Thank you for that song. I sat
there as Leah sang and thought, I hope, I pray, that I have many
years to stand here and preach the gospel to you. I don't know
how many it'll be. I hope it's many. But when it's
done, especially you younger ones who may be left, If the Lord ever brings me to
your mind, this is what I pray, that you'll think you told me
to look, look to Christ. That'd be a blessing, wouldn't
it? All right. I shouldn't have got into that.
Romans chapter three. You remember at the end of chapter
two, Paul made this point so clear that there's no spiritual
advantage to being a Jew. There was spiritual advantage
to being related to Abraham or going to the synagogue to hear
the law read. There was spiritual advantage
to go through the motions of all the ceremonies that were
required by the law, the Passover, the Sabbath day, the Day of Atonement.
And I hope you recall that I liken that to us today here at Hurricane
Road Grace Church. There's no spiritual advantage
to us to be related to believers, our parents, our aunts and uncles,
our husbands, our wives. There's no advantage to us to
be related to those who do believe Christ. We, each of us, we must
believe on Christ ourselves. There's no spiritual advantage
to us simply being in the worship surface to hear the gospel preached. I hope I can show you that's
a great advantage, but there's no spiritual advantage in having
our dead carcasses in these seats. We must believe the Christ who's
preached. If we're to be saved, There's
no spiritual advantage to us going through the motions, the
ceremonies of religion, like eating the Lord's table. We must
believe, each of us individually, we must believe what that table
represents, that the broken body, the shed blood, the sacrifice
of Christ is all it takes to put my sin away. We must believe
that. And we who hear the gospel, we're not better than they. We
who hear the gospel and have a head knowledge of the gospel,
We're no better than the heathen who've never seen a Bible. As
a matter of fact, if we've heard the gospel, we have a head knowledge
of the gospel, but we do not believe the Savior preached in
it. We do not commit all to Christ. Scripture says we'll receive
greater punishment than the heathen, but we've sinned against greater
life than they have. Now Paul knows how the natural
man will object to that truth. They'll ask, Well, then why should
I bother hearing the gospel? Why should I bother going to
hear the law? Why should I bother to be a spiritual Jew? That's
the question Paul asked here in verse one. What advantage
then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?
You know, the Jew hears this, what Paul said, there's no advantage
to be a natural Jew. And they said, well, why should
I bother to be one then? I mean, why should I, why should
I bother trying to be a, the synod of Abraham. Why should
I bother trying to keep the law and observe all these ceremonies
if it's not going to make God more happy with me than these
heathen who don't do it? Why should I bother? And again,
I'll liken that to us here today. We might ask, well, why should
I bother? Why should I bother coming here
to hear the gospel preached if God's not going to be more happy
with me than those people who stay home in bed every Sunday?
Why should I bother learning memory verses? Why should I bother
hearing the truths of the gospel? If it doesn't make God more happy
with me, then my friends are not taught the truth. Wouldn't
I be just as well off to be a heathen? Sounds like more fun to the flesh,
doesn't it? Why should I just be a heathen? Well, that's the
question I hope to answer this morning. That's the title of
my message. Why should I hear the gospel? I want to give us
five reasons why each of us should hear the gospel. We need to hear
the gospel. Number one, faith cometh by hearing. The only way we'll ever know
who God is, is by hearing the gospel preached. Verse two, Paul
says, what advantage is there? Oh, much, much in every way. Chiefly, because that unto them
were committed the oracles of God. Now that word oracles, it
means utterance, utterance. So the oracles of God means the
word of God, the utterance, how God speaks to men. It's his word. And that gave the Jews many advantages
over the Gentiles that never had the word, didn't it? Many
advantages. Only the Jews had some idea about the holiness
of God because they had the law that revealed God's holiness. Only the Jews had some idea about
the wrath of God. His wrath is not indiscriminate. His wrath is against sin. Only
the Jews knew that because they had the law that revealed God
will punish every sin. Only the Jews had some idea that
God's just. They were the only people that
knew that because only the Jews had the law of God that revealed
how just God is. God demands justice in everything
we do. All the Gentiles had was a light
of nature. They can't tell God's holy. They can't tell God's just
from seeing nature, can they? But the Jews could. The Jews
knew that. Because God gave them the law, and that's an advantage.
