The apostle concludes this section
of Romans chapter three by making a comprehensive statement that
is encapsulated in the phrase, the law of faith. And he starts out this way in
verse 27. He says, where is boasting then? Boasting. Now, that word boasting
is an interesting word. Sometimes different forms of
it in the Bible are translated as glory. And what do you glory? And the word means actually boasting,
bragging, right? What gives you bragging rights? That's one of the ways to ask
this question. Where's boasting then? And it
has to do with a person claiming to be a child of God. Now that's
what it has to do. In other words, if you claim
to be saved, if you claim to be justified before God, made
right with God, even a claim to be a Christian, if you know
what a Christian is. A lot of people who claim to
be Christian don't really understand what a Christian is. That's why
I wrote that book, What is a Christian? And it's a biblical definition. of what a Christian is and what
a Christian is not. You know, some people say, well,
a Christian is anybody who goes to any church called a Christian
church and trying to be good. But that's not what the Bible
teaches. A Christian is one who trusts Christ, the true Christ,
as he's revealed in the scriptures, and walks according to his word. That's what a true Christian
is, a disciple of Christ. So if you claim to be saved,
if you claim to be justified, if you claim to be one of God's
elect, you need to understand that that is a boast. That is
a boast. But now here's the issue that
Paul has brought up. Upon what basis, upon what ground
do you make that boast? And if your boast or if your
glorying is not upon a solid godly ground, then what you're
doing is no more than presumption. Empty assurance. A refuge of
lies, Isaiah called it. Now, we know that he had said
here that he talked about Jew and Gentile. We'll get to that
in just a minute. But think about it, all right? I've got three
scriptures here that show the kind of boasting that he's talking
about. The first one here is Matthew 7, 21 through 23. Lord,
Lord, have we not preached in your name? Lord, Lord, have we
not cast out demons? Lord, Lord, have we not done
many wonderful works? They were boasting, they were
glorying. Only to hear Christ say, depart from me. I never
knew you, you that work iniquity. So they had a boast, they were
glorying in something, but their glorying was empty glory. They
didn't glorify God. You see, the boast of a true
Christian will glorify God in Christ. It will exalt Christ.
It will not exalt himself or herself. They were boasting in
things that they thought God enabled them to do. Because they
start off with, thank God. You know, I've often told people,
they say, well, I give God the credit for everything. Well,
you better be careful what you give him credit for. He may not
want that credit. Now, another passage I've got
listed here is Luke 18, 9 through 12. That's the Pharisee and the
Publican. I thank God I'm not like other men. I thank God that I fast twice
in the week. I thank God that I give of my
tithes and all of that. I thank God. He was boasting. And he gave credit to God. But
God didn't want credit for that. You understand? Because that
doesn't glorify God. That dishonors God. These things
are the things the Pharisee thought made him righteous, made him
right with God. Remember how Christ started that
parable in verse nine? He said he spoke this parable
to those who considered themselves righteous in themselves and despised
others, meaning they considered others to be unrighteous. I know
I'm righteous because I'm not like other men, but now you publicans
and you guys like that, now you're not righteous. You see what I'm
saying? That was his boast, that was
his glory. And of course, the old publican,
what did he say? He boasted too. I don't think
I've got that verse down there, because I'm just talking about
the Pharisee as an example. But the publican boasted too.
But what did he boast in? He said, God, be merciful, propitious
to me, a sinner. I don't have anything to boast
in myself, but I'm gonna boast in that mercy seat. And then
the next verse I've got verses is Philippians 3, 4 through 6.
That's when Paul was talking about what he attained according
to the flesh. I was circumcised the eighth
day, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee,
that kind of thing. Back then, see, Paul was showing
there that before he was converted by God, in Christ and turned
to Christ, what did he glory in? What did he boast in? He
boasted in all those things. Just like the Jews. We're Abraham's
seed. That was their glory. We're circumcised. We keep the law of Moses. That
was their glory. Well, here's what Paul says in
verse 27. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. That means it's
canceled. That means it's shut out. Now
how did that happen? By what law? Now here's where
we learn something that we really need to get sealed in our minds.
