We are in Romans chapter 3. We
are at a very, very critical juncture in our exhortation and
in our survey of this book of Romans by the Apostle Paul. And
he has now brought us to what I would consider a seismic shift. In his subject matter, his subject
has not changed. His subject has always been the
righteousness of God. But his subject will change in
this regard. He will now bring us to a point
of contemplating an aspect of God's righteousness for which
he has taken now more than two chapters to prepare us for. He is about to engage us in that
righteousness of God through the proprietary work of Jesus
Christ on the cross. This is an aspect of God's glory
to be revealed to us specifically for our salvation and edification. However, it's only occurring
after he has shut up both the Jews and the Gentiles to a guilty
verdict. themselves. Chapters 1 & 2 have
been the labors of the Apostle to bring both Jew and Gentile
to a guilty verdict against themselves in order that they might appreciate
the revelation of the proprietary work of Christ which is about
to be set forth in our hearing and seeing, and it will carry
itself all the way through the rest of the book. The veil is
removed at this text. But the propitiation of Christ
only matters to sinners. It only matters to sinners. So
Paul's labor was to take Jew and Gentile and drag them before
the judgment seat of Christ even before we actually get there,
so that you and I might be completely assured that when we face God
in the judgment, He will be just when He sends us to hell. And
because we have the privilege of being brought to the judgment
throne of God now, we have the opportunity to not have to be
brought there on the last day. That's all of Paul's labor. His
whole objective has been to bring the Jew and the Gentile into
that recognition of God's initial revelation, that initial revelation,
that they are hell-bound sinners under the wrath of God. I believe
that. Do you? that by nature we are
hell-bound sinners under the wrath of God. This is what he's
trying to get at when he says over in verse 19, now we know
that what's over the things that the law says, it says to them
who are under the law that every mouth may be what? And all the
world may become what? Shut your mouth and agree with
God. That's what he's saying. That's
what he's saying. He's getting us to understand
that in order for the gospel to merit you, you have to admit
your guilt. You have to admit your guilt.
There are two things that mankind in his fallen nature do not like.
They do not like an accurate depiction of the nature of God.
Mankind cannot stand God in his true representation. This is
what we learn in Romans chapter 1 verse 18 part B. We suppress
the truth and unrighteousness because we can't stand God as
he really is. Here's the other thing we can't
stand. We can't stand being told that you and I are hopeless,
hell-bound, corrupt sinners through and through. Can't stand it.
But without acquiescing to those two truths, you cannot be saved. Hence the title of my message
today. Guilty before justified. Guilty before justified. If you're going to ever be justified
by the work of Jesus Christ as your substitute, you're going
to have to admit your guilt before God. How can a person who does
not believe they're guilty even have a chance at being made justified?
Am I making some sense, children of God? And so Paul here is about
to help begin to open up this very crucial revelation. And
remember, his targeted group, primarily not exclusively right
now, are the Jews. He's laboring with his Jewish
brethren to help them understand you can never obtain righteousness
by the works of the law. He's trying to stress at home
because the Jews are doing two things. The Jews are misrepresenting
God's demand, as you have already learned. They're suppressing
the truth in unrighteousness by putting on fig leaves and
pretending that their standard of obedience is acceptable before
God. On top of that, they're going
around telling Gentiles, our rank sinners, that you can't
be saved unless you follow us. and take up circumcision and
law keeping and works religion. Both of those are abominable
errors of which Paul has to now defend his Gentile brethren.
And he's done a marvelous job up to this point defending Gentiles. who themselves have rejected
the revelation of God and exchanged the glory of the true and the
living God for idols made in the image of man, four-footed
beasts, creeping things, birds of the air. We're all guilty,
aren't we? And what he wants us to all come to one crescendo,
unanimous, harmonious statement is given in verse 23. For all
have sinned. and come short of the glory of
God. That's the conclusion he wants us to get. Watch this,
saints. All have sinned. Now, what does
all mean? All. There you go. In the Bible,
however, whenever you see that little phrase upon us in terms
of all, it always will have a contextual qualification. And with regards
to God himself, he's always excluded from the all. That's what gives
us hope. All have sinned but one. All
have fallen short but one. All are hell bound but one. And
it's that one that gives us hope for glory. Is that true? The
way the language goes is all have already sinned. All have
already rebelled against God. All are already under the indictment
and condemnation of God's decree. You're already decreed as having
sinned away any hope of righteousness. It's really a past tense. It's
a done deal. We all have sinned. That's God's
judgment against us. Now watch this. And we keep on
coming short. Present tense. We keep on coming
short of the glory of God. We're in a bad state, aren't
we? No, we're not. We're in a great state. See,
I tell you now, if you agree with God, you're in good shape.
An honest sinner is not going to hell. If you own your sin,
God will own your sin. If you deny your sin, God will
deny you. That's the way the Gospel works.
And so, can you... Do you guys... Can you see how
much labor the Apostle Paul has put into his discourse to bring
us to this one point? You're sinners according to the
Word of God? It's a lot of work he put in.
I told you some of my old pastors and scholars have put in 40,
50 sermons to get the chapter three. You guys have only heard
seven sermons, 40, 50 sermons to actually unpack the rich. pregnant truths and implications
of every verse that is led up to this. Chapter 3 for me is
just rich with all sorts of truths. We don't have the time to unpack
them. There's no justice that can be done on my part to fully
explain Paul's brilliance and the Spirit's brilliance in terms
of helping us understand what God has decreed for you and me.