And you know us here today, we've got something far better than
those Old Testament Jews had. You think they had advantages?
Oh, we've got much more advantages than they had. All they had was
the law. God's given us the gospel. And
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ tells us, reveals to us
a whole lot more about God than the law did. The law reveals
God's holy. The gospel tells us how God makes
sinners holy in our Lord Jesus Christ. When a sinner is born
again, a sinner receives a brand new nature. There's a new man
born who was never there before. He born from different seed.
That man's holy. He receives the nature of Christ.
God makes sinners holy in Christ, not by us keeping the law. The
law reveals to us God's righteous. Absolutely, God's righteous.
You can tell that from reading the law. But the gospel is a
much greater advantage. The gospel tells us how God makes
sinners righteous by imputing the obedience of Christ to them.
You see, we are saved through the law, but not through us keeping
through Christ our righteousness, obeying the law for us. Only
the gospel tells you that. The law reveals to us that God,
he will punish every sin with his wrath, without exception,
every sin. The gospel reveals to us how
God's elect are saved from their sin. How are they saved from
God's wrath against their sin? In Christ our substitute. The
gospel tells us how Christ our substitute already suffered the
wrath of God for the sins of His people. Only the gospel tells
you, the law tells you you're guilty. Only the law, only the
gospel can tell you how we're set free from that. By Christ
paying the debt for us. The law reveals to us God's just.
But only the gospel tells us how God can be just and still
justify the ungodly. It's through the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ suffered the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Only the gospel tells
you how you might be brought to God. The law just tells you
how you got to stay away from God. Only the gospel tells us
how a sinner can be brought to God. It's in our Lord Jesus Christ. You only hear that in the gospel.
That's an advantage then to hear the gospel. The only way we can
know who God is, is through his own word. We can't find out who
God is from the imagination of men. Men can never figure out
who God is. The only way we can know who God is, is by what he
tells us in his word. The only way we can know who
God is, is through the Lord Jesus Christ. If you would know the
Father, you must know the Son. And he speaks to us through his
word, by his Son. God hath in these last days,
God used to speak to our fathers by the prophets, by the law.
God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son. by the Lord
Jesus Christ. If the only way you're ever gonna
know who the Father is, is by hearing from Christ. Our Lord
said, he has seen me, has seen the Father. That's how you know
who God is, by seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way
we'll know who he is, is by hearing him pray. So hearing the gospel
is a big advantage. You ought to listen. Number two, why should I hear
the gospel? The only way you and I will ever
know we're sinners is by hearing the gospel preached. The Jews
had the law, didn't they? Now, shouldn't the law have told
them, made it so plain, I'm guilty? Shouldn't the law have made that
obvious? Well, they didn't. Now, it's not the law's fault.