The gospel is a command of God. It's not just a suggestion. It has the force of law, and
that word law there is a powerful principle. What law excludes
boasting? What law does God command us
that excludes boasting, that kind of boasting in our works
or in our wills or in our decisions. That's what people think today,
isn't it? Those who believe, think about
it this way. I was listening to a preacher
friend of mine preaching a great message, and he was talking about
people, he was talking about assurance of salvation. And here's
people who call themselves Christian, who claim to be saved by grace,
but then they believe you can lose your salvation by either
sinning, by something that you either do or something you either
fail to do. Isn't that right? That's what
they believe, you can lose it, okay? So that's obviously salvation
conditioned on the sinner. And yet they boast, the preachers
who preach that, they boast in preaching something like comfort
and assurance. and grace. Here's what he called
it, he said, these preachers who preach that, they still believe
it's a fear not salvation, fear not, because I think he heard
a Methodist preacher or somebody like that preaching on fear not.
Well, here's the thing about it, and here's what this preacher
friend of mine said, he said, you know, if you look in the
Bible and believe what the Bible says about us, even as sinners
saved by grace, If you believe you could lose that salvation
because of what you do or don't do, you ought to live in mortal
fear the rest of your life. If you believe what God's word
says. Because if you don't, you're boasting, just like this. Boasting
has not been excluded. And that's not grace, that's
not the gospel. But he says by what law? Is it
the law of works? In other words, is boasting excluded
if you think that salvation, and here's the way I always put
it because of so many different heresies. Okay, if you think that salvation
is conditioned on your works or your will at any time, in
any degree, or at any stage, can boasting be excluded in you?
And the answer's no. If Christ died for everyone without
exception, even those who perish, and the decision, the difference
is up to me, does that exclude boasting? I mean, couldn't you say, if
that's the case, which it's not, but if that's the case, couldn't
you say, I'm saved, not because of what Christ did, but because
of what I did, or what I decided? And these concoctions and reasonings
of the natural man that say, well, it's by faith, not by works,
and faith is a work, but it's non-meritorious, that's not scriptural,
folks. That's just the reasonings of
man, trying to get out of a trap he's built for himself. Now think
about it. So where's boasting? It's excluded. By what law? Of
works? No, he says, nay, but by the
law of faith. Now what is the law of faith?
The law of faith is not the law that commands us to believe.
Now hold on to it. The law of faith is the gospel.
Now that's what the law of faith is, all right? The gospel does
command us to believe. But what, but what, what does
it command us to believe? That's the law of faith. The
principle of faith. What does it command us to believe?
Well, whatever it commands us to believe, it removes boasting
in ourselves. All right? So what is the law
of faith? It's the gospel, which is the promise of God. to save
sinners, what kind of sinners? Sinners who have no righteousness,
sinners who can work no righteousness, and sinners who by nature do
not want righteousness God's way, that kind of sinner. Now
what he said up in Romans chapter three, there's none good, there's
none that seeketh after God. That kind of sinner. God's promised to save such wretched
people who don't deserve it, cannot earn it, and don't want
it by nature. Isn't that right? You ever been
in that position? You remember that? I remember
when I didn't want it. Now it's all I want. Somebody
said one time, says, all you preach is the righteousness of
Christ. And I said, carve that on my tombstone, will you? Put that right there. A preacher
of righteousness. That's what Noah was. I'll identify
with old Noah. How about you? I know he found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's what I want. I want to
find grace. So how do you know, see, all of this? Well, the Bible
tells us. So the law of faith is the promise
of God to save such wretches as we are based on one righteousness. The righteousness of God, which
is the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. A righteousness
that I didn't have anything to do with. A righteousness that
Christ alone, as my surety and substitute, worked out for me
on the cross by his blood. His redeeming blood. The law
of faith commands us not just to believe, The law of faith
commands us to believe in Christ as he's identified in the glory
of his person, who he is. He's God-man. I was watching
TV the other day and Jehovah's Witnesses, they're on a publicity
campaign now. And they show this big auditorium
full of people, you know, and they say, if you want help with
your life and all this, blah, blah, blah, call the Jehovah's
Witnesses. Well, let me tell you something
about Jehovah's Witnesses. They are not Jehovah's Witnesses.
