that I did choose thee Lord. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Knight. I'm going to be speaking this
morning from the third chapter of Romans. I've entitled this
message, Questions We Should Be Asking. And if you can follow
along in the Bible, I think it would be very helpful. We're
going to deal with some questions that the Apostle Paul asks. A part of being alive and being
human is asking questions. That is one of the things that
separates us from the rest of God's creation. We ask questions.
Why? How? Where? Who? When? What? Questions. We all have questions. Now, let me give you two questions
that every one of us have asked ourselves and thought about,
but these are questions we really should not be asking. The first
question, and we've all asked this question, is, is there really
a God? Now you've asked yourself that
question and so have I, but we shouldn't be asking that question.
I'll show you why in just a moment. But the first question we should
not be asking is, is there a God? And the second question we should
not be asking is, who am I and what is my purpose in life? And that's a question we've all
asked, who am I? And what is my purpose in life?
As a matter of fact, when people become very unhappy in their
lives, quite often, they'll say, who am I? And they're not really
asking who they are. They're saying, I want to change
my circumstances because I'm not happy. So they'll go on this
thing of self-discovery, who am I? And it's usually right
before they get ready to do something crazy. But these two questions
we should not be asking. Is there a God? Who am I, and
what is my purpose? Now, why do I say we should not
be asking those questions? Well, first of all, because everybody
knows there is a God. We're born with that knowledge. Paul said in verse 19 of Romans
chapter one, because that which may be known of God is manifest
in them, for God hath showed it unto them, for 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 they are without excuse. Now we can
look at this creation, and we know, and everyone that's born
into this world that has their mental faculties, at some time,
they know somebody made all of this. And He was before any of
this, and He's of great power, and He's divine. Everyone knows
that. No one begins an atheist. Now,
it could be that you suppress the truth, and the Lord's turned
the lights off and let you believe the way you want to. You know,
if you don't live up to the light God gives you, He can turn off
the light, and you can turn into anything. There's no doubt about
that. But nobody's born atheist. Everybody knows that God is. That's why we should never ask
the question, is there a God? Because deep down, everyone has
known and God has showed them that God is. So if God is and he is, obviously
we shouldn't be asking the question, who am I and what's my purpose?
Because we know the answer to that too. My purpose in life
is to seek him. It's to know him. It's to serve
Him. That's my purpose in life. I
don't need to ask, what is my purpose in life? If God is my
purpose in life, I know it's to seek Him, to come to know
Him, to serve the living God. I'm responsible to do that. So
there are two questions that we ought not be asking. The questions we should be asking
is, what's God like? Can I know Him? What is the living
God like? Now, there's some things that
we can know about God from the light of creation. We know He's
very powerful. We know He's good. But there's
so much we cannot know about Him without this book we call
the Bible. This book is the written revelation
of God. And if someone seeks God in this
book, there are two things they're confronted with that you wouldn't
know apart from this book. The first is this, God is absolutely
sovereign. That's who he is. To say God is sovereign is to
say God is God. He cannot be controlled. He cannot
be domesticated. He cannot be tamed by man. He is God over all, blessed forever,
in absolute, sovereign, supreme control of everything. Our God, David said, is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Now, you can't get God to do
anything. He's God. You can't manipulate him. You
can't get him to respond to you. He's God. He controls everything. He even controls the thoughts
that are going through your mind right now. God is God. He's absolutely sovereign. And
the second fact that a man is confronted with when he seeks
God in this word is the fact that God is holy. That, what's that mean? It means
he's not like me and you. He's other, he's utterly and
completely holy. David said in Psalm 22, one,
my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? And why are thou
so far from helping me in the words of my roaring? I cry in
the daytime and you're silent and in the night season. Why
have you forsaken me? And David is speaking as he felt.