It's the fault of their fallen heart. Because of their fallen
nature, they actually thought, I can keep the law good enough
to make God happy with me. That's what they thought. The
gospel cuts the legs out from that. The gospel takes away every
excuse and shows us we're guilty. We're vile before God. The oracles
of God tell us we're sinners. We're sinners. Men with their
ideas, you know what they're going to tell you? Men are going
to tell you how good you are. Oh, you know, you do this and
you do this and you know, you don't do what these heathen out
there do. Oh, you're so good. That's man's idea. But the Word
of God, the Gospel of God, tells us we're sinners. We're without
hope. We're without help. All men are
lost in Adam. We're lost. Sin is not just what
we do. Sin is what we are. The moment
we're conceived, we receive Adam's sinful nature. Sin is what we
are. Men make the law, breaking the
law, an outward thing. What'd our Lord tell us? Our
Lord told us it's an inward thing. The law is spiritual. Even desiring
to break the law, even having a sinful thought is breaking
the law. The law is spiritual. And the only place you'll ever
find that out is through hearing the gospel preached. The gospel
plainly tells us what the law ought to reveal to us. Look down
here at verse 19. Now we know that what thingsoever
the law saith, It says to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped. Everybody just shut their mouth
and quit offering excuses. 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. The gospel tells us what the
law says and the gospel shuts us up to Christ being our only
hope of eternal life. Christ is our only hope of life
because we're ruined in sin. Ruined. You know, people get
the idea we talk about the fall of Adam, like when Adam fell,
we just got banged up a little bit and we broke a hip or something,
you know? No. When Adam fell, we were ruined
in sin. Something that's ruined can't
be fixed up. It can't be repaired. It's ruined. That's what we are by nature.
were ruined in sin. And the only place you'll ever
find that out is in the gospel. And we'll never know that we're
sinners until one thing happens. You know how I know I'm a sinner?
God finally showed me who the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his
glory is. I can look at the Ten Commandments
and I can see, I don't stack up too good there. I can fool
myself into thinking I do that some of the time. But if God ever showed me who
Christ is, there's no spirit left within me. Now I see what perfection is.
Now I see what glory is. In the light of His glory, now
I see myself for who I am. Now I know I'm a sinner because
God in His mercy showed me the Lord Jesus Christ. He showed
me Christ lifted up on the cross. Now for the first time ever I
finally saw what sin is. Now I see what sin cost. It cost
the life, the suffering, the blood of God's own Son. Now I
see. That's what happened to our brother
Peter. Old Peter was out fishing one night. Peter's a good fisherman.
I mean, he's a pro. I mean, he's a pro. He's good
at it. He fed his family fishing, made money out of it. He's out
fishing with his buddies all night. All of them are good fishermen.
He didn't take no amateurs with him. And you know, they didn't
catch one fish. I mean, not one. They didn't catch anything. They're
ready to give up. And then Peter saw something.
The Lord showed him something. The Lord revealed to Peter that
the Lord Jesus is God. Peter saw this man. This man
is sovereign over everything. He's sovereign over where the
fish swim in the sea. Of course, they're just catching
it over there. You catch them. And maybe they couldn't haul
them in for the number of fishes. Peter saw this man is God. Now he knew he's a sinner. He
said, depart from me, oh Lord. But I'm a sinful man. I know
that because I see you. Look back at Job chapter 42.
Job said this very same thing. The Lord brought this thing to
a close, this trial of Job. He spoke to Job, went through
these chapters, talking to Job, saying, Job, who do you think
you are? Where were you when I did all these things? Who do
you think you are, Job? And he revealed to Job his sovereignty,
his power, his glory. And Job says in chapter 42, verse
5, He said, now I've heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes see it that you've
revealed yourself to me. Wherefore, because I've seen
you, I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. You go back
and read the opening chapters of Job. Job thought he was pretty
good one time, didn't he? All that ended when he saw God.
And that's the same way with you and me. The only way we'll
ever know that we're sinners. is by God and His mercy and grace
revealing Christ to us. Then isn't it a great advantage
to hear Christ preach? If you find a preacher that's
determined to preach nothing among you save Christ and Him
crucified, I'd say better listen to him. Because the only way
we'll ever find out we're sinners is by the Lord revealing to us
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. That's the thing. Why should I hear the gospel?
Faith comes by hearing. The only way we'll ever know
who God is, is by hearing the gospel. The only way I'll ever
find out I'm a sinner, is by hearing the gospel of Christ.
