I'm saved because Christ saved
me and I know that. I know that. I know that I'm
not saved by what I know. I'm saved by Christ and I know
that. There's no question in my mind
about that. You know, there are things we
just know. Romans chapter 3 verse 19, Paul
said, we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world stand guilty before God. We just know that.
We know that if God has saved you, you know that. You know
it intuitively. God's put it in your heart. I
don't have to convince you of it. You know it. You know you
can only be saved by what Christ did. Paul said in Romans 7, 14,
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin,
a slave to sin. I can't get myself out from under
it. We know that. We don't have to be convinced
of it. We know that the law, God's holy law is spiritual.
Paul said in Romans 17, I know that in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing. I know that. I know that. Know it by experience. I know
it because the word of God teaches me, and I know it by experience.
I love what Paul said in Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things
work together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. We just know that. Somebody says, well, I don't
know it. Well, I do. I do. We know that all things work
together for good. You see, our Lord said in John
chapter 8, verse 32, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free. And this is very important. It's
not your knowledge of the truth that makes you free. It's the
truth himself who makes you free. The Lord said, I am the truth.
And you'll know the truth. You know Christ, you know the
truth. And the truth himself shall make you free. Now I want
us to think of these descriptions of salvation. In 1 Timothy 2.5,
salvation is described as coming to a knowledge of the truth. When Paul defines faith in Titus
1.1, he talks about the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness. It's caused by godliness. That's where it's where it comes
from. God's done something for you
and you now embrace the truth. Repentance is called in 2 Timothy
2.25 repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth. Your mind has changed.
You didn't believe the truth. Your mind has been changed and
you now do. When Paul talked about election
in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, he said, We are bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. and belief of the truth. Now
there's two things that go together. You can't have one without the
other. The sanctifying, life-giving work of God the Holy Spirit,
which is evidenced by belief of the truth. Now, there's a
coming to a knowledge. of the truth in salvation. And
like I said, how many times over the years I've heard people debate
over how much or how little of the truth you have to have to
be saved, and all such debates are foolish. They're just foolish. It's either trying to make the
gate wider than God makes it, or it's trying to make the gate
more narrow than God makes it. There is a belief of the truth,
the whole truth. Somebody says, how much? Well,
everything God says. That's the only safe thing to say. How much
you got to believe to be saved? Everything God says. Got any
objections to that? I don't. Whatever God says. Now,
Paul makes this statement in verse 3 of our text, Romans chapter
10. For they, these people who were
not saved, they were very religious, and they had a zeal for the God
of the Bible. I'm granting them that. I'm not saying they don't
have that. They're very religious, but they're ignorant of God's
righteousness. Now, here's what saving knowledge
is. It's some understanding of God's righteousness. Everybody who has saving knowledge,
whatever that is, has some understanding of the righteousness of God. Now these people are ignorant
of God's righteousness and because of that they go about to establish
their own righteousness and they never really submit themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Now what is this ignorance of
God's righteousness that he's speaking of? This ignorance is a fourfold
ignorance, which all natural men have. And all four of these
things go together. You can't have one without the
other. There is an ignorance of God's essential righteousness.
There is an ignorance of God's righteousness revealed in his
holy law. There is an ignorance of God's
righteousness in the condemnation of sinners, and there's an ignorance
of God's righteousness in the salvation of sinners. Now, all
of these stand or fall together. You can't have one without the
other, and I want us to consider each one of them. Because if
I don't have this understanding of God's righteousness according
to the scriptures, the Lord's never done something for me.
And if the Lord ever does something for me, I'm going to have this
heart understanding, obviously not complete, but I'm going to
have some understanding, some grasp of the righteousness of
God. Now, the first thing they're
ignorant of is God's essential righteousness. Turn with me for
a moment to Psalm 11. You see, God's essential righteousness
is his rightness, his holiness. his absolute hatred of anything
contrary to righteousness. That's God's essential righteousness. And here the psalmist, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes this statement in Psalm
11, beginning in verse 4, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven,
his eyes behold. His eyelids try the children
of men, and right now his eyelids are looking upon us. He sees
what's going on in our heart. Now look what verse five says.