He felt like he was forsaken by God. And you felt that way
too before, and so have I. But we know from the New Testament
that David is speaking prophetically regarding the very words of the
Lord Jesus Christ, where the Lord Jesus Christ from Calvary's
tree cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And
you know God did forsake him. He turned his back on him. He
refused to help him. He felt nothing but his father's
awful frown. Why? Well, the sins of God's
elect became his sins, so that he became guilty of it. And God
forsook him because of sin. And in the third verse of that
same psalm, when he's saying, why have you forsaken me? He
says in the third verse, but thou art holy. That is why God
forsook him, because God is holy. God hates sin. He's of two pure eyes to behold
iniquity. God is holy. Now, here's my question. Not is there a God, not what
is my purpose in life, but what is my state before this sovereign,
holy God? That's the first question you
and I ought to be asking. Not trying to figure out if God
exists, not trying to prove God's existence. You know, the Bible
doesn't try to prove God's existence. I love the way the scripture
says, in the beginning, God. That's who He is. I feel no need
to prove His existence. Here's the question I want to
deal with, is what is my personal state before this thrice holy
and sovereign God? In Romans 3, verse 19, Paul says,
Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, And all
the world stand guilty before God. That's my state. That's your state. Guilty before
God. Your mouth is stopped. You can't
justify yourself. You can't excuse yourself. You
can't vindicate yourself. you are guilty before this holy
God." Now, I know what will make someone see their guilt before
God. They've got to see who He is.
If you ever see who He is in His unapproachable holiness. He's the God of glory. You can't
help but to see your own sinfulness. It's seeing the light of who
He is that gives you light who you are. And if you don't see
who He is, you're okay, you think. Everything's fine. I'm okay.
You're okay. But if you ever see who God is in His unapproachable
holiness, you'll see that you are guilty before Him, guilty
as charged. Now here's the second question
we ought to be asking. Is there anything I can do to
change that state? Okay, I see I'm guilty before God, but is
there anything I can do to change that state? And here's the answer
to that question, no. Next verse says, 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. There is absolutely
nothing I can do to change my state before God. He says, by
the deeds of the law, There shall no flesh be justified in His
sight. Now what does that mean, the
deeds of the law? Does that mean if I keep the
Ten Commandments I'll be saved and if I don't keep the Ten Commandments
I won't be saved? Well, for one thing you can't
keep the Ten Commandments, and you haven't kept one commandment,
nor have I. The deeds of the law may mean the Ten Commandments,
but it can mean a whole lot of other things. It's whatever God
says. By deeds of the law, This is what it means. You listen
real carefully. If any aspect of salvation is ultimately dependent
upon you as to whether or not it'll be That's the deeds of
the law. If any aspect of salvation is
dependent upon me to do something before God's salvation will work,
that means I believe in the deeds of the law. All you gotta do
is believe in free will. God loves everybody, Christ died
for everybody, wants to save everybody, but it's up to the sinner to
accept him or reject him. Salvation's ultimately in the hands of the
will of the sinner. All you gotta do is believe in
free will, and you believe in salvation by works, the deeds
of the law. But what does Paul say? By the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. All God's law does is expose
sin. No, there is absolutely nothing
you or I can do to change that state of guilt before God. Now, here's my third question.
Does that mean there's no hope? Does that mean all I got to do
is wait till I die and then I'm going to be cast into hell forever?
Does that mean there is no hope? No, it does not mean there is
no hope. Let's go on reading in verse
21 of this passage of scripture. But now the righteousness of
God without the law, without any law keeping on my part, without
any, active obedience on my part, without anything that I do to
make what God does work. 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 the faith
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all. them that believe. Now what does a holy God require
of me? Perfect righteousness, a righteousness
equal to his righteousness. And there's only one righteousness
equal to his righteousness, his righteousness. Notice he speaks
of the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God without
my personal obedience to the law is manifested, even the righteousness
of God which is nothing less than the righteousness of Christ.
