Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me today to Romans 3. Romans 3. I want to start off by reading
two verses, verses 19 and 20, Romans 3. 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 the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. When we read or see the law of
God, what does it tell us? Some of us, maybe it says nothing
to us, we might think. I'm talking about the Mosaic
Law, the Ten Commandments, if you will. What does God Almighty
tell us here that the law is telling us? It tells us we are
guilty before God. Not that we might be guilty,
but we are guilty before God. In fact, here it says it, here
it stops our mouth. What does that mean? It makes
us shut up before God. So by keeping the law, and that
is what it means when it says here, by the deeds of the law.
But by keeping the law, it says no flesh will be justified in
his, that is, God's sight. Justification in this passage
means to render just or innocent. So we by no way will be innocent
before God by the deeds of the law. So if by the law we will
not be justified in his sight, how is it that we are justified?
I believe that's an important question we must ask ourselves.
So let's look today at the following things. Our guilt and our justification. Let's look at these two things
in light of what scripture says about them. Some may think or
say they have no guilt. Maybe in your own eyes you do
not have any guilt. But what does God say about it?
After all, he is God, so it matters what he thinks and not what I
or anyone else thinks. James 2 and verse 10 says, for
whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point,
he is guilty of all. James tells us that even if we
keep the law, if we miss one little point, we are guilty of
all. Meaning we do not just break
one point, but we break the whole law. The law of God is much more
than just the 10 commandments. There are hundreds of commands
that come along with the 10. There is no forgiveness in the
law at all. You break or offend in one point,
you are guilty of all. As our text tells us though,
the law shuts our mouth and condemns us as guilty before God. The
reason is, we are dead in trespasses and in sin. In order to obey
God's law, we must have life. But the law cannot give life. Let's turn to Galatians 3 and
verse 21. Galatians 3 and verse 21 says,
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given,
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
been by the law. This is saying that if the law
of God could have given life, then our righteousness should
have been by the law. But scripture says to us right
here that the law could not give us life before God. The law cannot
give life. I like what one preacher said
about this. The law is like an x-ray. It
can point out your problem, but it cannot fix the problem. You
have to have a surgeon for that. We cannot keep even the 10 commandments. The law is hundreds of commandments
summed up in these 10. Christ even narrowed them down
to two. It is not just physically doing
or not doing God's law. Just thinking something against
God's law is a sin. When you think about it, the
law of God instituted sacrifices, which tells us just by the fact
that sacrifices were a part of the law that man would be breaking
God's law. The sacrifices were for sin.
Of course, those sacrifices could never take away sin. However,
not all men know that the law is a glorious condemnation of
death, because all they see it as is a way to please God. They think that they are able
to keep the law. They do not understand that the
law is more than just the Ten Commandments, but even more,
they do not understand who they are. Man cannot and will not
be honest with himself. and say, I sin against God's
law every day and against God. Man cannot even control his thoughts
and cannot control his heart. Even with the two, they are unable
to keep the law of God. The reason being is they do not
have life. God's law cannot give life. It
is not the purpose of the law. It only points out the problem
It does not fix the problem. We are required by God to keep
the whole law completely and perfectly, but we will not be
able to do this. For anyone to think they love
God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength shows they
are deceived. We know why this is so. The heart
they are born with deceives them. They think that just because
they have not physically committed certain acts against the law,
which that is highly suspect to begin with. But it is also
said in scripture that to even think a wrong thought against
God's law means you have broken the whole law. What does it mean
to break God's law? The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. There is no getting around this.