But let's just kind of run through our points and cover this again. Point number one, this is where
we left off last week. All are guilty by decree, all
are guilty by nature, and all are guilty by deeds. Do you guys
agree with that? We're guilty by decree, the wages
of sin is what? We're guilty by nature. The wicked
go astray from the womb as soon as they be born. What? Speaking
lies. We're guilty by deeds. There's none good. No, not one. There's none that do it good.
Guilty. That's my argument. We're guilty by decree, guilty
by nature, guilty by deeds. You guys agree with that? And
then we've understood that what Paul is doing as he's speaking
to Jew and Gentile, he's already charged them or accused them
of being guilty and thus condemned. That's chapters one and two.
And he did a brilliant expose of the nature of humanity, both
in Adam and collectively under point number two, the absolute
depravity of all human beings. I don't know if you know this,
but when you read verse nine all the way through verse 19
of chapter three, Verse 10, rather, the apostle enters into a different
method and approach of imposing his argument upon the people
to whom he is speaking. In chapters 1 and 2, he gives
us a rich theological explanation of the condition of humanity,
sparsely placing biblical texts. When he gets to chapter 3, at
verse 10, and he goes, as it is written, From that point to
verse 19, you know what he does? He gives us scripture after scripture
after scripture after scripture after scripture, unloading his
argument on the basis of the Word of God alone. And if you
were to go back to the pointer passages and begin to read them,
you would see the deep, profound insight that the apostle has
in the text. And most of those texts that
he's quoting are the Psalms, the lovely Psalms. Do you know
there's more judgment in the Psalms than almost anywhere in
the Scriptures? The Apostle Paul is quoting primarily
the Psalms. Then he quotes Isaiah 59. But
primarily the Psalms, as you see, Psalm 14, Psalm 5, Psalm
140, Psalm 36. These are rich texts of Scripture
that speak to the character and nature of mankind as being completely
corrupt. You and I believe in the doctrine
of absolute and total depravity, don't we? That means that man
doesn't have a spark of goodness in his nature. He doesn't have
the capacity to even look to God, let alone long for God. And that you and I are just hopelessly,
helplessly bound to a state of condemnation if it were not for
the mercy of God. And so as he affirms our guilt
by three measures, decree, nature, and deeds, he underscores to
his Jewish brethren His Jewish brethren, this is true. You're
guilty too. You're guilty too. He's letting
them know. You are guilty too. And the final point under this
particular heading, all are guilty before they're justified. That's
the title of our message today. Look at Romans chapter 3 verse
4. Romans 3 verse 4 says this, God forbid, yea, let God be true
in every man of what? That means you're guilty, because
do you understand lying is sin? As it is written, in order that
God might be what? Justified, in a sense. And might
do what? Overcome. When he is what? Whoa, what a
radical insight that you and I need to grasp right here. Do
you know that the Apostle Paul is operating out of the Old Testament
prophetic role of a lawyer? You know what he's doing? He's
defending God. over against the whole of humanity
whose claims are God is not righteous. This is a magnificent insight
for all of us. When you become a believer in
Christ, you've been called to be a witness to God's glory and
to let mankind know that what God has said is true and right.
Now watch this. The whole human race, we used
to be there. You and I charged God with folly. Because we don't
understand what God is up to. Paul understands that there are
arguments being raised, there are allegations being raised
and charges being raised on the part of all of humanity. Let
me see if I can apprehend you for a moment. Have you ever thought
in your mind that God is wrong in something that he did? Have
you ever considered that it just doesn't seem just for God to
punish Certain people with whom you have made an assessment that
they can't be that bad And it just doesn't seem just that God
would let certain just numbskulls get away with seem like murder
Why would he let him go like that? All of us have struggled
with this reality the righteousness of God This is what makes us
guilty of sin And this is what makes it impossible for us to
come to God until he reveals himself in his redeeming glory
and humbles us and helps us realize it's not God's problem that's
at hand. It's our problem. It's the way we think. We're
not thinking right about god and this is what paul is going
to unpack here as we work through our text And so my conclusion
is this the justification of god through the merits of christ
alone Is where paul is headed, but not before his audience understands
repentance before reconciliation confession of guilt before pardon
of sin ruined by the fall through and through before redeemed by
the blood. Guilty for the glory of God's
justice before justified for the glory of God's mercy. Do you understand what I've just
done, saints? I've actually given you a description of the first
work of the Spirit of God. John 16, verse 13 says, And when
He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will convince the world first
of what? Sin! Sin his work in the initial
confrontation of the heart is to show us that we are sinners
And until you and I come to grips with that judgment You and I
cannot see the beauty and glory in the next step of the work
of the Spirit of God Do you know what that is to show us? God's
righteousness That's where we are right now And I hope your
heart is ready for that work because he's going to explain
over the next several weeks and months why the righteousness
of God is now made available to people who have no right to
it. Why the righteousness of God
is made available to people who have no right to it. And this
is a study that you and I want to be able to invest time in
to get a handle on because now we are at the heart the gospel
point number two then moving on into our Lesson, but now you
know what he says in verse 21, but now Paul preaching now But
now he's just come out of the dark cavernous regions of bringing
us into the depths of human depravity Nothing, but blackness and obscurity
down there as he explains to us our hell-bound condition,
but he says but now the righteousness of God is without the law or
apart from the law is what? Manifested. The drapes are pulled
back. The curtains are pulled back.