The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked, and him that
loveth violence, his soul hateth. You see what that says. God hates
the wicked and that person who loves violence. It doesn't say
God loves them. Somebody says, I thought God loved everybody. He doesn't.
He doesn't. Here it says he doesn't love
these people. Verse 6, upon the wicked he shall rain snares,
fire and brimstone, and horrible tempest. This shall be the portion
of their cup. And here's why. For the righteous
Lord loveth righteousness. Now that's his essential righteousness. That's why if I don't have a
perfect righteousness, I can't come into his presence because
he's a two pure eyes to behold iniquity. He is righteous. This has something to do with
his absolute hatred of sin, his absolute hatred of anything that's
contrary to his character. I think of that passage of scripture
in Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, when it describes God looking
at the heart of man, and God saw that the wickedness of man,
and remember, how God sees something, that's the way it is. Amen? How
God sees something, that's the way it is. And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's what God sees. Why? Because God is righteous. Now you mean you can't see things
that way. We believe it because God says it, but that's not what
we see because we can't see as God sees. But how God sees things
are the way things really are. His essential righteousness causes
him to see every thought that floats through our heart. Not
even the action. We're not even talking about the actions. We're
talking about the thoughts in the heart. Wickedness. non-stop. That's what God says. Why? Because God is righteous. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. That's who he is. You know I'm
glad he's that way. I'm glad he's not unjust. I'm glad he's
not capricious and evil. And no, he's absolutely righteous. And we love him being that way.
But the natural man just doesn't see that. And this is seen Secondly,
men are ignorant of the righteousness of God's holy law. Now, the law. It's written down
between Exodus 20 through 31 when God appeared to Moses on
Mount Sinai. He gave him the Ten Commandments,
which is the moral law. The thou shalt and the thou shalt
not. He gave the civil law, the rules for Israel, the ceremonial
law, the dietary law. All the law is what God has given. And it's important for us to
understand people try to break the law up. Well, we're not under
the dietary law and we're not under the ceremonial laws, but
we're still under the moral law. Now, wait a minute. Where in
the Bible do you ever find those things divided? As a matter of
fact, in the Ten Commandments, in the very Ten Commandments,
you have a ceremonial law in the Ten Commandments in the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is a, don't do any work on the Sabbath day. So that
lets us know that God's law can't be divided. But let's just take
the Ten Commandments for just a moment. No other gods before
God. You're gonna love him with all
your heart and all your soul and your mind. No other gods
before him. The commandment against idolatry.
any false idea or image of God that's not according to the Bible.
The commandment concerning taking His name in vain and improper,
not having the reverence we ought to have with regard to His holy
name. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. That's part of the Ten Commandments.
No work. No work. Honoring your father
and mother and having a proper respect for all God-given authority. Thou shalt not kill. That doesn't
just mean physical murder. You can murder somebody's character.
Thou shalt not commit adultery, all sexual sin forbidden in any
form. Thou shalt not lie. You're not to bear false witness.
You're not to steal. You're not to covet. Now, regarding
God's holy law, the Ten Commandments, If I believe, now you listen
to me real careful, I want you to hear this. If I believe I've
kept one commandment one time, I am completely ignorant of God's
righteousness in his holy law. Do you believe you've kept any
of these commandments even once? And you just don't understand
them. You're ignorant. You know, David said, Thy commandment is
exceeding broad. And all these commandments do
is demonstrate to me how I've broken every one of them. All
the time. Non-stop. You talking about before
you saved? No, I'm talking about right now. I'm talking about
right now. Even when I tell the truth. I
put a slant on it and I'm not really telling the truth. I mean,
it's me. I mean, if I do it, it's sin.
