Morning, everybody. We're going
to turn to Romans chapter 3. That's where your text is going
to be from this morning. Romans chapter 3. It seems to be when the Lord
begins dealing with a man. that he reveals to that man three
of his chief characteristics, his three attributes. And the
first one is his omnipotence, his almighty power. Now to say
that the Lord is the most powerful being that there is, is accurate,
but it is also the greatest understatement anyone has ever made. He is not
just all powerful. It's not just that there is nothing
out of his reach. It's not just that all things
with God are possible. That's not just the case. He
is the source of all power. He is the dam that holds all
power. And if any entity has any power,
any man, any demon, any angel has any power whatsoever, he
got it on loan from the Lord. He gives it to him for a short
period of time to carry out his purposes. And when he's ready,
he takes it back. It's his to give and his to take
back at his will. He's all powerful. That's one
of the first things the Lord teaches a man. Second thing he
teaches in this is that he's absolutely sovereign. Now, if
you remember Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, he got a declaration
of who the Lord was. He saw a vision, right? Isaiah
chapter 6. He said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
also the Lord. You know how he saw him? He saw
him sitting on a throne. Who sits on a throne? A king. That's who sits on a throne.
You know what a king does? A king does whatever he wants. That's what the king does. The
king is sovereign. He rules and he reigns. He tells people what
to do. He sets things in motion. And
our king, the Lord, because he is omnipotent, that he has almighty
power, that means he's easy. He's sitting. He didn't see the
king standing and pacing and things like that. He saw the
king sitting on his throne. Easy. Not worried in the least. Why? Because he is omnipotent.
That means he has the power to ensure that his will, whatever
it may be, it comes to pass every single time. He's not scheming,
trying to figure out how to get men to do what he wants them
to do. He's easy. He's in control. Every man, every
event, at all the time. Nebuchadnezzar put it like this.
Daniel 4.35, he said, and all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. If you want to know what the
people in heaven think of us down here, we are reputed as
nothing. That's us. And he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of
the earth. And none can stay his hand. And nobody can say
unto him what doeth that. We don't have the right. We don't
have the power. And if you follow that logic out, that sovereignty
out, you know what that means? That means he's in control of salvation
as well. That means whether you or I will be saved is completely
and utterly up to him. It's the second thing. Third thing is this, is that
God, the Lord, is holy. Now you think about Isaiah again,
I'll pick on him again. He said, in the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne. He said,
I saw him high and lifted up. Isaiah said, I'm down here and
he's up there and I can't get to him. He is unapproachable
in his holiness. God demands and will accept only
one thing, absolute perfect righteousness. Holiness is his character, unchangeable
perfection, and he will accept only that, unchangeable perfection,
perfect righteousness. And the best example I can give
you of that is, you remember the temple and the tabernacle
had the two rooms, the holy place and the holy of holies, and the
veil separated the two. And nobody could go back into
the holy place. That veil separated them. One time a year, the high
priest could go back there, and he had to bring blood with him
because he typified the Lord Jesus Christ. He could enter
in with blood because the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one
who can enter into the presence of his father and find favor,
but he brings his sacrifice with him. He brings his righteousness
with him, and he brings all his people with him. And as he finds
favor with his father, as he slips under that veil, we do,
too, in him. But it was only a great high
priest, only the high priest. And it was once a year, that was
it. If anybody else slid underneath that veil, they would have been
killed. Because God is holy and man is sinful. He demands perfect
righteousness. That's three main attributes
of God right there. With those attributes in mind,
I want to ask a question. And I hope we all want to ask
this question. What is my standing before him? How does he view
me? Look at verse 19. Paul says, now we know, that
what things 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. What is my standing before this
holy, sovereign, omnipotent God? Guilty. That's my standing. Now,
this should have our attention. It should have my attention,
and it should have your attention. I'll give you for this reason.
Let me read this scripture to you. This is Exodus 34, verse
6. And the Lord passed by before him, speaking of Moses, and proclaimed
the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, listen to this, and
that will by no means clear the guilty. His holy character. His perfection. He can accept
nothing but perfect righteousness. He will never clear a guilty
man. If he finds sin on a man, there's only one thing he's going
to do with that man, he's going to punish him. That's it. That should have our attention.
What is my standing before him? Guilty. That's it. Now, here's
my second question. If that's the case, is there
anything I can do to change that state? Is there anything I can
do? Is there anything you can do?
Look at verse 20. 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 answer is no. There's nothing
you or I can do to change that state. By the deeds of the law,
by what we do, our seeming obedience, by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified, be made not guilty before God. The answer
is no, there's nothing you and I can do to change that status.