God's righteousness is revealed in a way now that causes Paul
to rejoice. And under that particular consideration,
here is what I want you and I to grasp now. Four things. God has revealed himself to us
in the person of Jesus Christ by virtue of his atoning work,
that's what Paul is about to get ready to do, as the great
centerpiece of the whole of his revelatory work. God has revealed
to us, this is what Paul is saying, he has revealed to us his righteousness
And His righteousness is revealed to us in the person of Jesus
Christ as the great centerpiece of the whole of His revelatory
work. In other words, if you consider God's Word as a work,
the center and heart of His work is Christ. And it's the righteousness
of God in Christ. It's the centerpiece in the auditorium
or the museum. It's the main piece of work that
He wants you and I to gaze upon, to look upon, and to think about. Forget other works. This is the
real work that He wants you to grasp. His righteousness in the
person of His Son Jesus Christ as a propitiation for our sins.
God has revealed Himself to us in the opening of the book of
Romans. As Paul said in Romans chapter 1 verse 18, in terms
of His wrath against us. Remember that? The wrath of God
is what? Revealed. That's what Paul was
doing. See, remember what I told you?
The unfolding of the book of Romans is the revelation of God's
nature in terms of His glory, in terms of His wrath, in terms
of His justification, in terms of His proprietary work, in terms
of the substitute for sinners in Jesus Christ. We're getting
revelations of God. In Romans 1 and 2 is the revelation
of His wrath. That's verse 18. The wrath of
God is being revealed against all unrighteousness of men. And
what we learn by that is this, that if you honestly observe
God's universe and pay attention to His Word, you will conclude
this, are you ready? God is angry with the wicked
every day. If you honestly study your Bible
and look at what's going on in our world in light of the measure
of God's Word, here's what you will agree with, that God is
angry, not loving, angry. And I told you that in Romans
2, 5, when Paul begins to wrestle with the Judaizers, he said,
you guys are despising the riches of his goodness and his forbearance
as he restrains in his patience from pouring out his wrath. Remember
that? I gave you the picture of God holding back the judgment,
holding it back in his epithemia, his macrothemia, his slow rising
temperature. That's his anger because of his
holiness against sin. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I
am talking to you presently about an attribute and characteristic
of God, as I said earlier, that's not accepted by most people.
Some people would quickly get up and walk out because my emphasis
is on God's holiness and His wrath and justice right now and
not on His, as it were, His love and His kindness and His goodness.
That's why because for some people is implausible or untenable that
we would actually contemplate God as being so holy that he
would destroy all of humanity if he himself did not work out
this predicament for us. And this is one of the problems
in our present day preaching. God is misrepresented. He's not
being declared in all of his glorious attributes. He must
be first comprehended in His holiness. You cannot have the
God of the Bible unless you believe and recognize He is a holy God. His wrath is revealed. And He
showed us that His wrath is revealed both by His decree and by Him
giving over humanity to their vile behavior. Are we jacked
up? Can I get a witness? Is humanity
jacked up? God has passively left us to
the wages of sin has he not and so we are ridden by disease.
We're ridden by Emotional psychological all kinds of infirmities and
ultimately we are dying Like maggots all over the world as
it were because of our own sin That's the truth of the Word
of God That's the truth that you can't avoid if you're going
to represent God as God's lawyer What God is saying is what you
are experiencing is my passive judgment Now I have an act of
judgment that's going to be poured out upon you. And it's called
the Day of Judgment. This is the other area that human
beings don't like. You will meet people who will
contemplate God, but don't tell them that God has appointed a
day in which He will judge the world by that man whom He has
raised from the dead. Don't tell people that it is
appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment.
Don't tell them that because they can't accept that. You see,
the problem is they don't really believe that they are biblical
sinners. They really do not believe in
the biblical doctrine of sin. The only way you can have and
even understand, let alone appreciate the cross work of Christ to which
we are headed is to believe the biblical doctrine of sin. Will
you hear me? It makes no sense for God to
have done what he did to his son if sin was not as bad as
God says it is. If we belittle sin, we make God
a monster and unjust in the way he dealt with his son. If we
believe the claims of scripture concerning what was poured out
on his son, am I making some sense? So see at the basic core
of the problem is mankind doesn't believe he's a sinner Therefore
he doesn't like the fact that God has revealed himself in a
proprietary work of judgment against his son Don't do what
you did to your son. We didn't need all that Are you
guys hearing me? This is exactly where we are
today. And this is exactly the problem, but God has revealed
his wrath. He's exposed our rebellion We're suppressing the truth And
he's exposed the whole world for it. And that's the verdict
that we have been contemplating. All are guilty. Is that true?
All are guilty of God's wrath. Point number three then. Let's
go. Point number three. What we are contemplating now
is an obtainable righteousness. Do you see that? An obtainable
righteousness. What are you saying, Pastor?
If you understand the implications of Paul's argument, none righteous. No, not one. That's a double
negative. It means that you may have grasped
for it. You may have sought after it.
Men may have labored for it. Certainly the Jewish people were
set aside to it. But neither did the Gentiles
nor the Jews obtain that righteousness. You and I ought to be crying
right now if this is a movie. You know how movies move us emotionally?
We ought to be sobbing right now. Humanity, woe to humanity,
because they are lost without a solution. Everyone from the
top to the bottom, from the smallest to the greatest, have failed
to obtain that righteousness. And here Paul shouts, but now
there's a righteousness available. That's good news. Watch this
now. There's a righteousness available,
obtainable. However, he's getting ready to
introduce another device, another mechanism, another truth of which
you've got to get a hold of. That righteousness that is available
to make you right with God for all eternity can only be apprehended
by faith. That's the subject now he's bringing
up. Faith Apart from human words
see what he said in Romans chapter 1 verse 16 was I am NOT ashamed
of the gospel Because it's the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believes then he set out to explain his argument
We're back at Romans chapter 1 verse 16 now I'm not ashamed
of the gospel why because therein is the what revealed the righteousness
of God there it is Romans 1 16 Romans chapter 3 verse 21 22
23 we're talking righteousness now, but what he's saying is
that righteousness is Obtainable, that's good news but it's only
obtainable by faith, by faith, by faith, apart from the works
of the law. Look at verse 21 and 22 as I
begin to work this through. He says, but 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 what? Faith
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that what? For there
is no difference. You know what he's doing now?
