I invite you this evening to
turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter
3 is one of the many chapters in Paul's epistles that is all
conclusive. Everything you need to know is
in this chapter. If the rest of the book of Romans
was not here and you were on an island somewhere, And you
found that page, and all that was left was Romans chapter 3. That'd be sufficient. Be sufficient. It takes us from the problem
to the conclusion. Therefore, we conclude. That's
what Paul said when he got done. We conclude. It takes us from where we are
in our nature and practice A lot of us like to talk about
the nature sin, but we don't like to confess that we practice
what's in our nature. But He takes us from where we
are in our nature and practice to where God has purposed us
to be. Heirs of the grace of God. Joint heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was searching for words a
while ago and he finally came up with the word imagination.
I can't imagine what it is to be a joint heir
with the Lord Jesus Christ. I just can't imagine. And yet that's exactly what God
says we are. We're heirs of God and joint
heirs with His Son. Here in Romans chapter 3, beginning
with verse 9 through 26, I hope to give you five things. Five
things. These are essential things that
God would have us to know and believe. Paul sat down to write this epistle,
and they did that. These old writers, they sat down
with a pen in their hand, and a piece of parchment and they
wrote just like you said in your room today and I said in my room
today and I took some paper and I took a pencil in my hand and
I began to write. That's what Paul did. These are
letters, letters. And as he sat down to write this
epistle, the Holy Ghost moved in him, so that what he penned
with his own hand and thought in his own mind was the Word
of God. It was the Word of God. So that what we're reading in
these writings, and I say this all the time, Paul said, maybe
it would be better if I'd say the Holy Ghost said, that might
have more impact. Five essential things. Paul begins
his epistle by showing to us a divided world. I don't know
if you've ever thought about that before. We live in a divided
world. There were, in all the world,
two classifications of men. and Gentiles. The Jews were called
in the Scripture the sons of Jacob. They were called God's
elect. They were called His covenant
people. They were called the children of God. The Jews had
every advantage. Imagine this. All the rest of
the world didn't have what they had. They had the Word of God. Nobody else had it. They had the prophets of God.
Nobody else had prophets. They had the law of God. They
had the type set forth in the ceremonial law. They had a great,
great advantage. He says in verse 1 of chapter
3, he said, What advantage then had the Jew, or what profit is
there in circumcision? Much every way, just as I said
to you. In every way there was a great
advantage, but chiefly because unto them were committed the
oracles of God, the spoken word. God spoke to them. God didn't leave them to their
vain imaginations, but He sent them His prophets and He instructed
them and prophesied to them about a coming Redeemer, told them
about the Christ. And the rest of the world He
refers to as Gentiles. That word means heathen idolaters. heathen idolaters. And with only a few exceptions,
God did not speak to these heathen idolaters except by creation
and conscience. There are two forms of light
given to every man, creation and conscience. In Romans 1 20
he said, The invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. So that all men everywhere are
without excuse. There is a divine order in creation
that testifies of the Godhead. It testifies of an authority
so high that you can't even imagine. And it testifies of His right
to rule. It's His creation. All things, it says, were created
by Him, and this is talking about Christ. When you talk about Christ,
you're talking about God. All things were created by Him,
now listen, and for Him. And by Him, all things consist. Somebody defined that this way.
They have a continuance. They keep on going. God has established His Godhead
in creation and His right to rule over it and preserve it
and then fold it up when He will. He said, cannot I do with my
own what I will? He's not just talking about His
people. He's talking about His creation. He's talking about
anything He's pleased to do. It's all His, and He'll do what
He will. And then conscience is the other
source of light. Romans 1.18, For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath
showed it unto them. When men refuse to obey their
conscience, God's displeasure is revealed to them from heaven
in their conscience. Their conscience tells them,
don't do this. Don't do this. What you're doing
is wrong. And God's displeasure is revealed
in them. And so the Gentile heathen was
without excuse because he has some light of God, but he refuses
to bow even to that. And so God turns him over to
his wicked imaginations to worship man and birds and four-footed
beasts and creeping things. He gives him over to his sinful
desires to dishonor his body and go against the very nature
of his being. And our world today is no different,
except that instead of Jews and Gentiles, we have so-called Christians
and Gentiles. There's still a division, still
a division. And it's still the same thing.
