Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter 3? I have entitled this message...
I think it needs to be turned down a little bit. I've entitled this message, Questions
We Should Be Asking. Questions. you and I should be
asking. A part of being alive and being
human is asking questions. That's one of the things that
separates men from the rest of God's creation, questions. What? How? Why? When? Where? Who? Let me give you two questions
that every one of us have asked that we're really wrong in asking
these questions. Now, these are two questions
that you and I have asked. Number one, is there really a
God? And number two, who am I? And what is my purpose? Now, haven't you asked that question? Is there really a God? And haven't you asked this question?
Who am I? And what is my purpose? Now, when we ask this question,
is there a God? I want to read a passage of scripture
from Romans chapter one. Verse 19, 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, unmistakably seen, being understood by the
things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so
that they are without excuse. Now creation, what we see tells
us somebody made all this. Everybody thinks that somebody
says, well, what about atheists? Well, they didn't begin atheists.
They didn't begin atheists. Perhaps they suppressed the truth
to where they are now. I realize that and genuinely
believe that there's no being called God and that this is a
lonely universe. Everything's chance and random
and all that kind of things. I know people can really endorse
that, but they didn't begin that way. Everyone knows from the
light of creation, somebody made all this and he was before all
of this. He's eternal. And He has great
power in being able to create all of this. Everyone is born
with that knowledge. So when we say, is there a God? We know better. Yes, there is
a God. Creation says God is. And the answer to the second
question is answered by the first question. If God is, and he is,
my purpose is to seek him. It's to know him. It's to serve
him. That's my purpose in life. If
God is, my purpose is to seek him. to know Him and to serve
Him. Now the question that we should
be asking is, what's God like? Who is He? What's He like? Now there's some things we can
know by the light of creation. All I got to do is look at creation
and I see God is very powerful. But how can I know that he'll
forgive me of my sins? How can I know of his justice?
How can I know of any of his attributes, what he's like? There's
some things I can see from the light of nature that I can conclude
God must be this way. He's very powerful. He's eternal. He was before all of this. He's
not a man. He's divine, the eternal power
and Godhead. We can see that by nature, but
how can I know what he is really like? There are some things, many things
concerning the Lord God that can only be known by the light
of revelation. Now God has revealed himself
in this book we call the Bible. Matter of fact, the Bible claims
to be inspired by God. All scripture, this is what the
Bible says, 2 Timothy 3.16, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God. All scripture. And in the Bible,
God makes himself known. Now, there are two great facts
that men are confronted with when they deal with the God of
the Bible, this God of revelation. The first is this, God is absolutely
sovereign. You know what that means? That
means he can't be controlled. That means he can't be manipulated. That means he can't be tamed
or domesticated by me or you. He's the God of glory. He is absolutely independent,
utterly sovereign. He does according to his will. David said in Psalm 115 and three,
our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. That is the God of the Bible.
You and I can't control Him. He is utterly sovereign. That's God. Anything less than
that is no God at all. That's the God of the Bible.
First, we're confronted with His absolute sovereignty. And
secondly, we're confronted with this. God is holy. God is holy. Holy, holy. The whole earth is
filled with His glory. God is holy. Now what's meant
by holiness? I believe that Psalm 22 gives
us about the greatest definition of holiness. There's a lot of
them in the scripture, but none more clear than this. Verse one. My God. My God. Why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words of my roaring,
O God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hear us not and in the
night season and am not silent. Now, you know, these are the
words of David. First of all, Psalm 22, David
penned these words. And you know what David felt
like? He felt like he'd been forsaken by God. You ever felt
that way? where you feel like your sins
have separated you from God and he can't have anything to do
with you. That's how David felt. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? I've been left to myself. But
we both know that these words were spoken prophetically as
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ from Calvary's tree. He said
these words, my God, my God, Why have you forsaken me? And he really was forsaken. David
wasn't. David felt as though he was,
but he wasn't forsaken. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
forsaken by God. God refused to help him. He felt nothing but his father's
awful frown. Cut off. Why? Well, here's the answer. Verse
three. But thou art What? Holy. That's why. God hates sin. That's his holiness. God hates
sin. And when sin was found in his
only begotten and well beloved son, God turned his back on him. God is holy. What's God like? God is absolutely
sovereign and God is unapproachably holy. Now back to our text in
Romans chapter 3. You know one of the things I
love about the Bible is I love the way the Bible makes no attempt
to prove the existence of God. In the beginning, God. Don't you love that? You know,
I was reading about this new thing that's called The Zealot.