He's still telling the Jews. He's still telling the Jews,
Jewish brother and understand this. There's a righteousness
available. It's available to you, but it's
also available to the Gentiles. It's available to you, but it's
also go back to our power. It's also available to the Gentiles.
It's not just to you. It's to the Gentiles also. And
it's to you and the Gentiles only through means of what? That's
good. You know what he did. He just
socked his Jewish brethren in the head Sock them in the head. That's what point two is saying
therefore obtainable by the Gentiles Also, isn't it logical that if
righteousness is obtained through faith alone? It means it's apart
from the works of the law. I Right? That's Galatians 2,
16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, shall we all be justified,
that then therefore destroys working for our salvation, that
demolishes the Jewish assumption that by their good works they
can get to heaven. But it also opens the door to let the Jews
know, watch this, Gentiles are able to come in the same way
you are able to come in, so long as you are ready to drop your
religion. and cleave to Christ alone. You guys got that? This is huge. It's huge because
what Paul has done in pastoral love is gathered Jew and Gentile
together. Say, hey now, I didn't got y'all
all marshaled into the pen. You guys are locked into the
prison where you're forced to look up at the cross. You're
guilty by virtue of the cross, but there's good news flowing
out of the cross. You can have what the cross provides. Only it is obtained apart from
works apart from works This is huge because this is the caveat
now that paul is going to bring in and he's going to explain
this doctrine of faith for several chapters. And we need to hear
this explained as well, because frequently I get the question,
what is faith? And I hear people who are not
disciplined in the word of God often define faith and it amounts
to the same thing as legal works. Or some mystical notion of faith
being a mere kind of vague assentia to doctrine and not comprehending
what faith truly is. You and I need to know what it
is. In fact, Paul in his his inimitable way, uses terms and
phrases that are unique to him that are hard to comprehend.
Here's what he says in verse 22. Even the righteousness of
God, that's what's revealed, by faith of Jesus Christ. Do
you see that phraseology? And what that simply means is
this is where the righteousness proceeds from. Stay there. Now watch this. The object of
our righteousness is Christ. The faith by which we obtain
that righteousness is also from Christ unto everyone that is,
what? Believing. And what he's describing
now is the response of the gift of faith once it's given to you
by the Spirit of God, taking you right back to its origin,
which is Christ. And when once you've got Christ,
you've got righteousness. Do you guys see how that works?
Do you believe that faith is a gift of God? It absolutely
is. Do you believe that its origin
is in God? It absolutely is. Do you believe
that it was born and paid for and delivered to sinners freely
by the work of Christ on the cross? Absolutely. That's what
he's saying right there. That's what he said. He's actually
showing us, he's showing the Jews that the Gentiles are secured
in their salvation Even though the Jews don't believe that because
the Gentiles don't have nothing to show for it. They don't have
circumcision. They don't have law-keeping.
They don't have Abraham as their seed. They don't keep Sabbath. They're not going through all
of the ceremonial laws. These Gentiles, these rogue sinners
are running around happy in Jesus by faith alone. They still look
raggedy. They still behave kind of, you
know, crazy. But their hearts are resting.
in a revelation of God's glory in Christ because of the gift
of faith that takes them from earth to heaven because it came
down in the person of Jesus Christ right along with the righteousness
which is the demonstrative work of the Savior and the behalf
of His God and in the behalf of His people to bring us to
a place where we can say we are saved. And that brings me to
our third point. A triumph of grace. A triumph of grace. Do you see that? See, he says
that righteousness that's revealed in Christ is obtained through
faith alone. Therefore, it's apart from the
works of the law. It's obtainable by both Jew and Gentile, as we're
going to reiterate in verses 28 and 29. And it means it's
a triumph of grace. Which leaves no what? Ah, now
watch this. Verse 28 and 29 of Romans chapter
three. Here's what he says as he begins
to close it down. Let me start back at verse. Yeah,
let me start there because I got to cover some other point. Therefore,
we conclude. Therefore, we conclude again
that a man is not what justify a man is justified, sorry, by
faith apart from the what he's reiterating that point to his
Jewish brother. And is he not now watch what he said? Is he
the God of the Jews only see my point? See how the Jews are
trying to make God their own God. He says, is he the God of
the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the
Gentiles? Do it, Paul. Do it. Defend us
Gentiles who don't know our left hand from our right hand. Help
us over against our Jewish legalistic brothers who would bring us into
bondage again under the works of the law, which they didn't
keep, their fathers didn't keep, no one kept, we can't keep. Deliver us from them. But deliver
them also, because they need to be saved too. They need to
be saved too. He says in verse 30, watch this
now, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision
by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Boy, I could spend
so much time right there again, because just the language in
the English evades the way Paul is reasoning through the one
objective of God. to have a people group for himself
from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, Jew and Gentile.
Watch this. But he did it one way through the Jews, another
way through the Gentiles, and yet that one and other way is
really one way. Did you guys get that? It's really
just one way. It's the way of faith. For the
Jews, it was the way of faith through the law. For the Gentiles,
it's the way of faith apart from the law. It's just that simple.
