Let's turn back to Romans 3. I have entitled this message,
What would I say to a dying man? What would I say to a dying man? There's a man who has lived a
good life, he's taken care of his family, and he is dying. He has 24 hours to live. What
would I say to that man? I'd say there's a man on death
row who has been guilty of the vilest crimes against humanity. And he's going to be executed
in 24 hours. What would I say to that man? He comes to me and says, tell
me, I need to know what is the gospel. What is the message of
the book that is called the Bible? I need to know what is the gospel. What would I say to that man? What would I say to you? You're
dying. You will be dead before long.
You know that. All the things that we find as
important, we're going to find out we're not very important,
won't we? I know what it is to think I'm dying. And thought
I only had a few hours to live. I remember one time a sickness
that I had, and I remember All the things that were important
to me were no longer important at that time. There was only
one thing that was important. Do I know the living God? Would
I be accepted by Him? What would I say to that dying
man? Do you know that I would say
the same thing to the man that had lived a good life, so to
speak, as to that I would say to the man who had been guilty
of the vilest crimes, I'd give them the same message. And I'd
give that same message to you and to myself. I'd bring a message
from Romans chapter 3. That's where I would want to
go if somebody asked me. Tell me in the plainest terms
that you can, what is the gospel? What is the message of the book
they call the Bible? What is the message? This is
the message that I would bring. And I begin in verse 19 of Romans
chapter 3. I would begin with our state
before God. Now, I would not attempt to prove
the existence of God. The Bible doesn't make any attempt
like that. It just says in the beginning,
God. And deep down, everybody knows
that. So even those who are atheists,
if you leave them alone by themselves, they may act real bold and say,
no, I really don't believe God. But when they're all by themselves
in bed, they know God is. They do. Now, they might not
admit it, but they do. I'm not going to try to prove
the existence of God. I'm not going to try to prove
the Bible is the word of God. I can't prove that. I know it
is, but I can't prove it. I'm not even going to begin there.
Here's where I would begin our state before God. Look in verse
19. I say to this man who has twenty-four
hours to live, 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,
subject to the judgment of God. And that's my state before God,
guilty, deserving At the first of this book, Romans
chapter one, Paul deals with people who had no Bible. And he says regarding these people,
beginning in verse 19, they had no, he's talking about the Gentiles.
He's talking about The Greek philosophers, he's talking about
people who had no revelation from God. They didn't have a
scripture the way we have. And here's what he says about
these people. 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, being understood by the things that are made Even
his eternal power and God did so that they are what? Without excuse. Without. Excuse that their works are described
beginning in verse twenty nine, the same people he's talking
about, verse twenty nine. These people who are without
excuse, who have held down the truth of God, he says they're
filled with all unrighteousness. Fornication. wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness, full of envy and murder, debate, deceit, malignity,
whisperers, backbiters, haters of God. Despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful,
who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them that do them. Question, do the people that
I just read about deserve to be judged by God? Do you answer yes? Look in Romans
2, 1. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest
another, you condemn yourself, for thou that judgest doest the
same things. That description I just read
is a description of me and a description of you. Do you believe that? What about people with a Bible? Now, these people without a Bible,
look what it says regarding them in Romans chapter 2, verse 14.
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, they don't
have a Bible, they don't have a revelation from God, but they
do by nature, those things contained in the law, they know it's wrong
to steal. They know it's wrong to kill. These having not the
law are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law
written in their hearts. And here's what happens. Their
conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts, the meanwhile,
accusing or else excusing one another. That's what it's worth.
Either you have a guilty conscience knowing what you've done is wrong
or you're making an excuse for it. One of the two things that's
all we're left with. What about people who have a
Bible? What about people who have a revelation from God? Are
they guilty as well? Well, look in Chapter 3 of Romans,
I'm sorry, chapter 2, verse 17. Behold, thou art called a Jew
and you rest in the law. You don't got this revelation
from God called the scriptures and you make your boast of God.
You're not like those Gentiles. You know His will. You approve
the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law.
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 base, which has the form of knowledge and the
truth in the law. You've got the law. Thou therefore
would teach it to another. Teachest thou not thyself? Thou
that preachest, the man should not steal. Dost thou steal? Thou that say'st the man should
not commit adultery. Does thou commit adultery? Thou
that abhorrest idols, does thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest
thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest
thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles through you, as it's written. There's the
people with the law. Are they any better off? No. Look at Paul's conclusion in
chapter 3, verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? We who
have the law, are we any better than those who have no revelation
from God? No, in no wise, for we have before
proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they're all under sin. What's that mean? That means
sin's over them. Sin's their boss. Sin's their
ruler. They're under the dominion of
sin. That's everybody. I've described
me and you. They're all under sin. As it's
written, there's none righteous. And here's our appeal. It's written.