And the only way I'll ever know who the Savior is, is by hearing
the gospel. Only the oracles of God, the
word of God, reveal Christ, the Savior of sinners. The only place
you'll ever find the Savior revealed, is in the preaching of the gospel
in his own word. Now, the Jews had the law, but
because their fallen nature is darkened and blind, they thought
they could be saved by keeping the law. So hearing the law,
simply hearing what God required of them, never made them seek
Christ. It never made them seek a Savior. And it never would. It won't
today. That's why I don't preach the
law to you. Hearing what God requires of you, never going
to make you seek the Savior. unless the Holy Spirit reveals
Christ to you like he did to Abraham. And the same thing is
true today. What is going on in false religion
today is exactly the same thing that went on in the nation Israel.
The religious world's heard something about sin. I mean, it's not difficult
to figure out I got a sin problem. I mean, I don't realize how bad
it is, but you know, yeah, I don't do what I shouldn't do all the
time, so I sin. They hear something about sin.
They hear something about this man Jesus. There must be a way
to pay for sin. There's got to be a way to make
this, you know, atone for this, to make up for this sin. And
they got the scriptures. They've got a Bible. You can
buy a Bible at the dollar store. You can download it as an app
on your phone for free. I mean, the Bible is everywhere.
They got a Bible. But they take it. They're still
blind. Their heart's still darkened
and their understanding is darkened. So they twist and they pervert
the scriptures. They pervert the gospel. Just
the same way Jews perverted the law. And they preach what Paul
called another Jesus. See that Jesus is a Jesus that
men have made up. It's not the Jesus of this book.
It's a Jesus that they made up. It's their own idol. That fella
can only save you if you let him. Well then he'll never save
you. Because you've got a nature that's
fallen in sin. You'll never let him. Ever. If God's gonna save
you, he's gonna save you against your will. He's gonna break your
will. He's gonna save you with your full consent against your
will. Against the will you're born
with. If we gotta wait on you to let him, you're never gonna
be saved. See, the ideas of men can never save you. Men can never
figure out how to put sin away and God to still be just on the
throne. They cannot figure a way to do it. Only God and His wisdom
found a way. The only place you'll ever hear
of Christ, the Savior of sinners, I mean helpless, hopeless, dirty,
guilty, vile sinners, is in the gospel. Now this is the gospel
message. I'm determined to tell it to
you one more time. And this gospel message is all
about Christ. It's not about us. It's all about
Christ. Before God ever created the world,
God chose to save a people. That's what election is. God
chose a people to save. God didn't choose those people
because they weren't better than anybody else. Because they weren't.
I'll show you that in just a minute. They weren't better than anybody
else, but God chose to save them. God didn't choose to save those
people because he saw, he's a fortune teller. He could see down the
line, you know, some of them would choose him. No, they never
would choose him. They're falling in that. God
chose to save a people because God is good. Not because we're
good, because God's good. And only God can love sinners.
So he chose sinners to save. And God loved those sinners so
much. You know what he did with them?
He put them in His Son. He gave them to His precious
Son to save those people from their sin. And Christ, the Son
of God, at that time, He stood. He stood and He said, I'll save
those people. I'll be surety for those people. I'll bring every last one of
them home. I know they're going to amass
a great sin debt, but I'll stand as their surety. I'll guarantee
it. I'll guarantee the debt. outpay him. And then God created
the world. He created a perfect world. He
created a perfect garden. Everything about it was good.
God created it and said it was good. He put a perfect garden
for man to live in. Gave him everything that's perfect. And in no time at all, that man
Adam, you know what he did? In no time at all, he fell. He failed by rebelling against
God. He didn't just make a mistake.
In open rebellion, knowing exactly what he was doing, Adam sinned
against God. He did what the one thing God
told him not to do. There's only one. I mean, you
talk about the law. Adam had one and he couldn't
keep it. I mean, in no time at all, he
broke that law. He took that fruit God told him not to eat.