Y'all got that? the way of faith apart from the law. We'll get
there because, again, the goal of the apostle is to teach this
all the way through. Every class will force us to
have to contemplate theologically the rich implications of the
whole concept of faith. And so under our third point,
an obtainable righteousness through faith, a triumph of grace which
leaves what? No boasting. Stay right there
for a moment. This is critical. This is how
you know your understanding of faith is correct. If you have
devised a faith that makes room for boasting on your part, you're
better than other Christians. Your faith is flawed. Did you
hear me? If you design a faith that incorporates
Christ, but it also incorporates something uniquely contributory
on your part to God so that you feel superior to other Christians,
your faith is flawed. If you develop a faith that somehow
hints at your intrinsic virtue over against anyone, I mean any
other person in the universe, Your faith is not a biblical
or gospel faith. Watch this. Wherever you have
developed a system of works, even under the rubric of faith,
that calls for attention being given to you and not Christ,
your faith is flawed. See, the true gospel necessarily
demolishes all human boasting. That's the axiom of the gospel. Let God be glorified alone. If the preaching does not conclude
with God being glorified in every aspect of our redemption experience,
we have now corrupted the gospel. And faith, by its very definition,
demolishes works on human's part. the grounds by which we're accepted
before God you guys got that you know what that means that
means that faith is not intrinsic to your nature because if it
was then it would be a work meritorious on your part to move God to do
something for you but if faith is as it is Ephesians chapter
2 verse 89 for by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourselves it's a gift of God not of words lest any
man should what there it is there it is there it is Biblical faith
demolishes boasting because biblical faith is a gift from God. Do you have faith and your neighbor
doesn't? You're not better than your neighbor.
And if you understand that, don't go around distorting the gift
of faith and make it as if somehow you're better than your neighbor. You guys got what I'm saying.
And Paul is demolishing the notion, the intrinsic notion on the part
of the Jews who are almost on the borderline of blaspheming
God. What do you mean, Pastor? We've been Abraham's seed for
2,000 years. God, you didn't drug us through
the wilderness. You didn't sent us into Egypt.
You didn't brought us into the promised land. We've been working
in the heater today all these thousands of years. You mean
all this labor we didn't put in that we and the Gentiles get
in the same way, they get the same pay we do. Remember the
parable of the talent? Some worked all day long, some
half a day, some a quarter day, some at the last hour. And when
they came to get their pay, everybody got one pay and it was the same
pay. That's what I'm talking about.
That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about.
You better be glad you employed. Hallelujah. I'm so thankful that
the Holy Ghost hunted me down in my listless, aimless, raggedy
state without a job in the kingdom and brought me in and put me
to work. Aren't you thankful? After the day, I want my one
penny. I want my penny. I don't care
if I was the one just let everybody in after the work was done. I
want my one penny. Here again, in the context of
the gospel, People still have an argument with God. Even here
in the context of the gospel, they still have an argument with
God. How can God be just? They worked all day long because
he didn't really let them in on the basis of their work. Oh,
that's good. He let them on the basis of his
work. They're working from the inside, not the outside. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? And therefore, this little caveat
is for you Christian folks, my Christian brothers and sisters,
never to distort the gospel. You have been given the gift
of faith. And it's such, as we're going to treat over the several
weeks to come, that it demolishes even inwardly, in our own experience,
some sense that we're good. Faith, when properly understood,
is humbling. You and I are still After being
saved, a mess. If you're going to be honest,
if you're going to be honest, if you're going to be honest,
you're still a mess even after being saved. Where's boasting
then? There is none. And then Paul
begins to use another device. He's actually jabbing at his
Jewish brethren because they love this thing called the law. They
call themselves the sons of the law, the sons of the law, the
sons of the law. That's the kind of a tag they put on themselves
after their bar mitzvah with sons of the law, sons of the
law, sons of the law. That's a big old, that's a big old anchor
over your neck to send you into the depths of hell. Sons of the
law, sons of the law. And it's a danger again, by way
of application to my, my Gentile brother under the gospel, sons
of the gospel, sons of the gospel, sons of the gospel. Don't let
that be an anchor to send you to hell too. Make sure the gospel
has you. Not just, just you have the gospel.
Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? Very important. A triumph
of grace. One more verse. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 verse 29 through 31 is where, once again, Paul sets
down the axiom that if we're going to properly interpret faith,
we're going to understand it's a gift from God and that its
qualities are designed to humble us and to turn us to look to
Jesus. Watch this now. If I ever am experiencing a faith
that's causing me to take confidence in my faith, in myself, it's
no longer faith. Not biblical faith. Watch this
in verse 27 of chapter 1. Are you there? But God has chosen
the foolish things of the world. Boom, big hammer upside my head.
Why? God chose me. I'm chosen of God
before the foundation of the world, elected in Christ, accepted
in the beloved, called by his grace, quickened by his spirit,
because I'm a foolish thing that he hit upside the head with the
hammer of his word, too dumb to even see the glory of God.
See, if you're God's elect, you're foolish. Are you willing to accept
that? That nomenclature? Foolish! God
chose the foolish things of the world to confound the what? That's
right. That's why people don't get it. Why God's favor can be
upon you? Because you don't demonstrate
any type of qualities by which he should show goodness to you.
And why is God so good to him? Why he's so good to her? You
better ask God, because you're not going to get the answer from
them. They might just lie to you. I'm talking about Christians.