It's written. The scriptures. It's written.
There's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They're together, become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Now, what would
I say to that dying man? Would I be cruel in saying this?
You're under condemnation. You're under the judgment of
God. You're subject to the judgment of God. You're guilty before
God. I'd say that to the good man.
I'd say that to the criminal. I'd say that to myself. And I'd
say that to you. What is our stake before God?
Guilty. Here's the second question. Is
there anything that we can do to change that? Is there any
way we can get out of the mess that we put ourselves in? What
can we do about this? Is there anything we can do? No. But what it says next. Verse 20 of Romans, Chapter three,
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. Now, by your deeds, by the deeds
of the law, by your deeds, by anything you do, and listen to
me real carefully, there's not one thing you can do. I'm even
talking about choosing to believe. Well, I can choose to believe.
I can choose to be a Christian. I can choose, I can, I can, I
can, my free will decide to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.
The Bible doesn't talk like that. That's foolishness is all that
is. You won't find language like that in the Bible. By what you
do, There's no way you can be saved. It's over for you in that sense.
If salvation is dependent upon you or me in any way to any degree,
we will not be saved. 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 is expose
our sin and our disobedience. That's it. Is there anything
we can do to change our state? No, not a thing. Well, that man says he only has
24 hours to live. Does that mean there's no hope
at all? Does that mean in 24 hours I'm going to be judged
and condemned and sent to hell and there's no hope whatsoever
that I can be saved? Is there no hope? Yes, there
is hope. There is hope. I could say to
that man, no matter how sinful he is, I can say that man, yes,
there is hope. It's described in verse 21. But now. The righteousness of
God. What a. Statement, the righteousness
of God. The righteousness of God's righteous, but now. the righteousness of God without
the law, without my personal obedience to the law. Do you
hear? That's exactly what that 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 the faith
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Now, what does a just God require
of me? What does a righteous God require
of me? And that man that's dying, that
only has 24 hours to live, you can bet he's wondering that.
What does a righteous, holy, just God require of me? He requires perfect righteousness,
a righteousness that is equal to His. Where can I get that? Well, did
you hear what it said? Now the righteousness of God,
the only righteousness of God that is equal to His, is His
own righteousness, isn't it? That's the only righteousness
that's equal to His, His own. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law of
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. His righteousness is given to
all And it's upon all those who believe. Now, I was talking about,
you know, what do I have to have in order for God to accept me?
The righteousness of God and his very righteousness. That's
talking about the obedience of Jesus Christ. When he walked
upon this earth for 33 years, you know what he did? He kept
God's law perfectly. And that obedience of Jesus Christ
is nothing less than the very righteousness of God. And the
righteousness of God is given to those Now that's hope, isn't it? The
very righteousness of God is given to those who believe. We're
going to talk in a minute about how that can be, but there is
hope. Somebody says, how do you know? What's your authority for saying
that? I mean, how can you come up with something like that,
that an ungodly person can have the very righteousness of God
given to them? Where does that come from? Look
once again at verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without
the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the
prophets. This is what the scriptures teach.
The scriptures teach this. This is the message of the Bible,
that the righteousness of God is given to those who believe.
Isaiah 54, 17, the Lord says their righteousness, talking
about the believer, their personal righteousness, their righteousness,
is of me, saith the Lord. Now, here's my confidence. I
have the very righteousness of God. That's why I can look at
judgment without fear. I have the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For he hath made him to be sin, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God. And he and Paul said, O that
I may win Christ, and be found in him not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. This is the
message of the Holy Bible. You can have the very righteousness
of God. Look at Romans chapter 4, verse 6. Even as David also described
it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness
without works. without 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, who's this for? Who gets the righteousness of
God? Who does God impute this righteousness
to? Is this for everybody? Do all
men, without exception, have the righteousness of God counted
to them? Obviously not. There is a place called hell,
and all men do not have this. But who gets this glorious blessing? Look once again in Romans chapter
3. But now, verse 21, the righteousness of God without the laws 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. That's who has this glorious
privilege. Them who believe. Them who rely. Now here's the
next big question. Believe what? Believe what? Go on reading. There's no difference. For all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Here's what
those who have the very righteousness of God believe. They believe
that there's no distinction between men. We're all described as those
who have sinned. And come short of God's glory. That's me, that's you. There's
no difference, no difference. Supposedly, let's take these
two fellows. One's lived a good life, so to
speak. Been a moral man. Taken care
of his family. Done all he could for his family.
