Open your Bibles with me to the
book of Romans, chapter 3. Romans, chapter 3. I've been thinking about this
message for quite some time now. I've entitled this message, Man's
Inability and Christ's Ability. You know, when we talk about
salvation, that's what we're talking about. Talking about
man's inability and Christ's ability. He is able, Christ is
able to save to the uttermost them that come unto the Father
by him. So when we're talking about salvation, I'm not talking
about your ability and my ability, but Christ. God's power and goodness
and grace in Christ. The reason I've been thinking
about this message for a while is based on a question that came
from one of our television listeners. Brother Ron's the one who had
a discussion with him because I wasn't here. So I'll leave
all that to Ron anyway. But anyway, and it had to do
with the issue of what people call the free will of man. The
free will of man. Now I know that's a touchy issue
in our religious generation. Because most people grow up,
like I did, believing that man has a free will, what they call
free will, whatever that is, however they see it. And I know
the people of God, if the Lord has brought you to a saving knowledge
of who you really are, and that's the gospel doctrine of sin, you
know, it's important. We have to understand by God's
word, this issue of sin and what it really means. what it is and
what state it leaves us in and condition so that we're brought
by the Holy Spirit to cry out for mercy to this Savior who
is able, the one and only Savior. So really what we're talking
about is the gospel doctrine of sin and what some call, you
may have heard this term, the total depravity of man. It's
used to describe the biblical doctrine of sin. Some people
label it Calvinism. I don't, because it certainly
didn't begin with John Calvin, and I'm not a Calvinist. You
read a lot of what John... I agree with John Calvin on a
lot of what he believed. I disagree on a lot of what he
believed, too. That has nothing to do with it, you know. In the
end, you know, however you react to things like this, these issues,
you have to understand this. Now, first of all, if you are
a true believer, or if you claim to be a true believer, You should
not get upset or angry at anybody who challenges your faith. Now
that's scriptural. Bible says, be ready to give
an answer. You ought to take that as an
opportunity. I've seen people get angry. Why would you even
question me? Why? You need to be questioned.
I need to be questioned. We all do. Don't be afraid of
that. Take that as an opportunity to
get into the, if you don't know the answer, get into the scripture
and find out. If you do, take them to the scripture.
So we ought to be ready to do that. And then secondly, in the
end, it doesn't really matter in this issue what I think or
what you think. Only thing that really matters
is what God's words say. And I want you to consider it
that way. So many of you have been taught well on this issue
over over the years that you spend here at 13th Street. But some have it and you need
to understand it scripturally. This, for example, the doctrine
of total deprivation, when you hear that term, what do you think
of, you know? You know, I used to think of, you know, some kind
of a monstrous person out here with fangs and a pitchfork and
a tail, you know, trying to just kill everybody he can kill, steal
everything he can steal and all that, you know, that total depravity.
But that's not what total depravity means. Sometimes it's called
total inability. You've heard that as a theological
term, total inability, because what it states is basically this.
And you check me out, is this biblical or not now? Is this
what the Bible says? And I didn't ask you, do you
understand it or can you make it all reconcile with your logic?
I didn't ask you that, because I guarantee you can't. You see,
that's why I read in the opening of our service Romans 11, 33
through 36. God's ways are past finding out. It ought not surprise a human
being that you come to a point in God's workings and God's sovereignty
and God's providence that you just can't figure it all out.
You just can't make it all reconciled because God is infinite. And
His way is past finding out. I'll tell you what we know about
God. We know about God what God tells us. And that's all we know. And then we have to stop. But
this doctrine of total depravity, for example, sometimes called
total inability, because it states that man by his fall into a state
of sin, that's ruined by the fall in Adam, all men sinned
in Adam, that's what the scripture teaches, read it in Romans 5,
1 Corinthians 15, and so many others. Man by his fall into
a state of sin has wholly, completely, lost all ability of will to any
spiritual good. Now I said spiritual good. He's
dead in sin, the scripture says. He's lost all ability to attain
the righteousness that he needs and must have for salvation.