Now I want to talk about this thing, the deeds of the law,
for a moment. This is an interesting term. Here's what this means.
This term is an all-encompassing term which refers to a man's
complete inability to please God in any way, shape, or form
in his natural state. That's what that refers to. There's
really two ways we can look at it, right? The first one is this.
It refers to a man's inability to keep the law in any way. Now
the law I'm talking about is God's holy law. the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt
not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness between you and
I and the law. Here's the truth of the matter.
You and I have never kept one commandment one time. And from
up to our text, what we find, though, is that the law was never
given as a mechanism of salvation. It says right here, if you look
at verse 20, the last nine words, it says, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. The law does one thing. That's
it. It exposes my sin. That's its only purpose. It was
never given as a mechanism of salvation because man can't keep
it. So somebody says that's not true. What you just said about
me is not true. I have never killed anyone. It
says thou shalt not commit adultery. I've never cheated on my spouse.
There's things I haven't done, right? What you just said, that
I've never kept a law one time, that's not true concerning me.
It is. Let me give you the scripture.
This is Matthew 5, and this is our Lord speaking. Verse 27.
You have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt
not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart. See, the violations of the law,
the breaking of God's holy law, it is not just confined to the
outward acts. It includes the offenses of the
heart. The heart. Yeah, you may have never killed
somebody outwardly, but you wanted to. You've been angry enough.
You've been jealous enough. You may have never cheated on
your spouse, but you wanted to. The potential was there. It's all
inside here, inside the heart. Now, what do I mean by the heart?
It speaks of the whole man. It speaks of the thoughts. It
speaks of the actions. Speaks of the will, what we want.
Speaks of the affections, what we love. It speaks of the entire
man. That's what the heart is. And
here's God's declaration of man's heart. I'm taking this strictly
from the scripture. This is Genesis 6-5. And God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil and
that continually. That is God's testimony concerning
us, concerning our heart, the way we're born in this world.
That means every thought. That means every action. That means
every motive. That means every intention. It's
all sin, all the time, because it comes from me, from this heart.
And it bears witness to what's said in your text here. Look
at verse 10 of your text. It says, as it is written, there
is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. That's God's testimony
concerning man right there. Now this is the other way we
can view this term, deeds of the law. It speaks of this, man's
inability to contribute anything in his own salvation. That's
how we can view this. Now you've heard this several
times. I'm going to say it again to you. There are only two religions
in the world. Just do it. There is the gospel.
There is the truth concerning God. Salvation by grace. That
salvation is ultimately determined by what the Lord Jesus Christ
does for a man. That's the truth. And then you
have everything else, and it's called salvation by works. And
in every shape and form it says this, that there is something
you must do to be saved. And depending on who you're talking
about, what particular division of false religion they're in,
they have a different something. But at the end of the day, it's
always the same thing. You must do something to be saved. Here's
the problem. You can't. And neither can I. I'll give
you an example of this free will. They say, listen, you have to
have the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You have to have the
work of Jesus Christ on your behalf. But here's what you have
to do. You have to activate that work by choosing the Lord, by
allowing him to save you. There's a couple different problems
with that. Number one, it's just not true. We've already talked about the
Lord is absolutely sovereign. There is a will in play in salvation,
and it ain't ours. It's his will. God's will always
trump man's will. The question is not whether a
man will accept God. The question is whether God will
accept a man. That's the question. Here's the other problem. What
if that was true? What if salvation was based on
a man, in his natural state, choosing God? That would mean
absolutely no one would be saved. Let me give you a scripture.
This is Psalm 14.1. It says, The fool hath said in his heart,
Know God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good. That's what
he says. No God. He's not denying the
existence of God. Everyone knows there's a God.
He's saying, no God, I don't like you. I hate you. The way you're revealed in this
book, in your sovereignty, in all your power, I do not like
you and I want absolutely nothing to do with the way you save sinners
because you do it in a manner to where you get all the glory
and I don't get any. So I say, no God. So if that was true,
absolutely no one would be saved. That's the truth concerning you
and me. Here's the point I'm trying to get to. If salvation
is determined on you or I doing something in any way, shape,
or form, we will end up going to hell. I'll give you the simplest
scripture for this. It's Ephesians 2.1, and you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. That's how
we're born, dead. Dead in sins, which means whatever
spiritual thing we're being called on to do, we cannot do. It's
impossible. Now to recap. What is my standing
before God? Guilty. Secondly, is there anything
I can do to change that? No, there's not. Here's my third
question. Does that mean there's no hope?