Either you will die, or, by God's grace, another stood in your
place as a substitute who died in your stead. God's word says
that death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. In
Romans 5, we can turn right over there. In verse 12, we can read
this. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. Man in nature never looks at
the law as coming from a holy, just, righteous God. Because
it comes from God himself, the law itself is holy, just, and
good. But they look at the law this
way. They look at how well they think they keep the law compared
to one another. They think they are better than
others or doing better than others because they do not do or they
do do certain things that others may or may not do. However, when
they do this, they are just comparing fallen fallen sinners to themselves,
who may look worse than they do in their eyes. But no man,
when compared to the thrice holy God, will ever measure up to
that standard. It is how we are seen in God's
eyes that matters. We have to see how He views us,
and we have already seen what God says about us in His Word. So then, no flesh will be justified
before God by the deeds of the law. So either doing what the
law says to do or not doing what the law says not to do, if you
do these things and expect justification before God, it will never come. We will never keep God's law
to begin with, but nevertheless, it is true, no flesh will be
justified by the deeds of the law. So natural fallen man will
never see this. You will never see what the law
really says as you were born in Adam unless God intervenes. He will only do this in his son,
Jesus Christ, and only for those given to Christ before the world
began. Because fallen man has no life,
he cannot see this. All he can do is do, do, do. So it is no surprise that there
are those out there that think they can do what the law requires
for acceptance before God. This is what death does. It deceives
you. That old, dead, deceitful, wicked
heart deceives us into believing we have done something to gain
favor in God's eyes. But we are guilty. God tells
us in his word that we are guilty. So if we are guilty, and we are,
how can we be justified? So the law does nothing but condemn
me. So if I cannot work out my own
salvation, and I know I cannot based on scripture, how am I
ever to be justified or righteous before God? How am I to have
life before God? 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 21
reads this way For he hath made him to be sin for us Who knew
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him
This passage is the gospel in a nutshell you might say He took
my place being made sin for me You, if God hath loved you from
before the foundation of the world, he took your place. The
result of him doing that, that I or we might be made, that is
I will be made something I am not by nature. I will be made
the righteousness of God in him. Now I said previously that we
might be justified or righteous. We must have life before God
before we can ever please God. It tells us here that we will
be made this in Christ. Christ is our life. Colossians
3 and 4 reads this way. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Life
can come no other way than by and through Jesus Christ. He
is the way, the truth, and the life. Galatians 3 and 21 reads,
is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
been by the law. So the law, it is evident in
scripture, will not and cannot give us life. The reason this
is so is not because the law has an issue. The law is holy,
just, and good. The problem is with man. The
law is weak through the flesh, the scripture says in Romans
8 and verse 3. The problem is with man who is
totally dead in trespasses and in sin. So Christ, having taken
the place of those for whom he loves, died for them, being made
sin. Who knew no sin? He obeyed the
law of God perfectly. He was the spotless Lamb of God,
sacrificed to God in our stead. It took God to justify us. So because of His death, but
not only that, but Him raising again from the dead and ascending
to the Father's right hand being accepted, He hath assured those
for whom He died that they live in Him. Still, we are all born
dead in trespasses and in sin. Somehow, we must have life before
we can please God. Those whom God hath chosen and
whom Christ was sent to be the propitiation for them, God will
visit them by His Spirit breathing life into them, that is, spiritual
life, because we must have spiritual life. God is spirit and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That which is born of the flesh
is just that, flesh. But that which is born of the
spirit, that is the spirit of God, our spirit. So God by his
spirit gives us life, this spiritual life. He also sends us someone
with the gospel. In hearing that gospel, having
been given life, life from the Spirit of God, and the Spirit
having fruit. In Galatians 5 verses 22 and
23 we read, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
against such there is no law. And this is the fruit of the
Spirit. So this fruit of the Spirit,
there is no law against this. So every believer is equipped
by God to serve Him, to honor Him, to believe Him. Scripture tells us that without
faith it is impossible to please God. We also know that all men
have not faith. In 2 Thessalonians chapter three,
verses one and two, we read, finally brethren, pray for us,
this is Paul speaking, that the word of the Lord may have free
course and be glorified even as it is with you. And that we
may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have
not faith. Faith, this faith, the fruit
of the Spirit, which is of God, must be given to you, or you
will not have it. You cannot work up the Spirit
of God, but Him giving us His Spirit, if He is pleased to do
so, we then, by the fruit of His Spirit, are enabled to then
please God, That is, to believe him and the record he has given
of his son. Again, in our text, in Romans
3, verses 28 through 31, we read, therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing
it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
uncircumcision through faith, do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. There is nothing in God's law
that can justify me. Nothing. But there is in Christ
Jesus. Acts 13 and verses 38 and 39,
we read, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses. I'm not looking to keep God's
law in any way, shape, or form. because I cannot. I have been
made the righteousness of God in Christ and I have been imputed
righteousness through faith by God. I am as righteous as Jesus
Christ himself is if I am in Christ and only if I am in Christ. Does that mean that I go out
and break God's law on purpose? In the flesh, I always do. I
must look to Him for my righteousness, always, and trust Him to work
in me both the will and to do of His good pleasure. Men have
tried to get other men to try to keep God's law. We see it
in scripture. In Acts 15 and verse 24, we read,
For as much as we have heard that certain which went out from
us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying,
ye must be circumcised and keep the law, to whom we gave no such
commandment. Do not let men tell you that
there is any commandment to keep God's law for the believer. We
are told to believe Jesus Christ. He accomplished salvation for
us. We established the law by believing
Jesus Christ. What does this mean? It means
we take sides with God against ourselves, acknowledging that
we cannot keep his law. And we acknowledge that Jesus
Christ was the only man that could ever keep the law of God,
and he did. So you are saying that you believe
that you can just live exactly how you want? Someone might ask
that question. No, I believe Jesus Christ. I
believe he has power to keep me because he says he will and
I know he is all powerful. Does that make me an antinomian?