One of them carries a Bible, and the other carries whatever
writings he's pleased to carry. They call them Christians, followers
of Christ. They're known all over the world
as God's people, and all the rest are known as heathens, cults,
religions such as Buddhism. And I'll tell you one worse than
that, Scientology, Mormonism. And there's no end
to it. There's just no end to the rank
idolatry of men. One carries a Bible and the others
carry a book of Mormon or a book of some ancient writings so that
we live in a divided world. Now the second thing I want you
to see here in these early writings of Paul to the Romans is that
there's a universal problem. There's a problem. Romans 3,
9, he said, what then? The Jews had all this advantage. God was with them. God spoke
to them. His very presence was with them
in the wilderness. And all along the way, God's
been with them and given them great advantages. And these Gentiles,
they've just shoved aside the light that God gave them. And he said, what then? What
about these divisions? Are the Jews better than the
Gentiles? Well, they maybe ought to have
been. They had more light. They had more means. They had the very presence of
God, the spoken word of God. He quoted it to you a while ago
out of Hebrews 1. God spoke to our fathers through
the prophets. What about these divisions? Are
the Jews better than me? And here's the answer. No. Well, maybe a little. No. He
knew he was going to say that. That's why he put this in there.
In no wise. In no wise. For we have before proved. He didn't speculate. He didn't
say, well, here's my opinion. Paul didn't say, this is my interpretation. This is what the Baptists believe. No, he said we have before proved
both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. All of them. The ones that carry Bibles and
the ones that don't. The ones that go to church and
the ones that don't. The ones that live a strict moral
life and the ones that don't. They're all under sin. Sin is
a universal problem. It's everybody's problem. Preacher,
you don't know my problem. Oh, yes, I do. Yes, I do. I have the same problem. I was telling you about that
man that came in and he said, this is what we're going to do.
Y'all are going to gather around me and pray. I said, no, what
you're going to do is sit down and shut up, and I'm going to
preach the gospel to you, and then we'll see what God's going
to do. And when I finished, he just went on and on and on telling
me what a sinner he was. And when I got done telling him
what a sinner he was, he went out and he said, I ain't all
that bad. Hm. Sin's a universal problem. By
one man, sin entered into the world. Didn't enter into a few
men, it entered into the world. And death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men. How'd I know that? All of sin. You won't sin if you're not a
sinner, will you? He said, by the offense of one
judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Men and women, now listen to
me, they mistake God's restraining hand for personal righteousness. God restrains men and women. He keeps them from being as evil
as they could be. I was talking to somebody, I
don't remember who, it might have been you or it might have been
Larry, I don't know, we were talking and they said if it wasn't
for the churches, even the false churches, you wouldn't be able
to go out the door. God restrains men. He does it
through marriage. He does it through law. He does
it through false religion. Whatever He's pleased to use.
But He restrains men and keeps them from being as evil as they
really are or showing it or practicing it. And men mistake that for
personal righteousness. Well, I'm better than him. Paul
said you wasn't. I did ready to. You're the same
as him. God just held you back. God just
said, no, I'm going to take away the circumstance. Otherwise,
you'd have been right in the middle of it. One person gets married, lives
a moral life, holds a steady job, goes to church. Another
one's single, lives an adulterous life. He's into drugs and alcohol. And God restrains the one and
not the other. And the one God has restrained
believes it's due to some personal righteousness of His, due to
a little more devotion on His part than the other one. No, sir, God just simply restrained
one and not the other. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What have you got that you haven't
received? And if you received it, why do
you act like you didn't? The truth is they're all under
sin. None righteous. None that understand
it. None that seeketh after God.
None good. No, not one. Romans 3.11, they're
all gone out of the way. What's that mean? That means
that so-called Christendom is idolatrous as the heathen. That's what that means. They're
all gone out of the way. They might even be more so than
the heathen. I know our Lord said this about
the Pharisees, no clean as a houndstooth. He said it'd be easier on them
and Sodom and Gomorrah than it's going to be on you. If they'd
saw what you saw, they would have repented. Huh? The places of worship are filled
with images of dead saints and angels and crosses and even depictions
of Christ. The woman at the well said to
Christ, you worship in Jerusalem. We worship out here in the mountains.