Now did you hear that? Listen to it. He's lost all ability
to attain the righteousness or the holiness, you might say,
that he needs and he must have in order to be saved. Now, is
that scriptural? Well, doesn't the scripture say
salvation is by grace and not by works? That's all that's saying. Somebody looked at me and said,
well, why didn't you just say that? Well, I'm trying to put this
in perspective here for us. And he's lost all ability of
will. to any spiritual good. So as
natural man, now what is the natural man? Scripture talks
about the natural man. That is man as he is born naturally.
That is us as we were born naturally in that state of sin. The natural
man is dead in sin. Now what is it to be dead in
sin? That means to be dead spiritually. It doesn't mean you are dead
physically. Doesn't mean you don't have eyes
to see physical things and ears to hear physical things. Doesn't
mean that you don't have a mind and a will and affections, motives,
goals, all of that. You got all of that as a natural
person. But they are not in the spiritual realm. It's all in
the physical realm, even the sinful realm. I'll show you that
in a minute. And it's not able, man is not able, natural man
is not able by his own power or supposed goodness to attain
righteousness or even to convert himself. You can't convert yourself. I can't convert you. I can't
even convert me. Or even prepare himself for conversion.
That's right. Romans 5.12 that I mentioned.
Wherefore, as by one man's sin entered into the world, death
by sin, And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.
Literally, that would read all sin. Adam, as the representative
of the whole human family, brought the whole human family down into
sin. And this depravity, this spiritual
deadness, this inability goes to the heart. Now, what is the
heart in Scripture? It's the mind. In other words,
sin affects how we think. It's the will. Sin affects what
we want. What we don't want. It's the
affections. What rears up in us emotions
of love and of hate. What we desire. The natural man's
will is in bondage to sin. Now does the Bible teach that?
Well, look at Romans 3. Look at verse 9. Now he says, what then? I'm going
to put this in its context, but just read it here. He says, what
then? Are we better than they? Now, when I'm going through this
message, I'm going to read several scriptures. I want you to keep
that in mind as you read these scriptures. And I want you to
ask yourself each time we read a scripture, am I better than
they? Am I better than they? Well, here's the answer. No.
You see it? No. And then it goes on to say,
in no wise. Now, what does that mean? That's
the old King James way of saying, no way, folks. No way. No way, shape, form, or fashion.
Are we better than they? No. He didn't say no, except
in a few areas. He didn't say no, except in this
way. No, he said, in no way are we
better than they. All right? And then he goes on
to say, for we have before proved, that word proved, you might see
in your concordance, is charged, both Jews and Gentiles, now who
is that? That's the whole world. That
they are all, what? Under sin. Now you all have heard
the familiar passages of scripture, for we all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. That says more than that. That
says not only have we all sinned and come short of the glory of
God, which we have, but it says we're all under sin, under the
power of sin. And then he says in verse 10,
as it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. Now, is there any righteous among
natural man? No, not one. You think you're
the exception? You remember how I always tell
you when you read verses like that, don't get the accept me
syndrome? There's none righteous, no not
one, except me. That's why a lot of people in
their attitude read stuff like that. Because you know they look
at stuff like that and they say, he can't be talking about this
church, he can't be talking about us. He's got to be talking about
somebody else. The scribes, the publicans, the
Pharisees. No, he said all under sin. And
listen, God didn't put these things in His Word just to insult
us, or to make us angry, or to get up and leave. He put it here
to make us realize something about ourselves. And then go
on. Look at verse 11. He says, there's
none that understandeth, except me. What is it you don't understand? I tell you, I know a lot of natural
people. who understand a lot of things.
I was telling you, when I was at UK, my dad always bugged me
to death. He wanted me to be a civil engineer.
And I just wasn't geared that way. So I decided to please him,
I'd do that, and they told me I had to take calculus. I walked
into the first calculus class, and the professor that was down
at Lexington, he got up there and he wrote a formula on the
board that was as long as the board. And he turned around.