Been a good citizen. The other guy's been a criminal
with crimes against humanity that are just detestable and
reprehensible. You know what? There ain't no
difference between those two fellows. Not in God's sight. Now, in man's sight there is,
and I'll be honest with you, I like the good guy a lot better,
don't you? That's the guy I want to work for. I don't want to
be associated with that other guy, but I'm talking about in
God's sight. Is there any difference? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But here's what else we believe,
verse 24, being justified freely by His grace. through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Here is how those who believe
have the very righteousness of God. They've been justified,
having been justified freely by the grace. Now, who justified?
You know, Job said, if I justify myself, my own mouth condemns
me. Now, I want you to think about
how talented you are. I'm saying this from experience.
How talented are you at justifying yourself? And given a reason,
you know, I have a reason for doing that. I have a reason.
I mean, we're so good at that. But Job said, if I justify myself,
long mouth condemns me. Who is the one who justifies
us? He did it. That's his work. Being justified. Having been justified. What does
justification mean? There's a man at the back. There's another fellow that said,
God, I thank Thee that I'm not as other men are. He starts talking
about all the things God enabled him to do. Congratulations. There's
another fellow that's back at the back. He won't even lift
up his head. He's beating on his breast. He
knew that's where his problem was, his heart. He said, God
be merciful to me, thee, sinner. You know what the Lord said about
that man? He said he went down to his house.
Justified. Not merely forgiven. Justified. You know what it means if you're
justified? That means there's nothing to charge you with. That
means you don't have any sin to be condemned for. That means
you stand before God's law without guilt. He went down to his house
justified. How can that be right? Guilty,
how can it be right for God to say he justified him? Well, the
scripture says, to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly. That's what God does. You see,
my sin, let's go on reading, being justified freely by his
grace, and here's how that happened, freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The redeeming work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, this speaks of His redeeming death, in whom
we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of
sins. You see, my sins that I'm guilty of, they became the sins
of the Lord. The Lord took my sin off me and
placed it upon Christ. Somebody said, how can that be
right? I don't know, but if he does, it's right. I'm just totally
comfortable with whatever the Lord does, aren't you? Whatever
he does is right. He took my sins and he placed upon Christ,
and that's why Christ died. He became guilty of the sins
I committed, and his perfect righteousness is given to me,
and I'm justified by his grace. I love that term. You know what
grace means? It means completely unmerited favor. completely unmerited
favor. The best example, first-time
words used regarding Noah. God said in Genesis 6, 5, And
God saw that the wickedness of man, as me and you, was great
upon the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually, nonstop. That's God's testimony
concerning man. But Noah found grace. It doesn't say Noah was better
than those people. Noah found free, unmerited favor in the
eyes of the Lord. Was there anything that I need
to pay to get this great blessing? What does it say? Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Now, verse 25, who planned all
this? I mean, these things that you're
talking about, who planned all this? Who would have the wisdom
to plan this? Who would have the ability to
execute this? Who planned all this? Look what
verse 25 says. Whom God set forth. That word set forth is foreordained
or purposed. Whom God purposed. Christ is called The lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13, 8. This has always
been God's purpose. This has always been God's plan.
This is not a plan B after men messed up and then he had to
kind of respond to that. No, not at all. This has always been
God's purpose. Whom God set forth, foreordained,
purposed. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation. through faith in his blood. Now,
what in the world does that word mean? That's a big word that's
not used very often. What does that mean? Whom God
has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Let's
go back to that publican for a moment. Remember when he cried
in Luke 8, 13, God be merciful to me, the sinner. That word
merciful is actually propitious. Same word in the original, propitious. God be propitious. Now, the idea
of mercy is certainly included in that word. The thought of
mercy, I mean, so it's not like saying, well, that's a wrong
translation. No, merciful. But the word is literally propitious. God be propitious to me, the
sinner. By his own admission, he was
a sinner and has cried, God be merciful. God be propitious.
Remove the reason of my guilt. That's what he's asking. Take
it away. Do something about my sin. I can't do anything about
it. I can't make it go away. I can't make myself not guilty.
He's asking the Lord to remove his sin. And that's what we cry
when we cry, God be propitious to me. God said in Hebrews chapter
eight, I will be merciful. That's the same word. I will
be propitious to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities.
I'll remember no more. Now, here's what God does about
my sin. He takes my sin, and He places
it upon His Son, and His Son bore the vile evil of my sin. And He takes the perfect righteousness
of His Son, and He gives it to me. And now God has removed the
reason for anger. He's removed the reason for guilt. I stand... God doesn't have any
reason to be mad at me. Now you think about how we think,
well, the Lord's mad at me. I can see why the Lord would
be mad at me. Can't you? He has no reason to be angry
because he's been propitious through the blood of his son,
whom God sent forth to be a propitiation, and don't miss this, through
faith in his blood. I want to ask you a very simple
question. Do you have faith in his blood? That's an easy question to answer.