It's one of those new books. Somebody's written about the
life and times of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was written by an
Islamic guy, and he was giving all these things. And I was reading
a book review on it, but the guy said, you know, one of the
problems with writing anything about Jesus is the fact that
there's nothing about him anywhere except in the Bible. And I thought,
isn't it glorious the way the Lord does that? The only information
you're going to find concerning Him is in the revealed Word of
God. Aren't you thankful for this
revelation? All the men writing a biography about Jesus, please. The question I want to ask is
not, is there a God or what is my purpose? Here's the question
that I want to ask. What is my state before this
God? Now that is the question you
and I ought to be asking. What is my state before this
sovereign, holy God? Now look in verse 19 of Romans
chapter three. Now we know Somebody says, well, I don't
know. Well, Paul does. 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 may become guilty before
God. What is my state before this
sovereign and holy God? Guilty. Guilty as charged. Now, if I've ever seen The only way I'm ever going to
see Him is if He makes Himself known. I can't see the Lord. I can't
know Him unless He makes Himself known. But if I ever see who
God is in His utter sovereignty that I can't control Him, I can't
get Him to respond to anything I do. I see Him in His utter
holiness. I can't approach Him. The only
conclusion I can come up with in seeing Him is I'm guilty. If you ever see the Lord, if
you ever see the Lord, you'll be like Isaiah. Isaiah said,
when I saw the Lord, I said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes
have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. He, he saw holy, holy, Daniel said, when I saw him,
my comeliness, what I thought was beautiful about myself, turned
to corruption. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ears, but now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I hate myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. When the Lord made himself known
to Peter, and he saw the Lord's control of the fish, fish get
in the net, they got in the net. You only see, he saw who the
Lord was. He said, Lord, depart from me. You don't want to have
anything to do with anybody like me. Now, he wasn't saying because
he wanted away from the Lord's presence, but he thought the
Lord would want away from his presence. That's what happens
when you see the Lord, your mouth will be stopped. I'll stand before
God, guilty as charged, no self-indication, no self-justification, no excuses,
guilty, subject to the judgment of God. Now, the only way you
and I are going to know this, it's not going to be by looking
at the bad stuff we do. It's not going to be by reading the
papers. It's by seeing who God is. And if I ever see who God
is, this is where I'm going to be guilty as charged. What is my state before God? Guilty. Amen. You believe that? Here's the
second question I would want to ask. Was there anything I
can do about it? Is there anything to do to change
that state, to make me no longer guilty before God? Is there any
way I can gain his favor? Is there anything I can do to
change that awful state of guilt before God? You know what the
answer to that question is? No. No. Look at verse 20. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, There shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's all the law does. Now,
what is meant by law? The deeds of the law. Is that
just talking about the Ten Commandments? Well, if it is, I'm condemned
because I haven't kept one of them. And so are you. You ever kept a commandment?
You ever kept even one in your heart? No. So if all it was talking
about was the Ten Commandments, it's over for me. But by the
deeds of the law means more than just making or keeping or not
keeping the Ten Commandments. Deeds is anything that's ultimately
dependent upon me for it to work. That's the deeds of the law.
If any aspect of salvation is ultimately dependent upon me
doing something or it'll fall to the ground, if I don't do
it, It's over. Deeds of the law. All you've got to do is believe
in free will and you believe in the deeds of the law. If your
salvation is dependent upon your decision or something you allow
God to do, that's the deeds of the law. And the scripture clearly
points out, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified. Not my flesh, not your flesh.