They don't believe in Jehovah. Not the true Jehovah. Yahweh. God-man. His name shall be called
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. His name
shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted, God with us. Isn't that right? That's who
He is. And if you think of Him any lesser
than that, you're not trusting Him. And whatever you claim for
your salvation or your witness is a boast that is empty, It's
a refuge of lies. So the question comes now, how
can I know if I'm among those who can boast of being God's
true children? Well, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
one. 1 Corinthians chapter one. I'll tell you, you all know.
How in the world can we have any real assurance of salvation?
You know, the psalmist said, yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. How can we
really say something like that? Because, I mean, we're so subject
to the elements, you know. I've often said it, you know,
you can take the strongest, you can take the wisest, you can
take the richest, and all it takes is one little microscopic
bug, bring you down. Is that right? Well, look at
it. 1 Corinthians 1 29. God has set
things up. in the salvation of his people
by his sovereign grace through the lordship and the work and
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ for this purpose,
verse 29, that no flesh should glory, boast in his presence. But of Him, of God, are you in
Christ? Am I in Christ Jesus? Well, if I am, it's because of
God. It's not because of me. It's not because I walked an
aisle. It's not because I got baptized. It's not because I
preached the gospel. It's not because I'm a shining
example. I hope I will be, but that's,
no. If I'm in Christ, it's totally
by God's grace. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom. He's all my wisdom. When it comes
to salvation, when it comes to spiritual matters, when it comes
to a right relationship with God, I've got no wisdom in myself.
It's all Christ. He's my righteousness. He's it. And He resides in heaven on my
behalf as my intercessor. And it says He's my sanctification.
He's what sets me apart. That's what that means. And then
he's my redemption. He paid the full price and he's
going to redeem me finally in glory. So verse 31, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, he that boasts. Let him boast
in the Lord. Let him glory. In other words,
you have confidence. Where's your confidence? What's
the ground of it? What's the basis of it? I'll tell you what
it is. It's Christ and his righteousness
alone. Nothing else. That's how we know. Paul said in Galatians 6, 14,
God forbid that I should glory, that I should boast, that I should
have confidence, save in the cross, what Christ accomplished. And in Philippians chapter three,
he said, verse three, we are the circumcision, we worship
God, we rejoice. That word rejoice is the same
base word of boasting, of glory. We glory in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. We'll go back to Romans 3, look
at verse 28. He says, therefore we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Now it's already been in the context of this passage here. for us to understand what it
means to be justified by faith. Now, if we're justified before
God, we do, we are brought at some point in time by God the
Holy Spirit to believe. But that's not when we're justified.
Before God, that is. Now, that's when we're justified
in our own conscience. The conscience, the sprinkled
blood on the conscience, Hebrews 10. That's when I see my guilt
removed. That's when I see it and believe
it, my righteousness imputed to me. That's when I see it,
when I'm brought to believe. But I'm justified before God
in Christ already. The Bible says that when we were
enemies, Christ died for the ungodly. Enemies in our minds. See, and that's what we are,
that's our state, all right? But in Christ, I'm already justified,
before I even knew it. That means to be made right with
God. That means to be righteous in his sight. It means to be
not guilty, and there's only one ground of justification,
and that's the righteousness that Christ worked out on the
cross when he redeemed us from our sins. So to be justified
by faith, in its essence has to do with the promise of God. That's what faith is here. The
faith. The promise of God to save me,
to bless me, to keep me, to justify me. All of this, all the benefits
and blessings of salvation based upon what Christ accomplished. That's what it is to be justified
by faith. And it's without the deeds of
the law. That is without our deeds. Now Christ He had to keep
the law. We'll talk about that in just
a moment. Look at verse 29. Now he says, is he the God, is
God the God of the Jews only? Is he not of the Gentiles? Yes,
of the Gentiles also, seeing it as one God which shall justify
the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith.
Now what Paul is doing here, you know, back in Romans 3.9
he'd already said that the scripture concludes all under sin, Jew
and Gentile. The Jews were no better off than
the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were no better off than the Jews.