He didn't even introduce himself, didn't call roll or anything.
He just come in, wrote that formula on the board. And he turned around
to the class. He said, now, how many of you know the answer to that?
And everybody in the class raised their hand except me. I didn't have any idea what he
was talking about. And I said, nope, not going to
be a civil engineer, not in this lifetime. Couldn't handle it. But they understood it. Well,
you know, he's not talking about calculus here, is he? Not talking
about math. He's not talking about medical
science. He's not talking about accounting. He's not talking
about anything. He's talking about salvation. That's his issue
here. How does God save sinners? Listen
to what he says. There's none that understandeth.
There's none. Now listen to the next line.
There's none that seeketh after God. Who's he talking about here? Just a segment of society, the
dregs, the off-scouring? No, all under sin. Are we better
than they? You see that? He says in verse
12, they are all gone out of the way. Now what way is he talking
about? Well, who is the way? Christ
is the way, isn't He? He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. He says they are all gone out
of the way. He says they are together become
unprofitable. He's not talking about money
or the stock market here. He's talking about salvation
and its blessings. The way men go by nature is unprofitable. It will do you no good. It'll
lead to damnation. All right? There's none that
do, listen to this one now, there's none that doeth good, no not
one. We talk about good people all
the time. I hear people say, he's such a good man, he's such
a good woman. Now what are we talking about? We're talking
about as they compare with other men and women, aren't we? But
that's not what Paul's talking about. He's talking about how
we compare with Christ. He's talking about God's standard
of goodness, which is perfection. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. And then he describes in verses
13, through 18, the whole human race again. Now, what's he talking
about here? This whole thing, the inability. Now think about this. There's
none that seeketh after God. And we command men and women
to seek the Lord. That's what we're told to do.
That's the revealed will of God for the witness of the Gospel. Seek the Lord. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And yet the Scripture tells us
man doesn't have the ability to do that. Why would God command us to do
that when He knows that man doesn't have the ability to do that?
Well, I'm going to give you the answer that the Scripture gives.
You take that up with God. This is God's way, it honors
Him, it glorifies Christ, and it excludes boasting in ourselves.
I know this, that if the preacher or the witness gives out the
command of the gospel to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you believe it, believe in Him, really believe in Him, I know
this, you're a miracle of God's power and grace. You're not the
product of your free will. You're not the product of your
goodness. It's not even the product of you seeking after the Lord.
You do seek Him. You sure do. But I'll tell you
what, He sought you first. It's the product of God's free,
sovereign power and grace. You're a walking, talking miracle.
A born again child of God. Regenerated, converted. And you
know what that means? That means you've been redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, regenerated by the Holy Spirit. That's what
it is. That's an amazing thing. That's
why grace is so amazing. Now, this depravity and spiritual
deadness, this inability goes to the heart. The natural man's
will is in bondage to sin. Let me just read you this. Here's
what old Jeremiah said in his prophecies in Jeremiah 13, 23. You all know this verse, most
of you do. He says, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Now, how did
the Ethiopian get his skin? He's born that way, right? I mean, he wasn't born one way
and then they colored him. No, he's born that way. That's
the natural man. Can the leopard change his spots?
How does a leopard get his spot? He's born that way. Then may
you also do good that are accustomed to doing evil. How does man do
evil? He's born that way. Now I know
the arguments about innocent and babies and all that. I'm
not talking about that this morning. I can tell you what the scripture
is, but I don't have time to do all that this morning. Man's
born in sin. That's what the scripture teaches.
And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin.
You're not born alive spiritually and then all of a sudden when
you make your first choice in life you get dead. No. Man's born in sin. Give you another one, over in
Jeremiah 17, verse 9. Listen to this one. The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? Now whose heart is he talking about? It must be some
monster of a fellow. No, he's talking about us. It's
the heart of the natural man. It's deceitful above all things.
Now does that mean that everybody's out here lying and trying to
cheat each other out of money? No. What's he talking about?