That's just all there is to it. Somebody says, well, what are
you preaching for? Any preacher's that way. Any preacher's that
way. I've not kept one commandment
one time. I mean, if you can look at any
of the Ten Commandments and say, well, I think I've kept that
one. I remember one time when I was a little boy, I thought
I've kept seven of the ten. That's bad. That ain't that bad. Completely ignorant. Ignorant. of God's holy law. Turn to Romans chapter 2 for
a moment. I don't want to make this statement
without showing it's what the scripture teaches. Romans 2, beginning in verse
17, Behold, thou art called a Jew. You rest in the law and you make
your boast of God. You've been given the law and
you know His will and you approve the things that are more excellent
being instructed out of the law. You're not like those ignorant
Gentiles. You're confident that thou thyself art a guide of the
blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor
of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of
knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which
teachest another, don't you teach yourself? Thou that preachest
a man should not steal. Dost thou steal? Thou that sayest
a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou
that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest
thou boast of the law, through breaking the law, you dishonor
God. For the name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles to you as it is written. For circumcision
varied profits if you keep the law, but if you're a breaker
of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Look in verse 7 of chapter 7. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? Is the law our problem? God forbid. Nay, I have not known
sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, using the commandment as a base of operations,
wrought in me all manner. of concupiscence, wicked desire. All I've got to do is say, don't
covet, and that's just exactly what we do. You can't stop it.
Don't covet! As soon as I say that, the covetousness
will come out. You can't prevent it. You can't,
and I can't, go one second without sin. Do you believe that? Now,
if you don't, if you don't really believe that about yourself,
it's because you're ignorant of God's righteousness. You're ignorant of His righteousness
in the law. Now, this ignorance of God's
righteousness is also seen in ignorance of His righteousness
in our condemnation. When Donnie Bell was preaching
Wednesday night, I thought it was so funny when he said, you
know, down home in Cumberland County, nobody goes to hell. That pretty much summarizes man's
religion. Nobody's ever condemned. I mean,
you know, everybody. And you see people's objections
to the gospel. When people hear how that God
elected a people and He didn't elect everybody, and the people
that He did not elect will not be saved, people say, well, how
could that be fair? How could it be fair for Christ
to not die for everybody and die only for the elect? How could
that be fair? We hear our Lord say things like,
I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which
you've given me. We say, well, that's not fair. Now, wait a minute.
If I say that, there's only one reason I say that. I'm ignorant
of God's righteousness. If I had any understanding of
God's righteousness, I know this. If God sends me to hell, just
and holy is His name. If I'm not elected, if Christ
didn't die for me and He sends me to hell, I'm getting exactly
what I personally deserve. Just and holy is His name. And
if I can't say that, if I object to the doctrines of the gospel
as being not fair, it's not right for God to condemn somebody like
that, all I prove by that is I'm ignorant of God's righteousness. And then, they're ignorant of
God's righteousness in salvation. Turn with me to Romans 3. Well, first, look in Romans 1.
Righteousness, God's righteousness. Look in verse 16 of Romans chapter
1. Paul says, For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel, is the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek. For therein, in the gospel, is
the, what? What? The righteousness of God
revealed. Well, I thought the gospel revealed
the love of God, it does. I thought the gospel revealed
the grace of God, it does. But what does Paul, riding under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, say when he speaks of what the
gospel reveals? It reveals the righteousness
of God. Now, this is going to become
very real to me if God ever gives me any understanding. The only
righteousness there is, is the righteousness of God. The only righteousness there
is, is the righteousness of God. Look in Romans chapter 3, beginning
in verse 19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped. No excuses, no extenuating circumstances,
no self-justification. All the world may become guilty
before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, the righteousness of
God without the law, without my personal obedience to the
law, is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe. For there's no difference
between one man and another. All sin comes short of the glory
of God being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness. through 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. Turn to Philippians
chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Verse 8, Yea, doubtless, I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. I don't
want to have anything to do with that. which is of the law, which
is according to my personal obedience to the law, because I don't have
any righteousness. That's why I don't want to stand
in my own righteousness, because the scripture says it's filthy
rags, filthy rags. Do I want to stand before God,
the holy God, the righteous God in filthy rags? Oh, no. When
God comes looking for me, I want to be found in Him. not having
my own righteousness. I don't want to have anything
to do with that which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the obedience of Christ, the faithfulness of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now, when I learn something about
God's righteousness, I learn, I believe, I receive, I hold
on to. His righteousness, His law keeping,
His perfect obedience as being my personal righteousness. That's the only righteousness
I know anything about. Now, when someone has this saving
knowledge, they have some understanding of the righteousness of God.