They'll lie to you and tell you God is good to them because they
paid all their tithes. God is good to me because I don't
eat meat. God is good to me for a number of reasons. God is good
to you because God is good to you. Did you get that? It's only by the grace of God.
Here it is. And God has chosen the weak things
of the world. Are you ready to be called weak? Are you ready
to be called weak for God? Are you ready to take your place
with Christ? He was foolish. He was weak. Are you ready to
take your place with Christ? See, faith attaches itself to
Jesus and everything Jesus went through, we're going through.
They didn't like him. They're not going to like you.
If you have a faith where people love you, like you, everybody
likes you, loves you, you don't have biblical faith. You don't
have Jesus type faith. Remember the faith of Jesus upon
all who believe the faith of Jesus is going to manifest itself
and you taking his just like Christ did. If you actually believe
the gospel, watch this now. The weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty and the base things of the world,
are you base? You better know it. And the things
which are despised, are you despised? Had God chosen the things which
are not, this is even worse. We then went from being foolish
to being nothing. That's humbling, isn't it? I'm bad. You didn't went from being foolish.
At least a foolish is a thing. Now we're nothing. God has chosen
the nothings of the world. Here again, here if you will
allow me to just let this sink in, I'll affirm it over the weeks.
This is how you know God's working in your life. Some of us want
to shine now. Some of us want to get paid now.
Some of us want to be lauded and applauded by the world now.
But that's not sanctification. Sanctification is you're foolish
and when God's through with you, you're nothing It's not good, but see now I'm
just sharing with you the playbook because when it works out that
way you won't be paralyzed God will not use you He will not use you and I want
you to be used He will not use you If you think you are something,
the key to usefulness is you knowing that you're nothing. Not trying to convince others.
Don't waste your time trying to convince others. They're not going to
treat you right. But you got to know before God you're nothing
and he'll use you. Will you hear me? He will use
you if you're willing to become nothing. I could build this argument
on the condescension of Jesus Christ from glory to earth. I
could build this and shatter all of our secret little pride
to demonstrate how in the kenosis of the Son of God, He became
nothing when He was absolutely everything in order that we might
be all that God has purposed us to be in Him. Take your place
with Him who became nothing so that you can enjoy your life
down here. Let me get to my axiom. He chose the foolish things of
the world that they might become the nothings of the world in
order that no flesh should glory in his presence. Do you see it? No flesh glory in his presence.
See, even the church hasn't figured it out. He uses the church, but
the church is not going to be successful in the way the flesh
thinks success is. Because even the church will
not glory in God's sight apart from the glory that's hers in
Christ. Am I making some sense? This
is very important. Let's go back and start wrapping
up our message. Get ready to partake of the Lord's
table. So under point number three, an obtainable righteousness
through faith. It's apart from the works of
the law. It's obtainable by the gentiles. Also. It's a triumph
of grace which leaves no boasting I hope that you don't ever corrupt
your faith by a sense of boasting itself point number four. Here
we go I love this I could stop right here. There's too much
Point number four the lamb of god set forth Look back at verse
25 with me. You stay there. Watch watch what
he says. I want to just touch on this
a minute I want to I want to the spirit of god help Your people
see the beauty of this simple statement, which bears many considerations
more than just one sermon. More than just one sermon. He
says in verse 21, 22, Even the righteousness of God, which is
by faith of Jesus Christ upon all them that believe, for there's
no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Jesus Christ. You see how He didn't even stop
His flow in verse 23 and 24? For all have sinned. We already
concluded that. And they all keep coming short
of the glory of God. But these same people who are
under this predicament are the ones who are being justified
freely by His grace. Thank you, Lord. Here's the means
through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Ah, He is now
bringing to bear that righteousness that is revealed in verse 21.
What is that righteousness that's being revealed? The propitiation
of God in the person of Christ now is God's final display as
to why He does what He does. Verse 25, Whom God hath set forth
a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. Bunch of work there. Bunch of
work. Verse 25 is a bunch of work. Multiple sentences connected
together, or clauses rather. And it's not even done at verse
25. In reality, it goes all the way through verse 26. Whom God
has set forth. Point number four. The Lamb of
God set forth. Do you see that? So, I want you
to contemplate with me, under this particular proposition,
the setting forth of Jesus Christ. You see the little phrase, whom
God has set forth? The subject is God. The verb
is setting forth. The object of His setting forth
is Jesus Christ as the Lamb. That's why we got the term propitiation
there. Now, Jesus is much more than the Lamb. But, centrally
speaking, what God would have the whole human race to understand
is this. in the atoning work of Jesus
Christ. Are you ready? It's all the counsel
and purpose of God. Stay here for a moment. So you
and I can contemplate God on a multiple of levels, but you
will have missed God's purpose if you don't start with the cross.
If the cross is not the basis of all your theology, you will
miss God. In fact, the cross is the interpretation
of everything that God has done. It explains God's purpose. This little Greek term, proetheto,
is a word that means to not only set on a pedestal like a centerpiece
where you see the big image in the room and it's designed for
you to focus on it and nothing else, but it's also the term
that Paul uses for The whole purpose of God, the whole counsel
of God, the whole revelatory objective of God. It's used again
in Ephesians chapter 1 around verse 19, verse 9 rather. In Ephesians 1, he says that
he has purpose in himself. to bring to pass His will in
Jesus Christ. And the word purpose there is
our word for setting forth. So watch this. Intellectually,
the idea of setting forth means to reason a thing out with yourself.
It means to cogitate. It means to plan. It means to
scheme. It means to work through intellectually.