I can have this perfect righteousness that makes me acceptable before
God. To say that a man is guilty before
God and can't change his state does not mean there's no hope
for that man. There is hope for that man that
he might have the very righteousness of God. If I'm saved by God,
I have, I possess the very righteousness of God. Now how that is, we'll
see in a few minutes as we go on reading through this passage
of scripture, but this certainly does not mean there's no hope.
Now, somebody may think, well, how can I know this is true?
How can I be sure of this? I mean, this sounds too good
to be true that a man who's guilty and can't change his state before
God and can't do anything to save himself, to think that that
man might have the very righteousness of God given to him so that it's
his righteousness and everything's fine and he'll be accepted and
go to heaven, that sounds almost good to be true. How can I know
this is true? Well, Paul says, but now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Here's who gives testimony to
this, the Bible, the Word of God. This isn't just some pie-in-the-sky
thing that somebody's made up. This is what the scriptures have
always taught. Now, the Bible is God's written
revelation of himself. And when Paul spoke of the law
and the prophets, he was talking about the Old Testament, but
the Old Testament has the same message as the New Testament.
You know, the Old Testament is the New Testament revealed. You
couldn't have the New Testament without the Old Testament. Now
the New Testament, how God saves sinners, is in the Old Testament.
Listen to this, Isaiah 54, verse 17, God said, Their righteousness,
talking about His people, Their righteousness is of Me, saith
the Lord. In Jeremiah 23, verse 6, we read,
This is the name wherewith He shall be called the Lord That's
His name, the Lord, our righteousness, Jehovah Tzadkinu. And then in
Jeremiah 33, verse 16, we read, this is the name wherewith she
shall be called. Speaking of the church, all of
God's people, all who believe, this is the name wherewith she
shall be called, the Lord, our righteousness. Christ and His
people have the same name, and they have the same righteousness,
His. My righteousness is not based
upon the righteousness of Christ. My righteousness is the righteousness
of Christ, and this is what the Word of God has always taught. Now, somebody may be thinking,
here's the next question. Who is this for? Are all men,
without exception, given the righteousness of God? No. Not at all. There is a place
called hell where men are suffering the judgment, the just judgment
of God against sin. Not all men have the righteousness
of God. Well, who does? Well, let's go
on reading in our text. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe."
If you're somebody who believes, believes the gospel, this righteousness,
the righteousness of God is yours if you believe. Believe what? Well, let's go
on reading. There's no difference. There's
no difference between men. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's no difference between
men. We're all nothing but sinners in God's sight. And then he says
next, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Now here's what we believe. This
is what those who believe, believe. They believe that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. They believe that they're
sinners and can't save themselves. They stand guilty before God,
but they also believe that we're justified freely. by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now this is
how someone can be the very righteousness of God, the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 5.21 we read,
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The sins of God's elect were
lifted off of them and placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
He suffered and died for them. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. And just as truly as my sin became
His sin, His righteousness, His very righteousness, His perfect
obedience, He never sinned, becomes my very righteousness through
the redeeming work of Christ upon the cross. Now, somebody
will ask, is there anything I need to pay for this? No. He said,
being justified. And remember, if you're justified,
it doesn't simply mean you're forgiven. It means you're not
guilty. If someone's justified, they're found not guilty. guilty
of no sin. That's what Christ did on the
cross, being justified freely. That means, without a cause in
me, absolutely freely. The only ones who have this blessing
of justification are the ones who have nothing to pay. If it's
not free, I'm not going to have anything. It's going to have
to be free for me to be saved because I can't come up with a penny's worth
of merit. but all being justified freely by His grace. Now who
planned all this? Well, verse 25 says, whom God
set forth or God foreordained to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood. God planned all this. This was
not God's plan B after the fall and Adam messed up everything.