They have some understanding of the righteousness of His holy
law. And that I can't keep it. I haven't
kept one commandment one time. They have some kind of understanding
of His righteousness in condemnation. If He sends me to hell, just
and holy is His name. And I have some understanding
of His righteousness in the gospel. You see, my sin became the sin
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made sin. You know, that's the most glorious
and it's the most horrible thing to think about that I know of.
To think that my sin, He actually had to bear the filth of my sin.
He did. But not only, that's why God
killed Him. That's why He died on the cross.
He was made sin. There's one reason for death,
sin. He was made sin, God's wrath
came upon Him, and His very righteousness is given to me. And I have the
very righteousness of God. Now, these people were ignorant
of God's righteousness. These people he was praying for.
They didn't know anything about what I've just talked about.
And here's the proof of it. They went about to establish
their own righteousness. This is how I know, Paul says,
they're ignorant of God's righteousness. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. Now, what does that mean? Turn
to Luke chapter 18. Verse 9. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous. What is self-righteousness? Any
righteousness you have that is from self. That is self-righteousness. And here's what everybody who
is self-righteous does. They despise others. Look down their nose at others. I'm better than you. I may not
be perfect, but at least I'm not fill-in-the-blank. Two men
went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other
a Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee, not that you're merciful,
not that salvation's by grace, not for the precious blood of
Christ, but I thank thee that I'm not as other men are. I'm
giving you the credit for it, but here's my hope. I'm not as
other men are. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. Remember, he's praying with himself.
God didn't hear this. And the stuff he was saying is
all lie. Everything he said he didn't
do, he did do. Anything you say you don't do, yeah, you do. Yeah,
you do. He says in verse 12, I fast twice
in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican standing far off would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, thee, sinner." He wasn't trying to
establish a righteousness, was he? He confessed himself to be
the worst man alive. That's how he viewed himself. who see me is me and God. God's a person. He sees what
I really am. He sees what you really are.
And you see what you really are. Nobody else does. Nobody knows
how bad you are. You do. You have some idea. Well,
this man knew. This man knew. He said, God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. And the Lord said, I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified. cleared of all guilt,
not guilty before God. For everyone that exalts himself,
they're going to be abased. And he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. Now, if you or I have any self-righteousness
at all, if we have a personal righteousness, that means we
think God's our debtor. He must save me because I fill
in the blank. He needs to save me because I
did this, because I believe that, because I tend to do this, and
I quit doing that. If that is in my religion, I
am in self-righteousness. I know nothing of the righteousness
of God. All I have to do is believe in
free will, and I'm seeking to establish a righteousness before
God. Now, listen to me real carefully. If any, I don't care what it
is, if any aspect of my salvation is dependent upon something that
I do, I'm trying to make God my debtor. I'm saying, God, you
need to do this because I did that. Won't work. God's righteous. God's holy. It won't work. And look what
he says these people do back in our text in Philippians, I
mean Romans chapter 10. Today, verse 3, being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness, here's what they failed to do. They have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now, what does it mean
for me or you to actually, before God, submit ourselves to the
righteousness of God? It means two things. First, it
means for me to agree with God. It's to take sides with God against
myself. It's to justify God. It's to
declare Him to be right. He's right and I'm wrong. I agree with God. You could call that repentance.