She's so proud of that. I ain't going to tell how many
people she told that to, and they just shook their head. Christ
didn't. He said, you worship you know
not what. That's what he told her. You
don't know what you worship. You don't even know what worship
is. I think we could say that to
any number of so-called Christian churches today. They have their
creeds and catechisms, but they have no basis in the Word of
God for what they preach or what they believe. We believe in free will. My friend, if sin reigns unto
death, and God says it does, then how can your will be free? Now either sin reigns or your
will reigns, one or the other. And God said sin reigns in you
unto death. If men and women are all gone
out of the way, how can their will be free? If both Jew and Gentile are all
under sin, then how are all these prisoners of an evil nature and
in bondage to it, how do they have a free will? I'll tell you what he says here
in Romans chapter 3, they are together become unprofitable. Nothing in man worth saving,
that's what that means. Nothing in him worth saving,
nothing in him of any value, nothing to offer God. Nothing
to sacrifice to God, nothing to catch God's eye in favor. All nations before Him are as
nothing. My soul, he's talking about nations,
Larry. They're nothing, and they're
counted to Him less than nothing, than vanity. Listen to this man. at his best state. Oh, at his
best. When he's at his pinnacle, in
his youth, full of wisdom, full of vigor, full of zeal, is altogether
vanity. When God looks on man, it's like
looking on a rotted corpse. He said their throat is like
an open sepulcher. Somebody pulls the lid off and
you look down there and that body's been down there for years
and it's rotting away and you look down in there and man's
throat is nothing in the world but an open sepulcher. His mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness, destruction and misery are in
his ways. Not hidden in him somewhere,
it's in his ways. In his ways of worship. in his
ways of living, in his ways of thinking. Destruction and misery
are in his ways. No fear of God before his eyes. He's not afraid of God because
his God can only do what he lets Him. Richard, why are you saying these
things? Why do you feel so compelled to preach man's depravity, man's
condemnation? I'll tell you why. Same reason
Paul did. so that every mouth be stopped. Have you ever talked to a sinner
one-on-one? A child, a friend, somebody you
work with? You can't get them to shut up
long enough to say anything. Their mouth will be stopped.
when the Holy Ghost convinces them of sin. They'll close that
mouth. You know, when Christ was made
sin, it says he opened not his mouth. Can you imagine? The one person who could have justified himself
because of what he was doing couldn't justify himself. And he closed his mouth. He had
nothing to say. The first work of the Spirit
of God in the preaching of the Gospel is to convince men of
sin. Stripping of all his hope in
himself or in the law or in the world. Somebody told old Ralph one time,
said, He was preaching on sin, and they said, you catch more
flies with sugar than you can with vinegar. Ralph looked down
over them glasses, and he said, I ain't trying to catch flies.
He said, I'm trying to kill sinners. I'm trying to kill sinners. And if God does convince you
of sin, then he's going to show you this. And this is the next
thing. A gracious provision. Oh, my soul. Romans 3 verse 20
says, Therefore, that is because we are all under sin, therefore
by the deeds of the law. What deeds? Temple worship, sacrifice,
tithing, Sabbath keeping, day honoring, dietary restrictions,
By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. For by the law, here's what the
law says. Somebody put a thing out front,
you know, a sign down in Arkansas. I couldn't believe anybody would
do that. And the sign looks like a scroll. It has the Ten Commandments
on it. And up above it, it said, The
Ten Commandments are enough for me. I don't buy it. Look at that. And I told the
guy riding with me, I said, they're too much for me. Let me tell you what the law,
if you ever hear the law, Paul said, you that desire to be under
the law, you ever hear the law? Here's what the law say to you.
You go ahead, you go ahead, you go out here and you get under
the law. And I'll tell you what you're
going to hear from now till you die. It ain't enough. You're guilty. Guilty, guilty,
guilty, guilty. You don't give enough. You don't
pray enough. You don't walk enough. You don't
give enough. You don't preach enough. You're guilty. Guilty. But don't you love that word? Now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ. And it is unto all and upon all
them that believe, Jew or Gentile. For there is no difference. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The purpose of God in the salvation
of sinners is to manifest the glory of God in their salvation
through His Son. The glory of His mercy and grace,
the glory of His justice and righteousness, the glory of His
love and His kindness. So here is the gracious provision,
Romans 3 verse 24. Being justified freely by His
grace. Boy, don't you like that? Whoo! Justified. Declared innocent. Huh? How can that be? It can't except
in a substitute. Being justified freely by His
grace. through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Justification comes to chosen
sinners by the free and sovereign grace of God. Has to. We're sinners. We're sinners. It's not owing to anything He
does or says or feels or thinks. God justifies them. Why? Because He will. That's right. Because He will. And ain't you glad He will? Huh? Boy, I tell you, if you learn
something about God's will, you'll throw your will in the dirt.
I'm not even interested in my will anymore. I'm interested
in His. God justifies them because He
will. Why would God save anybody? Oh,
just a bunch of rebels. I've already showed you that.
Paul proved we're all under sin. This is condemnation, Christ
said. Everybody wants to run over there to John 3, 16, they
need to read down a few verses. This is condemnation. Light come
into the world. Men love darkness rather than
light. Why? Because their deeds are
evil. They're sinners. Why would God save anybody? Why
would God crucify His Son, put Him to death as a common criminal,
cause Him to suffer, put Him to grave for unprofitable sins? Why would He do such a thing?