In an open rebellion, he ate it, wanting to be God, wanting
to take God off the throne. And the moment Adam took that
fruit, Adam failed. When he rebelled against God,
he fell all the way from righteousness to unholiness. He fell all the
way from righteousness to sin. He fell from life to death. He fell from loving God to hating
God. That's how far he fell. And when
Adam fell, everybody who would ever descend from him, which
is all of us, Everybody who ever would come from him fell too.
When Adam sinned, every one of us sinned in him. When Adam sinned,
every one of us became guilty. When Adam died, we died. When Adam became a hater of God,
we did too. We're born of the nature that
hates God. That's why I said God didn't choose the people.
He didn't elect the people any better than anybody else. No,
they're all ruined in sin. Everybody that ever came from
Adam is ruined in sin. So there wasn't anybody better
to choose. If God's going to choose anybody
to save, it's going to be a fallen sinner, isn't it? Because we
all fell in Adam. And even in that dark, dark hour when Adam
and Eve ran and hid in shame, Christ stood as a surety for
His people. That's the reason God didn't
destroy Adam right then and there. Christ already stood as a surety
for his people. Some of those, everybody that
had loins, everybody who was in him, died. But there are some
people coming from him God chose to save. God couldn't destroy
Adam. There's a people coming from
him that Christ is gonna save. Adam's got to live. So those
people come from his loins, he's got to live. Because Christ stood
as their surety. They can't be destroyed. That's
why God didn't destroy Adam. Instead of coming to destroy
Adam, you know what God did? He came walking in the garden.
He said, Adam, where are you? Well, you're hiding because you're
naked. He told you you're naked. And in that time of rebellion,
God's good. God's gracious. The blood of
Christ stood as perfect payment for their sin at that moment.
You know what God did to that rebel hiding in the bushes? He
gave him a promise that the seed of woman is going to come and
crush the serpent's head. He said, Adam, you're naked.
I'm going to clothe you. God took an animal and killed
him, took that skin and clothed Adam and his wife. God gave him
a promise that the Messiah is going to come and in his righteousness,
he's going to clothe the nakedness, the shame of his people. The
Messiah is going to come, the seed of woman is going to come
and he's going to bring a sacrifice. that are going to pay for Adam's
sin and the sin of every one of God's elect. Now, thousands
of years passed, 4,000 years passed after that promise. And
in all those years, God gave so many different promises. The
Savior's coming. He gave us types and pictures
and shadows of Christ coming in the Old Testament. The Old
Testament kept telling us, somebody's coming, someone's coming, someone's
coming. You know, some people heard.
Some people heard that train coming down the tracks. Someone's
coming. Somebody had an ear to hear and
they believed. Most of them didn't. Some did. And then suddenly,
after all those years, God made that promise. Some people might
have thought, this is an old wives tale. This isn't going to happen.
Suddenly, Christ the Savior appeared. The angels announced His birth.
They sang, glory to God in the highest. And on earth, Because
this child is born, now on earth, is peace. Goodwill toward men
in the person that this child is born. This child is the Savior.
Some years later, about 30 years later, He began His earthly ministry. John the Baptist, the forerunner,
saw Him coming. He stopped everybody in their
tracks. He said, everybody stop. Stop what you're doing. Look. Look! Look! Behold! The Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. There he is, God's promise fulfilled
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the whole gospel
cry. Behold, the Lamb of God. Look and live. And with every
eye watching, the Lord Jesus lived a perfect life. This thing
wasn't done in a corner now. He perfectly obeyed God's law. He took God's law and he honored
it and he magnified it. by keeping it perfect. With every
eye watching him. Those who heard the law, read
every Sabbath day, they knew the Old Testament scriptures
frontwards and backwards. With every eye watching, the
Lord Jesus fulfilled every Old Testament promise of the Messiah.
Nobody could mistake this man as God's Christ. This man is
God's Messiah. If you're being honest with yourself,
you couldn't deny this is the Christ. after a perfect life where he
did nothing but good. The Lord Jesus Christ willingly
went to Calvary's tree to be made sin for his people. The
Father made his holy son sin for his people. All the guilt
of all of God's elect. Fr. Henry used to use this example.