Does that mean we just need to close the books and get out of
here and go on with life? That's it? No. No, there's so
much hope. I want you to look at verse 21
of your text. But now, The righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
prophets. If God demands perfect righteousness,
perfect obedience, and there's none righteous, no not one, how
can a man be saved? He must be given the very righteousness
of God. You see, the only righteousness
that God will accept is his own, the very righteousness of Jesus
Christ. He must be given the very righteousness of God, and
he must be given it without the law, without him having to do
anything to earn it, because he can't earn it. Now, this is
the good news of the gospel. that for a select group of people,
God himself gives them exactly what he requires. His perfect
righteousness. That's the good news of the gospel.
And it says here, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
they say, you can believe that. You can write that down because
it's written in the scriptures. Now, what do the scriptures have
to say about the righteousness of God? Well, I'm going to give
you one right off the bat here. It's 2 Corinthians 5.21, and
you're familiar with this. It says, for he, speaking of
God the Father, hath made him, speaking of God the Son, sin
for us. who knew no sin, Jesus Christ
did no sin, he knew no sin, he never committed any sin, never
had a sinful thought, never had a sinful action, who knew no
sin that we, the us, might be made the very righteousness of
God in him. Now, what's the big question
in all that? What's the question you and I need to be asking right
now? Who in the world is this us? Who is this us he's talking
about here? Is this every man without exception?
Not every man is given the very righteousness of God. If that
were the truth, there would be no hell. So who is this us? Turn to Ephesians chapter one. Let's read about this us. Who
are these people? Ephesians one, pick up in verse
three. Paul says, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed, who? Us. Who are these people? They're
blessed people, with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. That's who they are. They have
all spiritual blessings. They have redemption. They have
the forgiveness of sins. They have justification. They
have sanctification. They have everything God demands,
up to and including His perfect righteousness. Verse four, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Who
chose the us? He did. Did the us choose him?
No, he chose us. When did he do it? Before the
foundations of the world. How did he make that choice? He chose
us in him because this us shares an eternal union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. We've always been a part of him. Verse five, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, listen to this, this is why he did it, according to
the good pleasure of his will, because he wanted to, because
he loved his son, because he loved everybody in his son. Verse
six, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath
made us accepted in the beloved. You get that? Accepted by God. This us. How did he do all this
for this us? 2 Corinthians 5.21 tells the
tale. For he hath made him sin. The Lord Jesus Christ became
the sins of the us, his elect people. He bore those sins in
his body. He bore the guilt of those sins and the wrath of God
came down on top of him because of those sins. And having died
and having bled, he put those sins away, and those sins are
gone. For everyone he died for, he put those sins away, and now
those people are blameless. But it doesn't stop there. 2
Corinthians 5.21 says, for he hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the very righteousness of
God. We have the very righteousness of God. Now, how real is that?
Is this an accounting term? Are we just moving things in
a column, or is this real? Let me give you two scriptures
here. Jeremiah 23 says this, in his days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby
he, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. That's his name. Another scripture,
Jeremiah 33, 16, in those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she, the us, the church, shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. How real is this? How real is
it that every member of this us has the very righteousness
of God? We have the same name because
we're all part of the same body. He is the head and we are the
body. Now, here's a great question. How can I know if I'm one of
these people? Go back to your text and look at verse 22. How can I know? Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe. Well, how can I know if I'm one
of these people? These people believe. But the question is,
what do they believe? I have seven things for you,
and I'll be swift about it. Here's the first thing they believe.
They believe that they are absolutely no different than the most immoral
degenerate that has ever walked this earth. That's the first
thing they believe about themselves. Look down at verse 22. I want
you to look at the last five words. Paul says, for there is
no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. You believe that about yourself?
There is no difference. What do you think of the most
reprehensible crime you can think of? A rape, a murder, whatever
that may be. The person who commits that,
there is absolutely no difference between me and them. Here's the
difference. The restraining grace of God. That's it. I had it, he didn't. That was it. You take his hand,
the Lord takes his hand off me for one second, I do the exact
same thing. That's the truth of the matter concerning me.
Now, I do know a man who did feel this way. I'm sure of it.
I want you to turn over here to Luke 18. Luke 18, look at verse 10. It says, two men went up into the
temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Listen to this.
God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are. And listen
to this diatribe of things he thinks he didn't do. Extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. You think this
man saw a difference between himself and everybody else? It's
funny. He gives God the credit, right?