He's talking about a man or a woman's relationship with God. How is
your relationship with God established? How did God save you? Well, when
it comes to the natural man, his heart will deceive him. And his heart is desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Well, how is there any hope for
us? Well, he says in Jeremiah 17, 10, listen to this, I, the
Lord, search the heart. Here's our only hope that the
Lord searches our hearts. By the power of His Spirit through
His Word. The Lord, I, the Lord, search
the heart. I try the rains. You know what
the rains are? That's your motive, what direction
you're going to go in. Like a horse, you put rains on
him, he goes this way, that way, your stops are good. Well, he
says, I try, I test those reigns. What motivates you? Are you motivated
by grace and love and gratitude? Are you motivated by legalism
and mercenary promises of earned reward? How are you motivated?
How am I motivated? I told you about the preacher
who made the statement. He said, well, if I didn't believe in
rewards in heaven, I wouldn't preach. Well, he's not, he's
not a willing, loving bond slave of Christ. He's a mercenary.
He's preaching to see what he can get out of God. That's right. I'm going to tell you, I've told
you all this. I've preached this gospel for over 30 years now. Not one sermon or a thousand
sermons can make me righteous before God. And I preach the
righteousness of God, preach the righteousness of Christ.
But my preaching does not save me, does not make me righteous,
and not one or a thousand sermons earns me anything from God. I'm
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. He earned it. He earned it, I
get it, by grace. Didn't deserve it, and didn't
work for it, didn't earn it. That's what it is. It's unearned
and undeserved. So he said, I try the reins even to give every
man according to his ways. Well, what are our ways? Is your
way the way of self-righteous, legal works, free will religion,
or is it the way of God's grace in Christ? He says, and according
to the fruit of his doings. What is the fruit of your doings?
Paul spoke of that in Romans 7. It's either fruit unto God
or it's fruit unto death. What's fruit unto death? That's
the result of the natural man's imaginations thinking that he's
saved based on something in some way at some stage to some degree
that he's done for God. And fruit unto God is that which
honors him because it's by his goodness, his grace, his power.
You see that? Look at 1 Corinthians. Turn to
this one, 1 Corinthians 2. Verse 14. Now look at 1 Corinthians 2,
14. He says, but the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. Now, who's he talking about there?
Talking about somebody. There's somebody who's a natural
man who won't receive the things of the Spirit of God. Is he talking
about you? Is he talking about me? Yes.
in our natural state. We won't receive the things of
the Spirit of God. Oh, but I will. No, not in your
natural state. They're foolishness unto Him.
The Bible says the preaching of the cross is foolishness unto
them who are perishing. What is the preaching of the
cross? That's the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ to save
me completely from all my sins. Neither can He know them. That
means to understand them. It's just like Stephen. I gave
you the example of Stephen. You know what? Everybody that
picked up a rock and threw it at Stephen, they knew what he
said. But they didn't understand it
savingly, did they? They didn't understand it so
as to be brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
work. But they knew what he said. They
knew he was saying that we're lost and all our works mean nothing. All those efforts, all of our
heritage with Abraham, our circumcision, all of our law keeping under
the law of Moses, you're telling me that's evil, Stephen. Hit
you with a rock. natural man, because they're
spiritually discerned. But he says in verse 15, but
he that is spiritual judgeth or knoweth all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man. Now here's the natural man, here's
the spiritual man. The natural man is man born in
sin, by nature. Spiritual man is the man who's
chosen of God before the foundation of the world. Even though ruined
by the fall, he's been redeemed by the blood of Christ, justified
in him. And he's been regenerated by
the Holy Spirit. He's been given a new heart,
a new mind, a new will. There he is. And he looks to
Christ for all the salvation. Here's the natural man. Here's
the spiritual man. Which one are you? Which one
am I? All right. I claim to be the
spiritual man. Do you? If you claim to be saved,
that's what you're claiming. Now here's my question. What
made the difference? between you as a natural man
and you as a spiritual man. What made the difference? Put
it this way, who made the difference? Did you, by your own free will,
or did God make the difference? Who maketh thee to differ? God
did. Now listen to me. The inability
under which the natural man labors is not an inability to make choices. And I think that's where a lot
of people go wrong on this thing. We make choices every day. You
chose to get up. You chose what clothes to wear.