Because He will. Because He will. It's not of him that willeth
or of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
Isn't that what Scripture says? And this whole thing of salvation
is according to God's will, not mine. When Christ came into the
world, here's what that act declared. When He cometh into the world,
He saith. That doesn't mean that that little
baby over there in the manger said something. It's just talking
about the act of His coming and His appearing in this world.
When He cometh into the world, Hebrews chapter 10. When He cometh
into the world, He saith, He spoke about doing God's will. He said in the volume of the
book, it's written of Me, I come to do Thy will, O God. Now watch this. By the witch
will, we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Why? Because He will. Isn't that right? He will. And I'll tell you something about
God's will. It's a redemptive will. If He reveals His will
to you, here's what He's going to reveal. His redemptive will.
His gracious will. That old leper he talked about,
I picture him all the time because he's a good picture of me and
he's laying there in that dirt and that pus-covered rag and
he's trying to hold on to it and talk and he wanted to be
heard because he knew they were going to drag him out any minute
and put him back where he come from. And he said, Lord, not poor little Jesus boy, Lord,
if you will, You feel like saying that? Oh,
I do. If you will, you make me clean. Oh, I will. Huh? Them's the sweetest words a man
ever heard. I will. I will. By the which will we're sanctified. through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Now listen to this. Being justified. Something already accomplished. Boy, I hope a judgment to be
justified. You better not wait that long. Being justified. Isn't that what that says? Freely by His grace. Now watch
this. through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. What kind of redemption is that?
That's redemption accomplished. Mission accomplished. I come
to do His will. It's finished. It's just that
simple. Do you know what makes the gospel
complicated? all your preconceived notions
that you heard when you were a little boy growing up in religion.
That's what comes. How can that be if this, you
know, and they're trying to get these, they don't go together. One's wrong and false and throw
it away. One's true. This is redemption
accomplished. Sin put away. A righteousness
already wrought. Nobody at the wedding had to
make their own garment. The king passed out the garments.
They were garments that he made and that he approved. And I said,
put them on and honor myself. Huh? That's the only way you
can honor him. Preachers, I just don't see how
you think a man can walk without the law. You will if God ever saves you.
You understand? You understand? But here's what
Paul says, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, are you
ready for this? This is so complicated. So walk
ye in Him. Huh? How am I supposed to walk? I'm supposed to walk with His
righteousness. That's how I receive Him, wasn't it? I'm supposed
to walk in His justification. I'm supposed to walk fully accepted
of God. I'm accepted in the blood. As
you receive Christ Jesus, now walk in Him that way. Live that
way. Preach that way. Believe that
way. Being justified, something already
accomplished, freely by His grace, the free gift of God. And this
is sovereign grace. He gives it to whom He will.
Through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, He was delivered,
the Scripture said, for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Preacher, I don't know if I'm
justified or not. Well, let me ask you this. Is
Christ risen? And you believe on Him, you justify. You justify. He was delivered
for our offences, raised again for our justification. How do
I know God won't accept what He did? God raised Him from the
dead. Christ was appointed in the beginning
as a representative man, the federal head of a people given
to Him by the Father. God chose us in Him, made provision
for us in Him. He died in our room instead. Now God said, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Who's going to charge you? It's
God that justifies. Who did He justify? His elect. Who is He that condemns? Christ
died. Died for who? His legs. But He goes past that. Yea, He's
risen again. He's even at the right hand of
God. And He also maketh intercession
for you. And He loved you when you was
a yet enemy. Now who's going to separate you
from that love? Huh? Nothing is going to separate
you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Christ is set forth of God. Now here's my bone to pick
with religion. Religion sets forth Christ. And they set Him forth in any
way they want to. They set Him forth as a beggar.
He's knocking on the door, but you won't open, and he just keeps
on knocking. I'm out here. Anybody home? Knocking on the door, but you're
just going about your business. You won't answer the door. And
if he don't get in, he can't save you. His hands are tied. He can't do anything. They sent
Christ forth before people this way. He can save you, but he can't
save you. They use that word salvation
a lot, don't they? All you got to do is, well, I quit smoking,
but you know, I want a cigarette. You go out there and light it,
and here comes the pastor. Oh, you lost. Get out of here. Cross them out the door. They're
the meanest people to ever live. set forth Christ before other
men, and nothing works. Nothing works. He don't save
them. He can't be touched. Nothing
works. Because they set him forth. But
that's not what this is. This is God setting forth. had he set him forth as the propitiation
for our sins. It's Jesus Christ, the Son of
the living God, whom God has set forth, and you'll believe
on Him as God has set Him forth, or you'll die in your sins. that
none other name unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved." You're going to be saved. This is how you're going to be
saved. You're going to believe on Him whom God has set forth
in exactly that way. I'm tired of hearing people compromising
the character of God and compromising the glory of Christ. Ain't you? I'm sick of it. It makes me sick.