He says, I'm not like other men are. Thank you for that. But
look at him. He's like, I'm not an extortioner. I'm not an adulterer. And I'm
not just like this publican right here, looking down his nose at
him. Go on. He's talking about what he didn't
do. Now he's going to talk about what he does do. Verse 12, I
fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
And he's standing, right? He's standing in the middle of
the synagogue. He's right up front. He feels very comfortable in
the presence of God right here. That's the Pharisee. Now listen
to the Publican, verse 13. And the Publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. This man didn't feel comfortable
in the presence of God, not the Holy God. He wasn't standing
in the middle wherever I could see him and everybody could hear
him. He stood afar off. And he says absolutely nothing about
what he hasn't done and what he has done. But look at what
he does say here. But smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. This man knew exactly what he
needed. He needed mercy from God. He needed God not to give
him what he rightfully deserved. That's what he knew. And if you
ask that man, is there any difference between you or any other man
around here? Yeah, there's a difference. I'm worse. That's what he would
have said. But listen to the conclusion,
verse 14. Paul says, I tell you, this man
went down to his house justified, not guilty, rather than the other. For everyone that exalted himself
shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted. If you will be saved by the Lord's
manner of salvation, you must fit the mold of the ones he saves,
and that's a sinner and nothing more. Here's a second thing that every
believer believes, that salvation is found in Jesus Christ only.
Look at verse 24 of your text. Paul says, being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now if you read Numbers chapter
35, That whole chapter is devoted to the story of the cities of
refuge. And here's how the cities of refuge work. So back in Israel
during these times, If you killed a man inadvertently, right? Maybe
you're working next to him and you're chopping wood and you
sling the axe back, the axe handle falls off and it kills him, right?
His family had the right to come kill you. They were called the
avenger of blood. They could avenge their family
member. And so you had to flee. If you'd killed a man inadvertently,
you had to flee. You had to get away. There were six cities of refuge
set up, six places you can go. And it was very simple. If you
got inside the city, if you committed the offense, The Avenger of Blood
couldn't get you. If you stepped outside the city,
then he'd kill you. And that was it. Now, there is
one place of safety. That's it. There's only one place
of safety from the wrath of God, and that is in Christ. That's
it. How do I flee to Christ? It's very simple. You believe
on Him. You trust Him. You trust what he did, his perfect
righteousness, his perfect death, as everything in your salvation.
You lean on him. You trust him. And if the Lord
enables you to do that, you know what you find? You find out you've
always been there. You've always been in that city. You've always
been behind those walls. And you find you can't get out.
What you cannot do is straddle on. It would have done a man
absolutely no good to walk up to one of those walls and put
his hand on it. The Avenger of Blood still would have killed
him. Would have done him absolutely no good to stand in the doorway
one foot outside, one foot inside. The Avenger of Blood would have
got him. Complete commitment. You get inside the city and you
stay there. It's Christ alone and nothing else. You cut ties
with everything else you'd hang your hat on. Nothing about me,
nothing I've done. Don't want God to see any of
it inside that city. That's it. What a place of safety.
The third thing they believe is salvation came to them by
grace alone. Look at verse 24 again. Paul says, being justified
freely by his grace. What he's saying there is, he
did it for me. He saved me. And he didn't need a reason in
me to do it. Because if he was looking for
one, he wouldn't have found it. Now, if you read the book of Hosea,
the book of Hosea opens up in a very interesting manner. The
Lord goes to Hosea and he tells him, you need to marry a prostitute.
That's very interesting. The Lord says you need to go
marry a prostitute. So Hosea goes down and he finds a woman
named Gomer, a prostitute. Gomer is not looking for Hosea.
Gomer has absolutely no interest in Hosea. But Hosea goes to Gomer.
And Hosea weds Gomer. And you know what happens after
that? She continually cheats all over him. She keeps on going
back to her lovers, keeps on going back to her lovers. And
every day she comes out and she finds packages left for her all
over the place. These packages has food, it has
jewelry, it has oil. Everything she needs to live
is found in these packages. And she thinks the entire time
it's her lovers that are bringing her these packages. It's great.
The whole time it's Hosea. The whole time he's coming there
and in all her unfaithfulness, The entire time, He's leaving
her everything she needs to live. Now that's the grace of God for
His people. He comes to us where we're at. We have no interest
in Him. Absolutely not. He comes to us where we're at,
and He provides everything for us by grace, by grace. All right, number four. Every
believer believes they believe they were saved according to
the purpose and will of God. Look at verse 25 of your text. whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation. Now, the word propitiation means
a sin-removing and peace-creating sacrifice. Who set forth Jesus
Christ to be the propitiation for his people? God did. It was
all according to his purpose, his eternal purpose, to save
his people all by himself to the tune of his own glory and
his grace. Every believer believes that. It was all because of him.
