Turn with me in your Bibles to
the Book of Romans. While you're turning there, I'll
tell you what I told the men back in the study. Wednesday
night we were in Romans 1, and that's where we're going to be
again this morning for the first hour. I told them we could just
camp here in Romans for a long time, if the Lord would be pleased
to give us the messages. we're going to be in the first
four verses again. So I'm very, very thankful. Lord was merciful and giving
us the message from Romans one, Romans chapter one. And I have
a question this morning. I want to ask us, I was thinking
about what makes our God different than other gods. I've titled
this message, the spirit of holiness, but I was asking what makes our
God different. It comes down to one thing. I mean, there's
many things you, we understand that, but, There's one thing
that separates him completely from all others. It's he's holy. He's holy. No other God is holy. There's none else besides him
that is holy. That's what makes him different.
It's a very simple question and a very simple answer, but it's
impossible for us to understand what holiness is, isn't it? Why? Because we're other than he is.
We're in the flesh. We're enmity against God. We
can't attain to holiness in what we do. We can't attain to holiness
in any merits or any way possible in ourself. We can't. We can't
understand holiness. We can't fathom it. Holiness
is just declared. And we believe it, don't we?
We believe it. Thanks be to God, his people
have been made the righteousness of God in him. He hath perfected
them forever, which are sanctified. We know what the word sanctified
means. Holy. He sanctified his people. He
sanctified them. And we can't, our little computers
can't calculate all that, but we believe it. We believe it
because of the faith that he's given us. Like every attribute
of God, it's past finding out. He's other than we are. Recently,
we inherited some occupants of our house that were uninvited
guests. They're called ants. I'm sure you have some of them,
pests that come along. This wasn't really a problem
in Florida, believe it or not. We had other problems, but ants
were not an issue. I've forgotten about these guys wanting to come
in and Can't leave a cookie on the counter. You wake up, and
they're completely covered. And I thought, man, I have all
power over these little things to just squash them. I mean,
destroy every one of them. I have the ability to do so.
It's the God-given ability. But it's true, isn't it? If you
look at an ant, how insignificant they are to us, the control we
have over them. I mean, I don't have control
to prevent them from coming, but I can take matters into my
own hands and rid them of their existence, you know, if I'm,
you understand what I'm saying. Boy, when it comes to God, we
don't have any control or authority or power and flip it the other
way around. What are we compared to him?
Are we an ant? No, we're not even, we're not
even microscopic. He hath measured the waters in
the hollow of his hand. Look at his infiniteness, his
vastness. Our minds can't comprehend it.
No, He's holy, He's other, He's set apart, He's separate from
sinners, and yet, for His people, He became just what we are, that
He might redeem them back to the Father. Men hear this and
they say, well, I'm not just an ant, I'm a bee, I can do something,
I can sting God anyways. You know, that's their attitude,
right? They can, if I can't control Him, I can choose to inflict
pain on Him or something. That's silly, isn't it? No, we
think too highly of ourselves. We're not even an ant. I was
studying this. I retched into my pocket and
I pulled out pocket lint. I was gonna do it for you guys,
but I think you get the visual. Pocket lint. And I thought, well,
that's about as useless as it gets. And that's what we are,
is dust. From dust thou art, from dust
thou shalt return. Pocket lint. And yet, we've been
made the righteousness of God in him. What manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that a bunch of dust was made
the righteousness of God? That's past finding out, isn't
it? I can't understand that. I believe it. Lord's people believe
it, don't we? Because we've been made to. made
to see him as high and lifted up, made to see him as holy,
made to see him as other, we disbelieve it. All the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? He's God. He's God, isn't he? The good
news of the gospel is God became a man. God became a man for a
reason that he might redeem them. They're under the law back to
the father. What is our wisdom compared to
his? What is our power compared to him? Oh, he's infinite, isn't
he? He's all our wisdom, isn't he?
He's all our righteousness. He's all our sanctification.
He's all our redemption. We have no hope without him.