You chose to come here to worship. Right now, you either choose
to believe what I'm saying, or you'll choose not to believe
it. I hope that you'll go to God's word and check it out there,
because that's the issue. Remember I told you about the
marquee outside a religious organization I saw that said, God said it.
I believe it. That settles it. I said you can
remove one of those lines, remove the I believe it. God said it,
that settles it. Whether you believe it or not.
So check it out with God's word, that's the issue. But we make
choices, listen, the natural man makes choices all the time.
Even moral choices. Even religious choices. Here's
a natural man and he sees a a bag of money laying in the road.
He can choose to take it home and hide it and hoard it for
himself, or he can choose to turn it into the police station. What would you rather him do?
I'd rather him turn it into the police station, wouldn't you?
I'd rather him be honest. Now here's the question. Now,
is that his salvation? The answer is no. Does that make
him righteous before God? No. He made the choice, though. There are benefits with right
choices and consequences with wrong choices. The inability
under which the natural man labors is twofold. Number one, as I
said, the inability to be righteous. Romans 3, 9, there's none righteous,
no, not one. And that includes the inability
to work out a righteousness. Look down at Romans 3 and verse
19. He says, now we know that what
thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. Therefore, by deeds of the law,
there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. Now, what is it to be justified
in God's sight? It is to be declared not guilty. And on the positive side, it
is to be declared righteous before God. Now how does that happen
for a sinner? Not by works. And not by will. It's by the work of Christ on
the cross. Isn't that right? The blood of
Christ washes me clean from all my sins. What can wash away my
sins? What? Nothing but the blood of
Jesus. What can make me whole again? nothing but the blood
of Jesus. Somebody says, oh, but you must receive him. Yes,
you must, but you won't by nature. If left to yourself, you won't.
You say, I did. If you really did, it wasn't
your free will, it was God's will. That's right. That's what the Bible says. And then the second inability
is the inability to choose that which is righteous. Now, let
me put it in these terms, because people have different views of
what's righteous and what's not. It's the inability to choose
that which glorifies God alone, that which exalts Christ alone,
and that which excludes all boasting in ourselves. That's the inability. Look back up at Romans 3, 9,
and I'll hurry here. Let's look in Romans 3, 9. He
says, what then? Are we better than they? He says,
no and no wise. Now, who is the we there? Are
we better than they? Well, that's the Jews. Paul,
the apostle, he was a Jew. And that's the Jews who had the
law of Moses, who sought righteousness by their works under the law.
They were religious. They were dedicated. They were
sincere. Paul said that in Romans 10. He said, I bear them record.
They have a zeal of God. These fellows were zealous. That's the we, the Jews who had
the law of Moses. The same ones, the Hebrew children
taken out of Egypt, preserved in the wilderness, brought into
the promised land. And then he says, are we better
than they? Now who's the they there? Well,
that's the Gentiles who did not have the law of Moses, but who
had only the law of conscience. He talked about that over in
Romans 2 and verse 14 across the page. When the Gentiles,
which have not the law, do by nature, that's naturally, the
things contained in the law. That is, in the Gentile nations,
they have rules and regulations and laws. They speak of the,
what is that, the code of Hammurabi? That's one of them. There's different
ones. The Eightfold Path of Buddha. They had all kinds of laws. The
Muslim, they catch somebody stealing, what they do? They cut off their
hand. Things like that. And he says, they are a law to
themselves, verse 15, which show the work of the law written in
their hearts. This is the natural man who has a sense, a moral
perspective, a sense of right and wrong according to that standard.
