know what it is? You know
who God is. Holy, just, will by no means
clear the guilty. You know what you are? Guilty.
Guilty. Guilty. If you find that out,
by God's Spirit, through the preaching of His Word, you'll
find this third thing out. You'll find out who Christ is.
It's where the good news comes in. See, nobody hears the good
news until they hear the bad news. Nobody really needs mercy
unless they're guilty. What's saving faith? It's to
feel guilty and it's to seek Christ. Seek Christ. Look here, if you're
still in Romans 3, look at verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of
the law, verse 20, no flesh shall be justified in this sight. The
law is just the knowledge of sin. Now, but now, but now. When? Later, maybe, hopefully,
if, if, no, but now. The righteousness of God. Acceptance
with God, holiness with God, favor of God, the love, the mercy,
the grace of God. But now the righteousness of
God without the law, that is, without us keeping it, is manifested,
clearly seen, witnessed by the law and the prophet. What is
it, preacher? What is it, Paul? Verse 22, the
righteousness of God which is by faith, Oeth, of Jesus Christ
unto all them that believe. unto all, and upon all, that
work the hardest, that live their best, that give up this and give
up that, no, that believeth, who looketh. Who looketh, who believeth the
faith of Christ. What's that say? Verse 24 says,
justified freely. What's that mean?