Maybe. I will live how I want to live.
There's no doubt about that. But I trust God when he says
he will work in me both to will and to do of his good pleasure. I'm not going to throw it that
way one way or the other. What God has created is renewed
in knowledge, this new man. This is a constant battle and
not one that we seem to win very often. But we do because He works
in us both the will and to do of His good pleasure, having
given us all things in Christ. My ability and my strength comes
from Him. It is not just something God
does for us one time and that is it. He continues to do this,
to keep me from myself. From time to time, He allows
me to fall. But by His power and grace, I
get back up, pressing toward the mark, looking for that time
when I will see Him as He is. I am no longer married to the
law. Christ took it out of the way,
nailing it to His cross. Romans 7 and verse 4 reads, Wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that is, Jesus Christ, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. Christ fulfilled the law, every
tittle. Matthew 5, verses 17 and 18 reads
this way. Think not that I am come to destroy
the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. This is Jesus Christ speaking.
For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be
fulfilled. If I look to the law, all I will
see is condemnation, as I in my flesh cannot please God through
the law. I cannot keep the law, whether
it is for righteousness or otherwise. If I look to the law, then I'm
giving sin strength, because that is the strength of sin,
the law. Do I hate the law of God? No.
I want to honor God's law, but in my flesh I cannot. I know
by God's grace that Jesus Christ our Lord kept the law completely. And if I am in him, then I have
kept the law. It is only by faith given by
God that I can please God. This is not of myself, but a
gift of God. This all comes to men and women
who are chosen in Christ and based solely on His work on that
tree. He has bore our sins in His own
body on the tree, being the perfect sacrifice for sin. Sin has no
more power over me because it no longer has what energizes
it to give it strength. The law being put away by Jesus
Christ, my all in all. Romans 10 and verse 4 says, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. If this is not so, then Christ
is dead in vain. For if salvation be of works
of the law in any way, then it is by works and not grace. But
we know that it is by grace, and therefore it is not of works.
Otherwise, grace is no more grace. This is what God says in his
word. Galatians 2.21 reads, I do not frustrate the grace of God.
For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain. I am totally freed from the law
in Christ Jesus, who has made me free from the law of sin and
death. Romans 8 and verse 2 reads, for
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. God tells us in his word that
we are guilty before him because he has given his law to show
us that very thing. It shuts our mouth that we may
become guilty before him. If it does not tell you this,
then it may be that you are still blind and He has not opened your
eyes to it yet. Oh, but it may be you have been
given over to a reprobate mind and will never see this. I cannot
answer that for you. But God be thanked that even
though we are guilty before God, there are some who by the work
of Jesus Christ have been justified before God Almighty. We are by
His power given those things needed to please Him. What do
you want? Christ or the law? Do you want
to establish the law? Then believe Jesus Christ. On WVVACW at 12 noon, you can
hear a portion of one of our Sunday morning messages. Tune in, please, at 12 noon. Or if you can make it, come here
and be with us. We start at 10.30. We're just
past Little Beaver State Park. Come and hear Jesus Christ and
Him Crucified proclaimed.