Their conscience, that is, What's the conscience? It's that which
accuses or excuses, also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
mean while accusing or else excusing one another. So here's the Jews. They had the law. They broke
the law. Here's the Gentiles. They had
the law of conscience. They broke the law. Are we better
than they? This comparison, when he says,
are we better than they? You know what this comparison
is proclaimed in light of? Go back to Romans 1. It's proclaimed
in light of the revelation of what is called the righteousness
of God. It's kind of like saying this,
now here's the Jews, how do they stand under the righteousness
of God? And here are the Gentiles, how
do they stand under the righteousness of God? Now are we better than
they? Look what he says in Romans 1.16. He says, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, the good news of Christ. For it is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now the Greek was a way
at that time of referring to the Gentiles generally, not just
the people who are from Greece, because it was a Greek world.
And he says in verse 17, for therein, in that gospel of Christ,
is the righteousness of God revealed. From faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. Now, I tell people
all the time that whether you agree with what I'm saying or
you disagree, one thing you need to do if you're going to understand
the Bible is look at that phrase in verse 17, the righteousness
of God, and read the Bible and study and find out what that
is. Because right there, you're talking
about the heart of the gospel. What is this righteousness of
God? Well, it's Christ and Him crucified. That's what it is. And what happens
beginning at verse 18 all the way over to Romans 3 and verse
21, or verse 20 rather, here's what happens. Paul is going to
prove why we need the righteousness of God. Now in the gospel, the
righteousness of God is revealed, not the righteousness of men.
The righteousness of men will do us no good. We've got to have
the righteousness of God, whatever that is. Why? Why do I have to
have that? Well, what about the Jews? Do
they need it? Yeah, they do. For salvation? Well, what about
all those Gentiles? We know they need it. Look at
that Gentile. Those Gentile dogs. Those perverts,
those immoral people. Yeah, they need the righteousness
of God. I can see that, but what about the Jews? Are we better
than they? And what he does, he brings the
whole world in guilty before God in Adam. And by practice,
verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. And he goes right on down, showing the sins
of both Jew and Gentile And concludes over in Romans 3 and verse 9,
are we better than they? No, in no wise. We proved before,
Jew and Gentile, all under sin. Now, whether you believe in,
trust, or submit to the righteousness of God or not, I can tell you
one thing, you need it. You need it. And if you don't have it, you'll
perish in eternity. Am I right? Eternal damnation,
that's what the scripture says. If you come before God, at His
judgment seat, pleading anything other than this righteousness
of God, you will be damned forever. That's how serious this thing
is. You may be American, that will do you no good. You may
be a physical descendant of Abraham, it will do you no good. You may
have done your best to keep the law, you will fall short. You
may have preached in his name, cast out demons, done many wonderful
works. You may fast twice in the week. You may give more than your tithes
and offerings. You may make missionary trips
to Haiti or Africa or wherever. But if you stand before a holy
God without the righteousness of God, you will be damned forever. Now, is it important that we
know what this righteousness of God is? Of course it is. What
is it? Well, the salvation of sinners
has nothing to do with our ability to be righteous. but all to do
with Christ's ability to be righteous and to work out righteousness
for His people. Look at Romans 3 and verse 21. He says, But now the righteousness
of God without the law was manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. What's that talking about? That's
not talking about your faith or my faith. That's talking about
the faith of Christ, His faithfulness. Now what was He faithful to do?
Well, He said it in His high priestly prayer in John 17. He
said, I have finished the work that you've given me. Literally,
I've accomplished all that you gave me to do. What did He come
into this world to do? His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall what? Save His people from their sins. Did He do it? You bet He did.
He didn't try to save his people. He didn't make salvation available
to his people. You know what he did? He saved
them. How did he do it? He redeemed them by his blood. Look at it. He said, by faith
of Jesus Christ unto all, that is, it's to be preached to Jew
and Gentile. We're not to say, well, I'm not
going to preach it to this fellow, but I will to this one over here.
It's unto all. We're to preach the gospel. He
said, go into all the land. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel. And it's upon all them that believe.
That upon all, I believe it's literally saying they're clothed
with the righteousness of God. And how do you know they're clothed
with the righteousness of God? Because they believe. Their believing
is not their righteousness. The faithfulness of Christ to
do that work. It's the merits of His work.