Same thing. A change of mind. I'm like Peter. When Peter saw who the Lord Jesus
Christ really was, he said, Oh, depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful
man. You don't want to have anything
to do with the likes of me. Now, if I ever see God's righteousness,
that's going to be my response. Not justifying myself and vindicating
myself. I take sides with God against
myself. And I agree with His righteousness. I submit myself unto the righteousness
of God. But you know this thing of submission.
I've told you this before. When I first got married, when
I first got married, I'd go, submit. Give me this look of
contempt. You see, submission is not something
you're forced to do. Not true submission. The only
way you can submit yourself is if that's what you want to do. You gotta want to. If you're
doing it because you're afraid of what'll happen, if you don't,
it's not submission. Submission is true willingness. In a good marriage, you have
the husband submitting to his wife's wishes. You have the wife
submitting to her husband's wishes, and they're doing that because
they love each other, because they want to. That's what they
want to do. If they're doing simply because
They'd get in trouble if they didn't. There's no submission
there. And do you think God wants that kind of obedience? I submit
to him because I'm afraid he'll take my car away or take my job
away or take one of my children or all the different things people
are always afraid are going to happen. If I don't do this, God
will do that. Therefore, I bet, no, God doesn't want anything
like that. It's ridiculous. You submit because you want to. And you know what? Submitting
to his righteousness I love being saved by the righteousness of
Christ. I submit to that. I love it. You know when Paul says, with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness. That's the righteousness
of God. We're submitting to the righteousness
of God. We're resting in the righteousness of God. With the
heart man believeth unto righteousness. I really do with my heart believe
that Jesus Christ is my personal righteousness before God. That
means with the heart means with the understanding. I understand
that. I understand right now that I don't have any personal
righteousness. Do you understand that? And do you understand that the
only righteousness you have is Jesus Christ himself, his law-keeping,
his obedience? That's the only hope. You wouldn't
dare come into God's presence any other way. But not only do
you understand it, you love it. Do you love having Christ's righteousness?
I do. I do. Not only do you love it,
it's what you choose. If you're given a choice between
his righteousness and your righteousness, which one do you choose? Huh,
that's no choice involved. His righteousness. There's a
willing submission to the righteousness of God. Now, to fail to submit
to His righteousness is actually to prefer your filthy rags to
His glorious righteousness. And if I go about to establish
my own righteousness, I demonstrate a complete ignorance of God's
righteousness. Now, this is saving knowledge.
Some understanding, some hard understanding of the righteousness
of God that makes you know you can't come into His presence
on your own. You have to have the righteousness
of Christ. You know you haven't kept one commandment of His righteous
holy law one time. You know He'd be just in your
condemnation. And the only hope you have is
His righteousness being your righteousness. Your sin becoming
His sin. God took your sin and placed
it upon Him. In Him, He died for your sin on Calvary's tree
and He gave you His righteousness. Now that's submitting to His
righteousness. Now look at this. The last thing
we're going to look at is verse 4. Haven't made up my mind yet. I thought I'd like to preach
on this verse by itself next week. We'll see. But verse 4,
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. To who? To everyone that believeth. Christ is the end of the law. The word in means the purpose,
the fulfillment, and the termination of the law. Christ is the purpose
of the law. Paul told us in the book of Galatians
that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Here's
what God's law does. Exposes sin. It doesn't give
you any power to obey it. All it does is expose sin. You believe that? That's what
the scripture says. The law was our schoolmaster,
and that word schoolmaster is not some kind old man that's
a real nice teacher. The Greek word is a pedagogue.