It means to begin to devise a methodology and approach by which you achieve
your goals. It's a complete panoramic plan
in your own mind. Are you ready? And you set it
forth in order to accomplish it. This word purpose entails
the whole will of God. This word purpose entails the
whole will of God. But we're being allowed to think
about how he brings it about. You know how when you see people
have a plan, they think about it, they reason it through, they
line up every point, every aspect of how they're going to go about
it. They set it forth. Watch this. Not before you, but
before themselves. The verb form there literally
means that God has set Christ himself. God has set Christ before
himself. Watch this now. He has made Christ
the object of his own purpose. Now watch this. You and I are
on the sideline. This is not a centerpiece first
and foremost for you. It's a centerpiece for God. This
centerpiece though being revealed. Remember the curtains are pulled
back, right? Isn't that what I said? This centerpiece being
revealed. takes us all the way back to
the temple, into the holy place, into the Holy of Holies, to the
mercy seat. That's in the Holy of Holies,
of which the cherub's still on each side of the mercy seat.
Are you there? And the cherub looked down on the mercy seat
on both sides with their wings covering the mercy seat. Are
you there? The cherubim are looking down on the mercy seat. Who's
in the middle of the mercy seat? God, sitting on His throne, in
His glory. on the mercy seat. And what's
between God and the mercy seat? Blood. What is God doing? God is solving
his own problem. God is accomplishing his own
personal dilemma. Which dilemma? I'm saying on
a human level is a dilemma that he has brought himself into in
order to reveal to us his righteousness, and showing mercy to sinners.
You see, the propitiation of Christ, as the language uses
it, is not about you and I satisfying God. It's about God satisfying
his own justice. This is God's answer for sending
us to hell. Are you hearing me? If God doesn't
do this, to hell we go. Please understand, the veil being
pulled back and God showing us that the whole of His focus,
the whole of His purpose, the whole of His revelatory work
given to us in the testimony of Scripture is God looking upon
the mercy seat, waiting for the blood so that He can have mercy
on hell-bound sinners. He's solving the problem for
Himself. You should be shouting hallelujah right now because
listen to me, Listen to me you and I were too dumb to even know
what kind of condition we were in We were too ignorant to even
know the problem that we had with God. God was far more involved
With the offense of sin against his own nature With regards to
how you and I have lived like hell against him so that the
curtains are pulled back just to give us a view of God solving
his own problem and And then you know what he tells you and
me to do? Come, meet me at this mercy seat. Come here and meet
me at this mercy seat. Here, I will show you my justice. Here, I will show you my righteousness.
Here, I will show you my holiness. Here, I will show you my kindness,
and my mercy, and my grace, and my forgiveness, and my atonement,
and my reconciliation, and my restoration. Right here, right
here is the whole counsel of God. You know what that means?
If you get the gospel of the cross right, you have the whole
character of God revealed to you. You have the whole character
of God revealed to you. If you get the gospel of the
cross right, God's character is fully revealed here. Righteous,
holy, just, merciful, forgiving, kind. You got that? Kind. It's set forth in Christ. It's set forth in Christ. In
some translation, it's a public display. In others, it's just
the purpose of God. In the King James, it's a setting
forth. And it's revealed in the law,
is it not? Revealed in the law and the prophets.
What is? The Lamb. The Lamb. Can I show you? I'm going to
do a quick biblical theology with you. In Genesis chapter
3 he set forth in type. Isn't that right? God slew a
bullock, covered the naked bodies, shed the first blood, gave the
first sacrifice. That's the type. That's Genesis
chapter 3 around verse 19. Is that true? Christ the Lamb
slain from when? The foundation of the world.
We call that protology. The next time is Genesis chapter
22, where Abraham and Isaac go up to Mount Moriah. Is that right?
Isaac is a type of Christ. Abraham is a type of the Father.
Isaac lays down his life voluntarily in the presence of his father.
His father's ready to thrust him through. God says, stop!
I got a ram caught in the thickets. We call it patterns. Patterns.
Patterns. Patterns. So from Genesis all
the way through, we see the typology of the lamb running through the
scriptures. Is that not true? We see it even in the larger
picture in Exodus 12, with the blood over the doorpost of the
house of all of God's covenant people. Blood running through
and through and through and through. So we have typology, we have
patterns, we have pictures, we also have prophecy. Isaiah chapter
53 or verse 9, He was like a lamb led to the slaughter, so open
not his mouth. before his sharers, he was dumb.
He is the Lamb of God. And then finally he came in what?
Person? John chapter 1 verse 29, Behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Are you hearing me? This is my
point. That the whole of Scripture is centrally comprehended in
the proprietary work of Christ. Without this, you can't understand
what God is doing. And without this, you're going
to blame God for acting the way God acts. Point number one, He
sets forth Christ. Point number two, He's revealed
in the Law and the Prophets. That's why we study the Scriptures
with a Christocentric hermeneutic. Is that not right, brethren?
Thirdly, the satisfaction of His wrath. I told you that the
whole objective of the cross is for God to satisfy His own
wrath. You and I are not bringing anything to God for our salvation.