No flesh shall be justified in his sight. For by the law is
the knowledge of sin, exposes sin. And that's all it does. So no, there's nothing we can
do to change our state. Now here's the third question. Does that mean there's no hope?
I mean, this is a very grim picture. God is unapproachable and there's
nothing I can do to change that state. Does that mean there's
no hope? Does that mean I just got to sit here and wait till
I die and end up going to hell? Is there no hope? Yes, beloved, there is hope. You know, if you really believe
that this describes you guilty before God and that you can't
do anything about it, you want something to give you some hope.
Look what verse 21 says, Romans 3, but now the righteousness of God without the law. Now, think of those two terms,
the righteousness of God without the law, without my personal
obedience to any law. now the righteousness of God
without me doing anything. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. This is what the law has always
said. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Now, what does God require? Righteousness. That's what God
requires. Absolute, perfect righteousness. And the only righteousness that's
as good as He is, is His. Notice He says the righteousness
of God. The righteousness of God without
the law. Without me doing something to
make it work for me. The righteousness of God without
the law. Now, do you know one who is condemned
and stands guilty before God and one who can do absolutely
nothing about your state to bring yourself into a state of favor
with God? Do you know there's something
called the righteousness of God that's given to those who believe? The very righteousness of God,
the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of
God given to those who believe. Turn over to Romans chapter four,
verse five. But to him that worketh not. And this is not talking about
someone who is what people would call an antinomian who who looks
at grace as an excuse for sin. So I'm not going to worry about
work. And I'm just going to, everything's going to be all
right with me, you know, because salvation by grace to him that work, that's
not what that's talking about. That's talking about that person
who sees that there's absolutely nothing they can do to please
God that God can accept. That's the person who works not
salvation by works isn't even an option with me. I know that.
It's salvation by works, it's over for me. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is gathered
for righteousness, even as David also described the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without their work
saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, does that sound attractive
to you? To have God to give you. his righteousness and to not
charge you with your sin. Does that sound attractive to
you? Someone says, that sounds too
good to be true. That sounds too good to actually, you mean
God not charge me with my sin and him to give me his very righteousness? That sounds too good to be true.
How can I know this stuff is true? How can I know that you're
not just pie in the sky? How can I know this is true?
Well, look back in our text, Romans chapter three. Verse 21, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. You know how we know it's true?
Because the Bible says it. Now, the scripture is authoritative. What the Bible says is true. I can't prove that to you. I
don't feel any need to. The Bible claims to be the inspired
word of God, and this has always been the message of scripture,
Old Testament, New Testament. Isaiah 54, 17, listen to this
scripture. Their righteousness is of me. Did you hear that? Their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord. Jeremiah 23 6 this is the name
wherewith he shall be called the Lord our God righteousness. He is my personal righteousness. Jeremiah 33 16 says this is the
name wherewith she shall be called, that's his name, Jehovah Zedkinu,
the Lord our righteousness. You know what Todd Niebuhr's
name is? Jehovah Zedkinu. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called. This is talking about the church, all of God's
elect, everybody for whom Christ died, all who believe. This is
the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. This is what the Bible has always
taught. You see, the gospel is not God's
plan B after we messed it up in the fall. No, Christ is called
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And this has always
been God's way of saving sinners. You know, before there was ever
a sinner, there was a Savior. Isn't that wonderful? Before
there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. Now, who's this
for? Who gets the righteousness of
God? I see what a glorious, blessed
thing it is. Who is this for? Does everybody
have the righteousness of God? No. No, there is a place called
hell. There's a place where men suffer
the judgment wrath of God. Well, who is this for? Dare I
believe that it's for me? Well, look what verse 22 says.
Even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. They believe. Believe what? That there's no difference, that
all the sin and come short of the glory of God, Romans 6, 23. And here is how one is saved,
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Now here's what people believe,
who believe. They believe there's no difference
between one man and another. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's no difference. There
isn't one closer to God and one farther away. The whole lump
of humanity is under the judgment and guilt because of their sin.