All that heavy, black debt of sin. was transferred from His
people to Him. And what would have crushed us
into eternity in hell, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in a matter
of hours. And with His sacrifice, with
the shedding of His precious blood, He paid that entire sin
debt. Remember that great sin debt
He knew His people would amass? In eternity past, He knew, He
knew the sin that they'd amassed. And he stood assured to pay it.
That was the hour he paid it. He paid it with his own blood,
with his own life. After he suffered, he gave up
the ghost and he died to satisfy the law's last domain, where
there's sin, there must be death. He died the death his people
deserve so they can never die. And to prove, to give us evidence,
his sacrifice put the sin of his people away, he rose again. They laid a dead body in the
tomb. They wrote a stone in front of it. They posted Roman guards
out there. And he rose from the grave. He
rolled the stone away. Wherever the soldiers went, they're
gone. Because his sacrifice put away the sin that everyone God
chose to save. That is one final part of that
salvation story. You better listen to it. There's
no salvation without it. The blood of Christ has been
shed. His blood wasn't offered to you to see if you'd accept
it. His blood was offered to the Father. He took His blood
behind the veil, offered it to the Father as payment for the
sin of God's elect. And the Father said it's enough.
I accept that payment. The debt is paid in full. But if you and I would be saved,
the blood of Christ must be applied to our hearts. That's what the
new birth The new birth is the Holy Spirit applying the blood,
the blood of Christ to our hearts. He gives His people a new heart.
You must be born again. The blood must be applied. We
must believe Christ. We must commit everything to
Him. That's what the new birth is. It's all about Christ. In
the new birth, you know what our Lord says the Holy Spirit
does? He comes and shows us things concerning Himself, concerning
Christ. And when we look, when we see
Him, there's salvation. When we look and we see Him,
there's life. There's life. When we see Christ,
if God Almighty ever allows you to see His precious Son, you'll
have no problem committing all your salvation to Him. If you
ever see Him, you won't want it anywhere else. You don't want
the first atom of it left in your hand. You want it all in
him. If you ever see him, that's where you want it. Seeing him
is life. And somebody preaching to us
is a big advantage then, isn't it? You see, the whole gospel,
it's all about Christ. That's how God saves sinners.
It's all in his son. What a great advantage that God
would let us have a place where his son is preached. Do you think
it's effectual? You reckon? Remember old Timothy? Timothy heard that gospel from
a child. His mother and his grandmother
bothered to make that little boy learn some memory verses.
That mother, his grandmother, they bothered to teach that little
boy some of those Old Testament pictures. They taught him what
the ark represented. They taught him what Abel's lamb
was. They taught him what that was, that promise of the seed
of woman was. They taught him. They taught him what that day
of atonement means. They taught him what the tabernacle
means. And for a long time, I'm sure, that little boy thought
that's just words on paper. It's just things he's got to
spit back out to his mother and his grandmother, you know, to
keep them from riding him all day. God took that word that they
so faithfully preached to him and gave him life. He said, now
I see. Now I see. That's eternal life. It's all
in Christ. What an advantage to have a place
where somebody is going to bother to teach us about the saints.
Oh, what a blessing. Well, here's the fourth thing. Why do I need to hear the gospel?
I need to hear the gospel because God Almighty cannot fail. He cannot fail. His gospel will
never return unto him fully. I was looking over this point
this morning in my study, and I thought, well, I like that
point. That gives me confidence to go over there and preach this
morning. God cannot fail. Look here at verse 3. For what
if some did not believe? So their unbelief make the faith
of God without effect? And I told you, this is the message
of Scripture. This is the oracles of God. The
Father chose to save a people. Christ came, He saved them. He
made them righteous through His obedience. He put their sin away
by paying for their sin with His blood. The Holy Spirit comes
and He gives life to every last one. He's not going to miss one
of them. Almighty God in His power is going to keep every
last one of them. None of them are going to believe
and then fall away from Christ and be lost. The power of Almighty
God And I'll tell you what else. God's not going to miss saving
one that Christ died for either. The all-seeing eye of God sees
every one of them. He knows where they're at. They're
not going to be lost to Him. And the God of Providence, who
controls every event in His creation, He's not going to let something
happen out of His control that's going to stop one of His elect
from having faith in Christ. They're going to hear the gospel.