This goes back to the attribute of sovereignty. We talked about
this earlier. And if there's an attribute of God that men
hate more than anything else, it is his sovereignty. It's for
this reason. It violates their sense of ability, their sense
of importance. That's why men hate it. You know who loves a
sovereign God? It is a man who can only be saved
by a sovereign God. It's a man who's completely helpless.
In 2 Samuel 9, King David, he sits on his throne. He is now
at that point the most powerful man to ever walk the earth. Everyone
is afraid of him. He's vanquished all his enemies.
And in his great victory, this is what he says, is there yet
any left of the house of Saul that I might show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And one of his servants pipes
up, he says, yeah, King, we got one, right? Saul has one descendant
left. His name is Mephibosheth. That means shameful thing. That's
what that means. But here's what you need to know
about him, King. There's some things you need to know. He's lame on both his
feet. He lives down in a place called Lodomar, right? And he
lives in absolute squalor because he can't provide for himself.
And here's the thing about him, King, he can't do anything for
you. You bring him up here, he can't do anything for you. It's
not like he can be profitable to you. He's worthless, absolutely worthless.
He says, and here's the big thing, King. He goes, even if you call
him, he can't get to you, right? He's laying on both his feet.
He can't come. You're going to have to go get
him. David said, go fetch him. He came to Mephibosheth where
he was at. He got him. He brought him back
to himself. And Mephibosheth ate at his table from that day
forward. Who needs or who loves a sovereign
God? A lame man who can't do anything
for himself. Now somebody says, what about
Revelation 22, 17? What does that say? It says,
and the spirit of the bride say, come. And let him that heareth
say, come. And let him that is a thirst
come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Now somebody says, that sounds
like anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and trusts
him, the Lord will accept him. And that's exactly what it means.
Any willing whosoever, in fact, that's your command. Right now,
everyone in this room is commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Cut ties with anything else and trust him and him alone.
Now somebody says, how do you rectify that with the sovereignty
of God? You spend all this time talking about election. It's
very simple. If you ever do, it's because he purposed it before
the world ever began. because he sovereignly intervened
in your case, and he caused you to believe on him. That's it. Fifth thing, they believe that
the death of Jesus Christ is the accomplishment of their salvation. When the Lord Jesus Christ hung
his head on the cross, he said, it is finished. And he died. And that is our hope, that when
he died, everything that was needed for me to be saved was
done. And that's exactly what the scriptures bear witness to.
Isaiah 53.3 says, but he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our inequities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. That word are is so important
for the us. That means right now we're whole.
We lack absolutely nothing. We're healed. That means there's
nothing left to do. There's no works left to perform.
It's just rest. Don't believe me? Colossians
120, and having made peace through the blood of his cross. What
did his death accomplish? It made peace with God. What
caused the enmity between God and his people? Sin. He made
peace, He removed the sin, and now there's peace between God
and His people. And having made peace through the blood of His
cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him I
say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and
you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Believer, that's right now. Does
it sound like there is anything left to do? Nothing. You just rest. Number six, they declare only
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 25 of your text. Whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past. Let me ask you this. Do you want God to see anything
about you personally? All I want him to see is the
very righteousness of his son. That's it alone. That's what
David wanted. He said in Psalm 71, 16, I will go in the strength
of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. That was David's hope right there,
that all God saw when he looked at him was the very righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Last one, they understand the
purpose. Look at verse 26 of your text.
To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might
be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now what's the believer's purpose
while we're in this earth? To declare his righteousness,
the glory of his righteousness, that he was able to devise a
way to be just. to satisfy his just character,
not to violate in any way, but to be just and to figure out
a way to justify, to make whole somebody as bad as I am, as bad
as you are. That's our goal. How wise is
the Lord? So wise enough that he figured
out a way that he could be just, that he could remain true to
his character and justify somebody like me. How powerful is God?
He found a way and he accomplished it. A way to be just and justify
somebody like me. How effective is Jesus Christ?
He's just, and he justified somebody like me. That's our goal. That's
our purpose while we're here. I'm going to give you a conclusion,
and I'm going to let Paul speak for himself on this one, because
who knows better than Paul? Look at verse 28. He says, therefore,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Very simple. You cannot be justified. You cannot find favor with God
based on the deeds of the law, by what you do. You can only
find it by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ on your behalf.
And everyone to whom he has been faithful. Faithful in bearing
your sins. Faithful in giving you his perfect
righteousness. They believe that. That's all
based on his faithfulness. I'm going to leave you there.