Which is their righteousness. It's His blood. Their believing
receives it. And He says there's no difference
for all sin that comes short of the glory of God. Look at
verse 24. Being justified freely, unconditionally, without a cause,
by His grace, unearned and undeserved, through what? He believed of
His own free will? No. Through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus. the redemptive work of Christ.
And then look at Romans 4, turn the page there, Romans 4 and
verse 6. We see here that this righteousness
of God, now this righteousness of God is the entire merit of
the work of Jesus Christ, the God-man for his people whom God
gave him before the foundation of the world. That's what it
is. It's found in Christ. Are you
seeking righteousness? Well, seek it where you can find
it, in Christ. Don't seek it in the church. Don't seek it
in your baptism. Don't seek it in your profession. Don't seek
it even in your confession. Don't seek it in anything you
do or don't do, try to do, promise to do. Seek it in Christ. He is my righteousness. He alone is my righteousness.
He is all my righteousness and He is all I need. Because if
I have Him, I have it all. Isn't that right? The forgiveness
of sins by Christ. Justification before a holy God
in Christ. For there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ. Eternal life and glory,
all the blessings of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's work
in us. You know where that comes from? It comes from Christ. He told His disciples that. He
said, it's expedient or necessary for you that I go away. For if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come. There'll be no
comfort for Him to bring. Unless Christ died and was buried
and rose again the third day, there'd be no life for sinners.
We're dead spiritually. We need life. Where are we going
to get it from? From Christ. In Romans 4, verse 6, he says,
Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. This righteousness
of God, how is it applied to a sinner? By imputation. What
does that mean? It means God charges it to my
account. God charged Christ with the sins
of His people. Our sins were imputed, charged
to Him, so that God does not charge them to us, His people. Let me tell you something, if
He doesn't charge you with sin, He cannot send you to hell. Justice
would be perverted if He did. So if He charges me with, if
He doesn't charge me with sin, what does He charge me with?
Righteousness. Whose? Christ. It's laid to my account.
And he says, God imputeth righteousness without work, saying, blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now
turn to Romans 10. So it's the righteousness of
God is the merit of the work of Jesus Christ, the God-man
for His people as our substitute and surety. Having our sins imputed,
charged, accounted to Him, and He died, suffered, bled, and
died. And listen, those sins were his
because God charged them to his account. He wasn't, listen, he
wasn't made a sinner. He wasn't contaminated. He wasn't
corrupted. He didn't become what I am. I
hear these preachers say that he had to become everything that
I am. Well, I'll tell you what I am. I'm a sinner and he didn't
become a sinner. By nature, I'm a God-hater. He
didn't become a God-hater. By nature, I'm an unbeliever.
His faith did not fail on that cross. Even when he was separated
from God, which is such an awesome thought that we can't explain
it, he still said, my God, didn't he? My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And his last words, Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit. His faith failed not. He didn't
become an unbeliever on that cross. Now he died for the sin
of unbelief charged to him. You see the difference? I'll
tell you, it's heresy to say that he had to become what I
am. That's heresy. Wake up! That's what it is. He's not a sinner. Never was.
But look here in Romans 10. He says in verse four, for Christ
is the end, the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. This righteousness of God, which
is the merits of Christ's work on the cross for me, is imputed,
charged to me, and by the power of God the Holy Spirit, I receive
him by faith. You see that? I submit to him,
and God gives me that ability. The reason men cannot of their
own free will believe is because of ignorance, darkness. We don't know anything about
this righteousness of God until God reveals it to us. And the
reason men cannot receive it by faith is because of self-righteousness
and self-love and pride. I'm going to talk about that
next week a little bit. You see, we've got to be justified
before God, and we've got to be born again by the Spirit.
You must be born again, or you cannot see, that means to know
and understand, or enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Now how's
a sinner born again? It's not by his will, it's by
God's will, and God's will alone, that he's born again by the Spirit.