I can't even watch them. I used to watch them so I'd know
how to pray. I'll turn them off now. They
make me ill. God sent him forth as the head
of his body, the church, as the savior of his people, as the
substitute and redeemer of his elect. And Christ said, I am
the way. We don't know where you're going,
and how can we know the way? He said, I am the way. I don't
know if I know the truth. I am the truth. I don't know if I have eternal
life. I am the life. Oh, my soul, you have Him. You
have it all. You have it all. All right, quickly
and I'll hurry. Here's the reason for His coming. and he's doing and he's dying
to declare God's righteousness or the remission of sins. Now
I know what that says, the remission of sins that are past and people
just get all worked up over that. I don't know why, he's just talking
about Old Testament saints. That's where God set him forth.
New Testament hasn't been written yet. This very letter is just
part of the New Testament. When did He set Him forth? He
set Him forth back there, all the way back in the garden. He
set Him forth on that altar. No way will He, being dead yet,
speaketh. What does He speak about? He
speaks about how God set forth His Son. He's the propitiation
for our sins. And He is to declare God's righteousness
for His remission of sins. And God will be righteous in
His forgiveness of sins, or He won't forgive. Well, how do we receive these
things? Through faith in His blood. Does that mean I believe that
He bled? No. That means you believe His
blood is sufficient. Huh? The life of the flesh is in the
blood and I've given it to you upon the altar. You believe His blood put away
your sins? You believe His death was sufficient
to save your soul? Can you trust in Him alone? Can
you enter into His rest? He died for chosen sinners that
God could be just in His justification of all them that believe. O. W. A. Criswell. I didn't think
a whole lot of his writings and stuff, but I love this illustration
he gave. He used to tell a story about
a man and his son. I don't know if you've ever read
this or even heard it, but both the man and his son, they loved
art. They just loved it. And they
collected fine art. This man was a very wealthy man. And him and his son shared this.
This was their common ground. And they'd go out and they'd
buy Rembrandts and Picassos They go over to all those old Dutch
artists and buy their paintings. And the whole house, this big
old mansion, is just filled with paintings here, there, and yonder. And going toward the end of the
60s, that young man was drafted and he went off to Vietnam. He
went off to war. He was valiant in his services.
And he gave his life to rescue another man. And they came up to the doors,
they do in full uniform with the papers, and announced to
his father the death of his son. And the father was just absolutely
devastated. He was just devastated. Well,
years went by, and one day a man showed up at the old man's house.
He quit buying paintings. He just stayed in that house
alone, mourned over his son. And this fellow showed up at
the old man's house, and he introduced himself as the friend of the
son. He said, I was with him in the
army and served with him. And the old man invited him in
to the house, and as they began to talk, This young fellow said,
I shared his interest in art. He said, I'm a painter myself. And he said, before your son
died, he gave me the privilege to paint him. And he said, I
was wondering what to do with this painting. And he said, I
thought you might value it more than me. And so he gave him that
painting. He unwrapped it and gave it to
him. Oh, my son. The old man took
that painting. He went back there and took that
Rembrandt off of his fireplace. And he hung up his son, put him
right up above that fireplace. And everybody come in the house,
he'd say, come here. He said, that's my son. That's
my son. Well, the old man died. And a state lawyer set up an auction. He announced
it in all the papers. They're going to sell all this
collection of art, everything that this old man and his son
collected, they're going to sell it all. And art dealers from
all over the world showed up to bid on this art collection.
And as the auction began, the auctioneer went over to the fireplace
and took down the picture of the son. And he held it up, and he said, we'll begin the
bidding. Not a sound. Not a sound. Well, who gave me $1,000? Not a bid. Finally, he said,
I'll accept any bid. Is there anybody here that bid
on this picture? And the old gardener took care
of the boy. He come up, he said, all I got
is $10. And he said, $10 once, $10 twice,
sold for $10. Everybody looked at each other,
boy, I'm glad that's over. Now let's get on to the auction.
The estate lawyer got up and he said, I thank you for coming.
He said, the auction's over. And they said, what do you mean
the auction's over? Well, the old man said to auction
off this picture of his son first. He that gets the son gets it
all. That's what I'm trying to preach.
That's what he's trying to preach. He gets it all. This is the record God has given
to us, eternal life. And this life is in His Son.
He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
hath not life. Lord bless you.