And what he's saying here is this, it's one God. God's one
God. And this emphasizes the fact,
first of all, that God cannot act in contradiction to himself,
whether he saves a Jew or a Gentile. He's one God. He cannot save
the Jew one way and the Gentile another way. He saves all of
his chosen people, Jew and Gentile, the same way. Again, the law
of faith, justified by faith, that is the gospel, which is
the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first, in time it
came to the Jew first, but to the Gentile also. For it is written,
for therein is the righteousness, to everyone that believe it,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. That
was stated back in the book of, what was it, Haggai? Is that
where that's quoted from? I didn't write it down. But anyway,
it's the same grace, the same righteousness, the same blood,
The same way for Jew and Gentile. I don't care who you are, what
you are, where you come from, the color of your skin, whatever
it is. If you're a sinner that's saved, you're saved by grace
based upon the righteousness of one person, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God man. So that's what he's saying first.
So the same God justifies the ungodly in the exact same way.
No difference. And you know, When you consider the history
of Israel, especially under the old covenant, it's really sad
to see how they took the law and they perverted it. Look at
verse 31. He says, do we then make void
the law through faith? In other words, think about it
this way. By understanding and believing
God's way of salvation, Does that make void the law? Does
that mean that the law was never any good and had no real profitable
purpose? That's what he's saying. And
he says, God forbid, yeah, we established the law. How in the
world can it be said that I established the law? I'll tell you what,
I've never done anything that measures up to the perfection
of the law. Not one second in my life have
I done that. You say, well, what's wrong with
you? Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with me. Same thing is
wrong with you. We're all sinners. Well, does that mean you're not
trying to be a good person? Well, I think I'm trying to be
a good person. I hope I'm trying to be a good
person. But even in my best efforts to be a good person, I still
cannot say in one second of my life that I have measured up
in myself by my works and my thoughts to the perfection of
righteousness which is in the law. So how could I stand up
here before you and say I've established the law? Well, the
Jews, for example, they would say, remember what we said, well,
we're children of Abraham. We've been circumcised. We keep
the law of Moses. Well, they were physical children
of Abraham, but they weren't spiritual children, the unbelievers. They were circumcised physically,
but they weren't circumcised in the heart, not the unbelievers. And they didn't keep the law
of Moses. They claimed they did. They had to pervert it. So they
would look at a person who rests in Christ. How do we establish
the law? We plead Christ, who is the end of the law, for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. That's how we do. Christ kept
the law. And in his obedience unto death,
we have perfect satisfaction to God's law and God's justice.
As my surety, as my substitute, Christ established the law. So
when I cling, believe in him, rest in him, cling to him, and
repent of my dead works, I do establish the law because I do
have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice. It's his righteousness imputed to me. And so therefore,
we do, established believers do, not by our works, not by
our efforts, not even by our believing, it's by looking to
Christ, who is our righteousness. Because even our believing is
yet imperfect, isn't it? Can you say you have perfect
faith all the time without any doubts? Just like that, it says
boasting is excluded. That doesn't mean that we don't
have struggles still with self-righteousness, we do. You know, even the why
me syndrome is self-righteousness. Did you know that? You say, why
me? Why not me? Everything we've
got, I mean, how many times have I told you, the next breath we
take, that's a gift, isn't it? It's a gift from God. We can only say we establish
the law as we look to Christ. But the Jews, the unbelieving
Jews who would see a believer in Christ would say, well, you
don't care nothing about the law. You break the law. You make
void the law. No. Why was the law given? It
was given to show us, them, and we can look back on it, the sinfulness,
the depravity, the wretchedness, the inability of sinners like
us Keeping the law. It was to show the condemnation
that the law brings down upon those who do not have a righteousness. That answers the demands of the
law. That's why it was given. When the Bible says in Galatians
chapter three that it was a schoolmaster to lead them unto Christ, you
know the essence of that verse means this. It means that God
put them under the law for 1,500 years, kept them together, until
Christ would come in time. But God the Holy Spirit uses
the law, whatever law it is, to convict us of sin and drive
us to Christ for righteousness. Because that's the law of faith.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Believes what? Believes in him
as the Lord our righteousness. And that's how we establish the
law. And that's the fulfillment of the law of faith by God the
Holy Spirit when he brings a sinner to look to Christ and rest in
him. All right.