It wasn't a schoolteacher. It's what the Greek children
had following around. The wealthier Greek children
would have a pedagogue, and he'd follow them around. If they got
out of line, he was to beat them. That's what he'd do. Now, the
law beat us. It lets us know that all we do
is break it. And it drives us. If you have
any understanding of the law of God, it's going to drive you
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God's law does. It
makes you see your need of Jesus Christ. He's law keeping because
all you stand for that law is as a law breaker. It shows us
our need of Christ. I can only be saved by Christ
keeping the law for me. Not only is the purpose of the law, Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law. He's the fulfillment of the law. He kept the law. Now you cannot
be saved without a perfect obedience before that holy law of God.
Christ said, think not that I came to destroy the law and prophets.
I came not to destroy, but I came to fulfill. Christ fulfilled
all the types. He fulfilled all the ceremonies,
all the sacrifices. That's why they are no more.
He's the fulfillment. He kept God's holy law. He never sinned. not in thought, not in word,
not in deed. He never sinned. He is the fulfillment
of of the law. He's the fulfillment of the punishment
demanded in the law. The law put him to death. God's
holy law. He's the fulfillment of the law.
So get this, he's the purpose of the law. The purpose of the
law is to show me that I'm a lawbreaker and drive me to Christ. He's
the fulfillment of the law. And thirdly, he is the termination
of the law. Paul said in Romans 6, 14, you
are not under law. You are under grace. Now, I love God's holy law. I
love every commandment in, I love the Ten Commandments, don't you?
I mean, I love the Ten Commandments. They exalt the righteousness
of God. I love God's holy law, and I
don't try to keep it. You know why? Because I've kept
it. When Jesus Christ kept the law,
I kept the law. You don't try to keep the law.
You either keep it or you don't. I've kept it in the person of
my representative. And I'm not under the law. I'm under grace. The law is not
my rule of life. Now somebody says, are you saying
it's okay to break the law? Did I say that? No, I didn't
say that, but I am saying what the scripture says. You're not
under law. All I got to do is give you a
law and you're going to come out swinging. I'm going to draw a
line in the sand and you're going to put your foot over it. Law
doesn't work. As far as that goes, the law
was not made for a righteous man, but for the sinners and
disobedient, for the lawless, for ungodly, and so on. That's
what 1 Timothy 1.8 says. You are not under law. If you need
law, all you prove by that is you're not under grace. If you're
under grace, you're not under the law. And I love not being
under the law. You give me any laws that I need
to fulfill, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. I want to be
completely under the grace of God. You're the only way that
you or I honor God's holy law. Only one way. believing the gospel. That's the only way you can honor
God's holy law, by trusting Christ as your righteousness before
that holy law. Do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. The only way you'll establish
the law is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's
the last phrase in verse 4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now, would that describe you?
Well, what do you mean by believing? We'll turn back to Romans chapter
four. Verse one, what should we say
then that Abraham, our father, is pertaining to the flesh I
found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he'd have something
to glory in. He could say, God, I've established a righteousness.
You've got to pay me for it. But not before God. For what
saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. Not to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. It makes God your
debtor. But to him that worketh not. Would that describe you? You know that your works are
nothing more than filthy rags before God. You work not. To him that worketh not, but
believeth, relies on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Now, would that be me? Would
that be you? Somebody who works not, You see
that you can't do something that God could accept. You were not. But you believe on him who actually
justifies the ungodly. Well, that's what Christ did
on Calvary's tree. He justified the ungodly. That's my only hope that God,
this ungodly sinner, God justified him by what Christ did. That
man is a believer. All who believe are justified. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Now, somebody
says, may I believe? Yes, you may. I realize you can't unless God
enables you. But don't even think about that
right now. Don't even think about that right now. Here's God's
command to you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. If you believe, you will be saved. And if you're not saved, you
didn't believe. Whosoever will, Let him take
the water of life freely. And we're going to have a baptism
now. Michael Moore is going to confess
Christ in believer's baptism. Let me remind you what baptism
means.