God's bringing something to God for our salvation. He's bringing
His own Son, the satisfaction of His wrath. He's called the
Mercy Seat. Remember 1 John 2, verse 2? Remember that? If we confess our sins, He's
just and faithful to forgive us of our sins. And not us only,
but also those for the whole world. He is the propitiation
for our sins. He's the mercy seat. He's the
place where God satisfies the issue. And point number D, this
is so good, to establish a grounds of forgiveness. God has established
in the death of Christ a grounds of forgiveness. Are you a forgiven
sinner? Give me a few more minutes of
your time. When I say that he has established the grounds of
forgiveness for us, that's what the cross does. The cross justifies
God to forgive me of my sins. See, because other people are
saying you have no right to forgive him. The devil is saying you
have no right to forgive Jesse Gisten. He is a sinner through
and through. He sins every day in his thoughts,
in his deeds, in his words. God, what grounds do you have
to forgive him? And God says, Christ, Christ,
Christ is my ground. The atonement, the propitiation
is my ground. That's my argument for letting
him go. Now, God forgives me in order
to reconcile me. Remember, we learned that in
the marriage class. Forgiveness is a premise for reconciliation.
God hasn't let me go. I send me to hell. Remember John
chapter 18, verse 18, Jesus is being taken in by the law. And
he said, if you seek me, let these go. And that's the reason
you're free today, because Christ was taken by justice on your
behalf. He took your place as your substitute,
as a propitiation for your sin so that God could let you go.
So he could let you go. But God lets you go in order
to reconcile you to himself, to restore you, to bring you
back to the place where God wanted you to be in the person of Christ.
That's good stuff. Point number five, let's go.
And therefore God's righteous character is revealed in the
cross against all of the arguments of men that God is unrighteous.
I'm done here. God's righteous character. What
do we mean by that? We mean this. Are you ready?
When you think about righteousness, you think about two things, quality
and conduct. I need you to get this. We'll
ferret it out. When you think about righteousness, you're thinking
about quality. The qualitative nature of a thing. Morally speaking. Like when God says there's none
righteous, he's talking about us qualitatively. That we are
not intrinsically good or right. We're flawed. And then he's talking
about conduct. Like we don't do what's right
because we're not right. That's simple. That's what John
said. If people ain't doing right,
they're not doing right because they're not right. But God does right
all the time, right? That's because he's right by
nature. So intrinsically, God is righteous all along. But then
God has demonstrated that everything he does is right. Are you following
me? God is known by the judgments
which he executes. So it's important for you and I to know that God
is right. Watch this. And he's righteous in this work
of propitiation. And therefore, watch this, God
can save some and not enter his justice. Enter his justice. that went over some of your heads.
He can save some and not injure his justice. Because if you don't
understand the atonement, and you ask the question, why did
God save a person like David? David messed up. Why did God
save a person like Moses? Moses messed up. Why did God
save a person like Rahab? Mary Magdalene. I mean, Paul
and Peter. The list seems to get worse and
worse. These characters get worse and worse as you go through the
Bible. The ones he's saving, and not only saving, using. And
a human being looking at Peter and looking at Paul, you know,
Peter all jacked up. He's a racist and discriminatory
and Paul's a lust bug and James self-righteous and all kind of
jacked up stuff going on. And God says, here's the reason
why I can save him. Because I have a grounds of justification
in my son. You got that? That's my argument
for those guys. That's my argument for you too.
That's what God says. I want you to get that. It's
very important. Because you and I can shift our thoughts from what
Christ has done for us to the people that He saved and somehow
get discombobulated. Forget that. Forget that. Understand,
God can save some and not injure His justice. He can damn and
not injure His character. Is that true? That's what the
cross teaches. That's some folk going to hell.
Remember two thieves on either side. One went to hell, one went
to heaven. One went to heaven, why? Because
God had mercy on him and revealed to him the glory of God in Christ
and he by faith said, Lord, remember me. It's just that simple. It's
just that simple. Did you get that? The other one
looked and continued suppressing the truth and unrighteousness,
went to hell, didn't he? Didn't he go to hell? See what I'm getting
at, Saints? See what I'm getting at? The cross is God's argument
against all gainsayers. God is righteous in what he does.
And finally, the gospel of the cross does not violate the law's
demands. Listen at the way he closes out
here. And we're getting ready to enjoy the table and some fellowship
afterwards. Look at what he says in verse
31. I'm not going to unpack this because we're going to deal with
it later. But he's talking to his Jewish brethren who really
don't have a handle on the cross. Verse 31. Do we then make void
the law? Through what? Faith? In other
words, if I just believe on Jesus, it's as if I kept all of the
commandments of God, or the commandments of God are completely useless
and irrelevant. All I have to do is trust Christ.
What did Paul say? God forbid, yea, we what? Establish the law. I love him. Here's what he's
saying, just in case you really want to get this right. Don't
ever pit the gospel over against the law. antithetical adversaries
don't do it you will have misinterpreted the cross don't make the law
bad the gospel good don't make the law wrong faith good make
the law good make the law just make the law right and it will
tell you that you are to look to Christ because that's the
role of the law you know what we call that in theology a friendly
adversary. Can I talk for one more minute?
See, if you're going down the wrong road, you need a law to
kick you in your butt to get you back down the right road.
That's simple ghetto talk. Now watch this, because you're
going down the wrong road. The law will tell you, hey, you
come down this road, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to cut you
up in a million pieces. I'm going to send you to hell,
and I'm not going to even sweat about it. But now, if you go
this way, you will meet a man who is able to get you to where
you need to go. So the law is our schoolmaster
to lead us to Christ, to lead us to Christ, to lead us to Christ. Friendly adversaries. Paul says,
no, the gospel strengthens it. Why? Because Christ kept the
law. Christ obeyed the law. Christ fulfilled the law. And
everyone that believes on Christ, in Christ, obeys the law. In
Christ, fulfills the law. In Christ, keeps the law. Are you guilty? Yes! If you're trusting Christ, you're
also justified. Amen and amen. Amen.