Me, you, and everybody else. There's no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Isaiah understood
that when he said, I'm the man of unclean lips and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips. He knew there was no difference.
All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, he said. There's
no difference. But here's the hope. Verse 24,
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Now, here's my hope. Here's what
I believe. You want to know what I believe?
It's what the Bible says. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now,
Christ Jesus died on Calvary's tree. You know what He did? He
redeemed people. He redeemed people. And in redeeming
them, their sin was washed away, made to be no more. And in redeeming
them, you know what they are now? Justified. Without guilt. without sin. Now, this is what
we believe. If we believe, we believe all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Well, is there anything that
I have to pay for this? I mean, is there anything I have
to come up with in order to have this as mine? Well, it says being
justified freely. Don't you love that word? You
know I love that word, freely! With no cause in me. Freely. Having been justified
freely. What if you had to come up with
something? Where would that leave you? I know where it would leave me.
You know the one qualification for grace is that you're disqualified
for it. Is that you have nothing to pay.
The only way you can receive free grace is if you have nothing
to pay. being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. I love the grace of God but God
who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us even when we were dead in sins has quickened us together
with Christ. By grace you are saved. That's
what grace means. By grace you are saved. Now It's
given to those who believe, and we're going to get a little bit
more into that in this next verse, whom God, verse 25, whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare 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." Now, who purposed
all this? God did. Whom God set forth or
foreordained is the word. God purposed this. He set him
forth. He foreordained for him to be
a propitiation. Now that's a big word. It's God's
way of removal of that which causes his just wrath. It's covering. It's where we get the mercy seat
from. The mercy seat, the lid of propitiation, the lid of covering,
same word. It's God's covering from my sin. Now there's an infinite difference
between God's covering and me covering. If I have something
in my palm and I cover it with my hand, it's still there. When
God covers something, you know what? It ain't there anymore.
That's what the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ does. It makes
it to where I have no sin. And this is, only the Lord can
do something about my sin. And when that publican in the
temple when he was crying, beating on his breast, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. The word is actually propitious. God be propitious. God, do something
about my sin. Take it away. Cause it to be
covered. Cause it to be no more. Save
me from my sin. Boy, that's a powerful prayer. Lord, save me. Save me. You know, I never get away from
that prayer. Lord, save me. Save me from my sin. Be propitious
to me. Cover my sin. Do something about
it. We know we can't do anything about it. And we're asking Him. The only one who can do anything
for us is Him. Hebrews 8.12 says, I will be
merciful or I will be propitious is the word. I will be propitious. to their unrighteousness and
their sins and iniquities, I will remember no more. And don't miss
this. Look in verse 25 again. Whom
God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Now, understand that for exactly
what he says. Through faith in his blood. the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That represents his death. The shedding of his blood is
his death. Look in Romans chapter five, verse 10. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Is that good news? When were
we reconciled? When we were enemies, not when
we turned things over and started believing, no. When we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. The death
of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished complete reconciliation. Now, I have faith in His blood. I really believe, I really believe that his blood
washes away all my sin. I have reliance upon his blood. You see, I've only got one hope. Now, may I be as clear as I can
be? I've only got one hope. My only
hope is that Jesus Christ died for me. Now that's the only hope
I have, that He died for me. And that is one of the many reasons
why I despise that doctrine of universal redemption that says
He can die for somebody and they wind up in hell anyway, because
if that's the case, you've taken away the only hope I have. I
have faith in His blood I really believe that all that God requires
of me is found in the life, the death and the resurrection of
his son. Let me share a scripture with
you that Romans chapter 10. Verse six, but the righteousness,
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in your heart,
who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. Don't say, what can I do to get
him to come down here and save me? Just forget that kind of
language. Verse seven, who shall descend
into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. What can I do to make his death work for me?