Are you a liar? on his shed blood as the only
reason God will have anything to do with you, but a complete
sufficient reason for God to have everything to do with you.
Are you relying on His blood? Here's another way to ask the
same question. When the Lord said, it is finished,
does that mean that all He requires of you is finished. You believe that? That's called
faith in His blood. You see, who died? It's Christ
that died. That's the issue. Who died? If
I died for you, what good would it do for you? Nothing. If He dies for you, what good
will it do for you? You must be saved if He died
for you. Faith in His blood. Now, everybody that he saved,
this is what they're going to have faith in his blood. Now, look what it says next in
verse 25. To declare. His righteousness. Not simply his mercy, not simply
his grace, but his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. His righteousness is
declared in passing over these sins through his forbearance.
Our sins deserve death. Yet God passed over us in forbearance,
and he did it in a way that declares not simply his mercy, although
he's merciful, he's gracious, but what does it declare? His
righteousness. Listen to this scripture. Paul
said in Romans 1, 16 and 17, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of
God revealed." Now, if I'm saved and I end up in heaven, I'm telling
this fellow that's got 24 hours to live, if I'm saved and I end
up in heaven, yes, God's forgiveness is magnified, yes, God's grace
is magnified, yes, His mercy is magnified, but you know what
the Bible says? His righteousness, His holy justice
is magnified. If He saves me and brings me
into heaven, it's because I personally deserve to be there. He's always
righteous because I have the very righteousness of God. That's
why I'm going to be in heaven. I deserve to be in heaven through
His righteousness being given to me. It magnifies the righteous
and justice of God. God is always perfectly just.
He said, I'll by no means clear the guilty. And He won't. If
you're guilty, you will not be cleared. Justification is being
not guilty. To declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past, verse 26, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Well, is there anything that
we can Boasting? Is there anything that we can
take credit for? I mean, is there anything at all? Paul says, where
is boasting then? It's excluded. It's shut out
altogether. The Lord Jesus Christ gets all
the glory in every aspect of salvation. I can't glory in my
election because he chose me. I can't glory in my justification
because he's the one who justified me. I can't glory in my redemption
because he redeemed me. I can't glory in my regeneration
because he gave me life. I can't glory in the fact that
I still believe because he's the one who kept me. There's
nothing we can glory in. Where is boasting then? It is
altogether excluded. It's shut out. By what law? Of
works? No. He says no. No. Where is boasting excluded? By
what law of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, here's the conclusion
we have reached. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law of faith
and not works. Is this good news to you? Is this the gospel to you? If salvation were dependent upon
my works in any degree, I'd have no hope. But here's the gospel. Well, is this for just a special
class of men? Look in verse 29. Is he the God
of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also. Jew and Gentile. Singeth one
God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision
through faith. Everybody say it the same way.
Everybody say it the same way. No matter who you are, what race,
what color, what... whatever. Everybody say it the
same way. By the grace of God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what about the law then?
What about God's holy law? What about the Ten Commandments?
Do we make void of the law through faith? Do we just say the Ten
Commandments have no relevance? God forbid. Yea, we establish
the law by faith in Christ. God's law is honored. And that's
the only way it's honored. Not by your personal obedience
to it, because you've never kept it. The way God's holy law is
honored is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that man who has 24 hours
to live, he says, I hear what you're saying. I hear this. I believe this. But still, what
must I do to be saved? What must I do? Would I say, haven't you heard anything I've
said? You can't do anything to save yourself. Is that what I'd
say? No, that's not what I'd say. I'd say the same thing Paul
did to that Philippian jailer when he said, sir, what must
I do to be saved? I would say, believe, rely on
the Lord, the dictator, the controller, the one who's sovereign, Jesus,
the one who's Savior, Christ, God's anointed Messiah, his prophet,
priest, and king. You believe, you rely on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now, here is hope for
the vilest sinner this side of hell. What's our stake before God?
Guilty. Guilty as charged. Can we change
that state? No. Was there any hope? Yes. How can I know this? Because
it's what the scriptures teach. Well, who is this for? Those
who believe. Is there nothing for me to pay?
No, it's free. Who planned all this? God did.
Why? To display his righteousness. Is there anything we can boast
of? Nope. What can we conclude from all this? The man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Now that, my friends,
is the gospel. Amen. Let's pray.