No, this is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This has always been God's way and always been God's purpose
of saving sinners. Through the Lord Jesus Christ,
before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. God set him
forth to be a propitiation. Now that's a big word. It simply
means this, a covering. God has made a way for his anger
to be removed. And God has a reason. apart from
Christ, to be angry with you and me, our sin. Christ made
propitiation for the sin. He removed God's reason for anger
by putting away the sin. You see, He paid the penalty,
He put away the sin, and now God has no reason to be mad. He's propitiated. You know that
publican in the temple when he said, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. That word merciful is actually propitious. Lord,
do something about my sin. Remove it. Take it away. Cause
me to be clean in your sight. And that's what the Lord does.
Whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Now,
His blood speaks of His death. Romans 5.10 says, For if when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Now, did you hear that? complete reconciliation by the
death of His Son. For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, that's through
that propitiation, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through
faith, I'm relying on His blood. I really believe all God requires
of me, He looks to Christ for, and all my salvation is found
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. If He died for me, I
must be saved. That's why I despise that doctrine
that says that Jesus Christ shed His blood for all men without
exception, and some of those men that He died for are in hell
because they didn't do something to make it work. You're taking
away my only hope, if that's the case. My only hope is that
all God requires of me is found in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If He died for me, I must be
saved. The very justice of God demands
my salvation. whom God set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare," listen to this, his
righteousness, for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. You see, when God forgives my
sin, he's not just sweeping it under the carpet. Now, if you
sin against me, I'm to forgive you. No doubt about it. And if I refuse to forgive you,
it's because I've never been forgiven and I won't be forgiven.
I'm to forgive you. But that doesn't have anything
to do with justice. When God forgives, He forgives
in such a way as honors His justice and His righteousness. You see,
what God does is He makes me justified. He justifies the ungodly
by taking my sin, giving it to Christ, taking Christ's righteousness,
giving it to me, justifying me, and now the very justice of God
demands my salvation. You know, my conscience cannot
be satisfied if justice is not satisfied. My conscience cannot
be satisfied if my sin is not dealt with. But God dealt with
my sin on the cross. He punished my sin on the cross.
He put it away, and now every believer stands before God without
guilt, justified in the very sight of God. Now Paul says in
verse 27, he says, where is boasting then? Is there anything we can
boast in? Is there anything that we can
say, at least I did that? Where is boasting then? It is
excluded, Paul said. It's excluded. It's shut out
altogether. I can't boast in any aspect of
my salvation. I certainly can't boast in my
election. I wasn't even born when the Lord chose me. And He
didn't choose me because He foresaw something good I'd do. He saw
me in His Son. separate election from eternal
union with the Lord Jesus Christ according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him. I can't Rejoice or take
credit or boast in my redemption because he redeemed me. I didn't
have anything to do with it. He redeemed me. I can't boast in
my justification because I'm justified by his righteousness
and it's he that justifies me. I can't boast in my regeneration
or being born again because he birthed me. I can't take any
credit for my physical birth. I didn't have anything to do
with that. There I was. And I can't take any credit for my spiritual
birth. God birthed me into his kingdom.
He gave me life. I can't boast in my preservation,
the fact that I've endured all the way to the end, because I'm
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. I can't
boast in my faith or repentance because they're His gifts. Where
is boasting then? It's excluded. By what law of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude, here's what we conclude from all this,
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Now that does not mean that faith
is a substitute for righteousness. Faith believes that Christ's
righteousness is the righteousness that God will accept. Faith believes
that Christ shed blood, put away his sins, to put away the sins
of all who believe that we might stand perfect before God. We
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Now, is he the God of the Jews
only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. You
see, this is for everybody. Jew, Gentile, white, black, rich,
poor, educated, uneducated, no distinction of person here. This
is for everybody. God commands you to believe and
repent. And then Paul says, do we make
then void the law through faith? What about God's law? Do we just
do away with it? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. You see, God's law is honored
only by trusting Christ only as your righteousness before
God. That's the way God's law is established, not your feeble
attempts to keep it. All you do is dishonor God by
that. But by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, His law keeping
as your righteousness before God, I don't try to keep the
law, I've kept it in the person of Christ, and the law is established. Now these are questions that
we ought to be asking. To request a copy of the sermon
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