Stop that foolishness. Don't even think that way, he
says. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith, which
we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord
Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now, do you confess with
your mouth? And you only confess with your
mouth what's in your heart. He's the Lord. He's the I don't know much about
myself, but I know this. He's the Lord Jesus. He's the
Lord of all. And I believe in my heart that
God raised him from the dead. That means God was satisfied
with what he did. And God accepted what he did.
And all the sins that he died for were put away. And God raised
him from the dead. I believe that in my heart. Now,
someone says, what do you mean by believing with your heart?
What's that mean? Well, the heart is the understanding. The heart
is the affections. It's what moves you. It's what
you love. The heart is your will. It's what you want. It's what
you desire. Look what verse 10 says in that same chapter. For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now, with my understanding,
with what understanding I have, I understand this. The only righteousness
I have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Do you understand
that? You understand you wouldn't dare approach God any other way.
But not only do I understand it, I love it that way. I do. I do. I love having His righteousness
as my righteousness before God. As a matter of fact, give me
a choice. If you could be saved perfectly
by your righteousness, and if you never sinned and had a perfect
righteousness, or you could be saved by Christ's righteousness,
which would you prefer? Christ's righteousness! That's
what I desire. As far as that hypothetical situation
I talked about, it never was anyway. if you could be saved
by your righteousness. You can't be saved. Look at your
experience. You've already messed up. Just
forget that kind of thinking. What a wonderful thing it is
to be saved by his righteousness. It just takes all the pressure
off, doesn't it? To just simply rely on him. Do you have faith in his blood? Now back to our text in Romans
chapter three. I want us to notice something
this scripture points out. Verse 26, to declare, I say at
this time, his mercy, his grace, his love. Oh, those are all seen
in this. I wouldn't deny that for a second,
but it says to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him, which believeth
in Jesus. In first John chapter one, verse
nine, we read, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, my conscience cannot be
satisfied if the demands of the law are not honored. I can't rest in just, well, he'll
forgive you, just some kind of general trust that he'll forgive
you. No, the only thing I can rest in is if my sin is actually
punished. I can't. I tell a story about
John Walmsley. One time he felt guilty and he
went up and asked either his mom or dad, can you whip me for
it? He couldn't rest satisfied unless
his sin was punished. Well, you know, really you can't
rest satisfied that God really accepts you unless your sin is
punished and God's righteousness is declared. And I love that
verse of scripture that says if we confess our sins, And all
that, somebody says, do we gotta confess all of them? Yeah, yeah,
but that doesn't mean all of them individually because you
don't have enough hours in the day to do it. You don't know what they
all are anyway. But what it means is, is you take sides with God
against yourself, guilty as charged. That's what it is to confess
your sins. You agree with what God says regarding your sin.
You take full responsibility for your sin. I've sinned and
done this evil in thy sight that you might be justified when you
speak and clear when you judge. If we confess our sins, it says
He's faithful and just. to forgive us of our sins. You
see, He's faithful because He decreed and declared that I would
confess my sin. He gave me the grace to do it.
He was faithful in doing what He promised to do. He's faithful
and He's just. You know, the very justice of
God is magnified in the forgiveness of my sins because my sins were
punished and His righteousness is given to me He's faithful
and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. Now, when I opened the service
reading that passage of scripture out of Job 25, Bildad asked,
how can man be just with God? But you know, he didn't know.
He didn't know. He asked the question, but he
didn't know the answer. Every believer does. How can
man be just with God? through the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which shows how God can be just and the justifier
of him, which believeth in Jesus. Now here's the next question.
We'll ask a couple more. Well, is there anything we can
glory in? Is there anything we can take
credit in? Is there anything we can boast in? Well, look what verse 27
says. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. It's shut out. Is there anything we can boast
in? No. I can't boast in my election. Romans 9 and 11 says for the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand not of works, but of him that calleth. I can't glory in
my redemption. I wasn't even born when I was
redeemed. I didn't do anything to deserve it or earn it. I can't
glory in my justification. My soul, if I justify myself,
my own mouth condemns me. It's something He declared me
to be and He did all the work. I can't glory in my regeneration.