They're going to have disadvantage. They're going to hear the gospel.
And they're going to have faith. God's going to give it to them.
That's the question Paul answers in this verse. Well, what about
all those people that hear the gospel and don't believe? What
about them? Well, doesn't their lack of faith mean Christ failed?
We preached the gospel to them. We told them to look and they
refused. They just refused to look to Christ. Doesn't that
mean the gospel failed? Paul says, God forbid, God forbid. God's word never returns to him. God's word always accomplishes
the purpose that God sends it to accomplish. What if someone
doesn't believe? Sadly, I say this, it may be
that God's purpose was to send them the gospel to harden their
heart and unbelief. Could be. Pharaoh heard the same
message Moses did, didn't he? God used to guard Pharaoh's heart.
It could be God sent them the gospel to add to their condemnation
when they sinned against greater life. I don't know. But this
I do know. Man's unfaithfulness never means
God's not faithful. Never. Because God's promises
were never based on man in the first place, were they? God's
promises were always based on the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
based on His faithfulness, not ours. Salvation never depends
upon our faithfulness. Now, we ought to be faithful,
but our salvation never depends on our faithfulness. It always
depends upon the faithfulness of God. And this gospel that
I'm preaching to you this morning is truth. It's truth. And the truth of the gospel never
depends on whether or not I believe it. It's true no matter what
I do with it. So God's truth, His purpose will
never fail, no matter what man does. I need to hear from God
because He will never fail. And then fifth, why is it that
I need to hear the gospel? We need to hear the gospel. because
only God is worth listening to. Only God. Look here at verse
four. Paul says, shall their unbelief
make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every
man a liar. As it's written, that thou mightest
be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art
judged. We need to hear from God. Because
only God's gospel is the truth. And anything man ever has come
up with, man has come up with thousands and thousands and thousands
of religions, haven't they? But anything man has a hand in,
can't save anybody. I mean, they just can't save
anybody. And when God judges in being true. But you know what? If we ever hear from God, If
we ever see the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what we'll do? We'll
take sides with God against ourselves and say, God, you're right to
damn me. You'd be absolutely right. Nobody
could argue with it if you'd send me to hell. That's what
I deserve. I'm not asking you for what I
deserve. I'm begging you for mercy. Look at Psalm 51. This is what David said when
he found out when his sin with Bathsheba was found out. And
this is who Paul's quoting here in Romans chapter 3, Psalm 51. This is after his sin was revealed. David, you're the man. And then
David went in and wrote this Psalm. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. See, David's admitting, I'm ruined
in sin. This is not just on the outside,
it's through and through. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin
is ever before me against thee. Thee only have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when
thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. I've sinned against
you, and you're justified to send me to hell. But, O God,
have mercy upon me. According to thy lovingkindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, have mercy
on me. I am the sinner. You know what? God saves people who make that
confession. But the only way we'll ever make that confession
is to see by faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only
way we'll ever make that confession. Then hearing the gospel of Christ,
that's a big advantage, isn't it? The only way I'm ever going
to be saved is knowing who He is. It's a big advantage to have
somebody tell me from God's Word who the Savior is. I ought to
listen. And here's the proof that men are not worth listening
to. The ideas and the thoughts of natural man are so foolish,
don't you give them two seconds of your time and attention. I
want you to listen to the logic the flesh uses to oppose and
object the gospel of Christ. Verse 5. But if our unrighteousness
commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God
unrighteous who taketh vengeance? Now I speak as a man. This is
what a man says, Paul said. God forbid! For then how shall
God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath
more abounded through my lie unto his glory, Why yet am I
also judged a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously
reported. We don't say this, but those
who slander us report that we do. And as some affirm that we
say, let us do evil that good may come. Whose damnation is
just? This is, I'll give you this in
a nutshell. This is what man says. Well, let's just forget
the gospel. Let's just forget trying to please
God. Let's just forget it. Let's go out and sin all we can
because you're saying that God's righteousness is glorified by
our sins. That's man's logic. Paul says, God forbid. That's
not true. God's glory, God's righteousness
is not glorified in our sin. Want me to tell you how God's
glorified? Want me to tell you how His righteousness
is glorified? By forgiving sin. God's righteousness
is glorified by paying for sin through the blood of His Son.