I didn't have anything more to do with my second birth than
I did with my first birth. I can't glory in my preservation
because I'm kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
I can't glory in any aspect of myself. I can't glory in my faith.
He gave it to me. I can't glory in my repentance.
He gave it to me. I can't glory in my love to Him.
He gave it to me. He gave me the heart to do it.
There's nothing. Where is boasting then? It's
excluded. David said, not unto us, not
unto us, but into thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy
truth's sake. Where is boasting? It's excluded. By what law? Works? Nay, but
by the law of faith. Therefore, here's what we conclude.
Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. Is faith justification? Does the Lord substitute faith
for obedience and say, well, he believes, therefore I'm justified.
No, he's justified. No, you know better than that.
Faith relies on Christ as a justification before God. What is the evidence
that he justified me? I'm relying on him. Therefore,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of
the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. This is for me and you
too. Seeing it's one God which will justify the circumcision
by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make
void the law through faith? Do we just do it with the law? Now, what about God's law? God
forbid, yea, we establish God's holy law. You see, only by faith
in Christ do I honor the law. And all I do is dishonor it if
I think I can keep it or even if I try to keep it. Now, are
you saying it's okay to break God's law? Of course I'm not
saying that. No, it's not okay to break God's law. But the only way I honor God's
law First of all, let me say this, I don't try to keep God's
law. You know why? I've kept it. When my Redeemer kept it, I did
too. Just as his sin became, my sin
became his. My horrible sin became his sin. His beautiful, glorious righteousness,
His law-keeping becomes mine. And when I rest in Him, I establish,
I honor God's holy law. Do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid we establish it. Now these are the questions
that you and I ought to be asking. Not, is there a God? Who am I? Generally, I don't know how many
times I've seen people. When they go on this journey
of self-exploration, who am I? It's right before they do something
terrible. You can just watch out when somebody starts saying,
who am I? Uh-oh, they're getting ready to get a divorce or something
like that. They're getting ready to commit some kind of crime.
So that's generally what that means. So this question, is there
a God? You know there is. And if there's
a God, you know your one purpose is this. It's to seek him. It's
to know him and to serve him. That's your purpose. What's he
like? He's sovereign. He's holy. What's
my state before him? Guilty. Guilty. Can I do anything to change that
state? No, not a thing. Does that mean there's no hope?
No, it doesn't mean that. Oh, there's a righteousness of
God without the law. Well, how can I know this is
true? How can I know what you're saying is true? The Bible says
it. It's witnessed by the law and the prophets. That's our
reason for believing something. It's because the Bible says it. Well, who's this for? Those who
believe. Believe what? That all sin and come short of
the glory of God and justification by his free grace. They're relying
on that. Well, who planned all this? God did. Why? To display his
righteousness. Is there anything we can boast
in? No. What can we conclude from all this? That a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Was there anything
we can boast in? No. What about the law? It's established.
Now I want to, I want to leave you with one last question that
we all ought to be asking in Acts chapter 16 verse 30. Oh, would to God that somebody he'd get the ear of
somebody to where they're actually asking this question. You know,
if you're asking this question, God's dealing with you. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now that's a good question. Matter
of fact, you could never consider a more important question. Sirs,
what must, what is necessary, what must I do to be saved? And here's their answer. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord. He's Jesus. He's the Savior. He's God's Christ. He's God's prophet. He is the
Word of God. He is God's priest. If He brings
you into the presence of the Father, you're accepted. He's
God's King. He has the power to rule and
reign over you and cause you to do His will. Believe! Rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would take your word. Lord, you said your word would
not return into your void, but it would accomplish the thing
wherein you sent it. And Lord, we ask that your word
might be sent to us to save us from our sins. Lord, I'm asking in Christ's
name that you will enable each one of us to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. We thank you for the gospel of
God, blessed son, for the freeness of your grace. Oh, Lord, our
cry is save us. Oh, Lord, save us. We can't save
ourselves, oh Lord, save us. In Christ's blessed name we pray,
amen.