God's glorified in Christ. He's not glorified in our sin.
That's foolish to say that. He's glorified in Christ. Now
I tell you, all man, all the flesh is trying to do right here.
They're trying to find an excuse. Everybody does this. Grates on
my last nerve. Everybody tries to find some
excuse to do what I want to do anyway. I want to sin, so I'm
just going to find some excuse in the gospel to do it. I don't
want to follow Christ, so I'm going to find some excuse in
God's Word not to follow Him. What an advantage we have not
to hear the ideas of men. but the Word of God, but to not
be led astray by the ideas of men. Now, here's the conclusion. This is the conclusion of Paul's
whole letter to the Romans, and it's his conclusion in this passage
right here. The only way a sinner like you and me can be justified,
be made without sin, is through faith in Christ. We can't be
justified by anything we do or anything we are. It's only in
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 9. Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before
proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they're all under sin. None
of us are better than anybody else. None of us. We're better
off, better off, but not better. We're better off, why? By God's
grace. We're not better off because
we're smarter than somebody else. No, we're better off by God's grace
God's given us a place where we can hear the gospel. We're
better off because we have the opportunity to hear Christ the
Savior. We're better off. We're better
off to have heard the way of salvation. But we're not better. We're not better. Don't you ever
think we're better than somebody out there in false religion.
Don't think we're better than somebody out there in the gutter.
No, sir. We're just as lost, just as fallen, Adam, as they
are. We're just as in need. God's
grace as they are. See that the gospel when it's
preached, you know where it leaves us. It always leaves us right
here. Needing the Lord Jesus Christ. Need we need him and that's the
advantage we have hearing him preached. We need him. Hard pray. This is my constant earnest prayer. That the Lord will give us. They'll
give us a place where His gospel is preached. They'll give us
a place where Christ is preached. And they'll give us an ear to
hear and a heart to believe. If I'm going to be saved, I must
believe Him. Janet can't do it for me. My
parents can't do it for me. My friends can't do it for me.
If I'm going to be saved, I must believe Him. Oh, I pray God give
me a heart of faith. Don't you? Let's bow and pray. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Word. How we thank you that you've given us a place
where the oracles of God are preached. Where we can come and
hear of Christ the Savior. We can come and hear in no uncertain
turn who we are. We're lost in sin. We're ruined
in sin. We're lost in Adam. We became
guilty in him. But that there's hope for sinners
like us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of your wisdom. Because
of your goodness to send your son but put away the sin of his
people. You sent him that through his
sacrifice you might be both just and the justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus. Father, how we pray that you
bless your word to the hearts of everyone here this morning,
that you give us a heart to believe. Bless us, Father, with the gift
of faith that we might look to the Lord Jesus Christ, rest in
him, find everything we need in him, God bless your word to
your glory. Cause us to go home this morning
in awe and wonder at the glory of our God, the glory of God
who would love and choose and save sinners through the sacrifice
of his Son. Cause us to go home this morning
in much assurance, our salvation sure, because of who the Savior
is. It's in his precious name, for
the glory of his name we pray and give