We have zero. We are zero in comparison to
him. He's all, isn't he? He's all. I had written down that The Lord's
people have but one resolve. But I changed that and I put
the Lord's people are dissolved. This is like ice just turned
into water. We're completely dissolved and evaporated into
nothingness when we liken ourself unto him. And anyway, when we
start comparing ourself to his thoughts or to his His will,
or to His purpose, or His being, everything. We're just, we're
a vapor, aren't we? We see ourself as but grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth away. Our life is but
a vapor. It appeareth for a little time, diminisheth away. Oh, I'm
nothing, yet in Him. Oh, He's made us the righteousness
of God in Him. He's made Christ into us all
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Our hope is that the Lord reveals
his truth to us. We spend our time in life trying
to control things, don't we? The other day I was driving down
the road and I become very upset that an individual was in front
of me and would not move out of my way. There's nothing I
could do to, I mean, I could ram the guy, I guess. There's
nothing I could do without consequence to make this human being move.
We won't control, don't we? We want control of our circumstances.
What about the weather? How often do we grumble about
the weather? It's too hot. No, no, it's too cold. When do
we, when do we go outside? How often do you hear yourself
say, boy, it's just right. It's just right. We should do
that every day, regardless of what it's doing. Why? Because
God's the one that did it. No, the truth is God's truth
reveals. We have no control, no control
over circumstance. No furthermore over eternity. We have no control whatsoever.
No, it's not by our choice, but it's by his. His choice, oh,
there's hope. It's his control, isn't it? And
he doesn't even control, he purposes and there it is, it happens.
Based upon him being God. He knows everything all the time.
Do you know everything all the time? I don't know everything
any of the time. I think I do sometimes, don't
I? And as soon as I think I know something about being a daddy,
I get thrown a curve ball, and I'm like, I know nothing about
being a father. As soon as I think I've got marriage figured out,
I know nothing about being married after 20 years. I'm resolved
to dissolve to the confession, Lord, I'm going to put my hand
over my mouth. I'm not going to speak again. I've messed it
up again, over and over. He knows everything all the time.
He's everywhere all the time. All things exist by him, for
him, to him, through him. He's everything to his people. He knows everything all the time.
He's everywhere all the time. We're made to say with Paul,
we made to see that professing ourselves to be wise, we become
fools. No, Christ is our wisdom. We don't profess to be wise.
Christ is our wisdom. We're made to know nothing but
Christ and his gospel. Isn't that what Paul said? I'm
determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Well, I hope that's our determination.
I hope that's what he's put in our heart to know nothing else
but just Christ. Lord, give me Christ lest I die. If that is our hope, then we
have seen God as holy. We've seen God as seated. We've
seen God as sovereign. That's the only thing that makes
a sinner desire Christ. When you see God as holy, he's
given repentance. He's made us see him as the eternal
I am, and he's made us see ourselves as less than an ant. He's made
us see ourself as nothing, and Christ is everything. That's
what faith does. Faith believes God. It doesn't
need an explanation. I can't explain to you how he
measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. I can't explain
to you not logically by the human mind, we believe it by faith.
I can't tell you how he said, let there be light, and light
came into existence, but I believe it, and you do too, don't you? With every bit of the faith the
Lord's given us, we believe God. We don't need an explanation.
Lord, I don't know why the world, I don't understand what's happening
in the world, but I know why it is, because you're God. And you've ordained all things
according to your determinant counsel, according to your will.
That's why this world keeps spinning. That's why we got to make another
pass around the sun last year. The Lord did that. The Lord did
that. If we see that, God did that.
He's given us the spirit of holiness. He's given us his spirit, whereby
his life force comes from. His spirit. Our life force, I
guess I should have said, our life is hid with Christ in God.
He breathes the breath of life into us by his spirit is what
I'm trying to say. Our God is omnipotent. Our God
is omnipresent. How can we understand that? He
knows everything all the time. I've already said this, but he
knows everything all the time and he's everywhere all the time.
We can't be, our mind might be everywhere all the time, figuratively,
but we're not everywhere all the time, are we? No, we're just
right here, right now. He's timeless. He's other than time. He's self-existent. He's God. He's infinite. We're
limited. God's not limited. And nothing
we do can limit Him. Does that give you hope? That
gives me hope. I can't constrain Him. I can't
restrain Him. I can't limit Him. He's God.
He's God. Here's one that's impossible
to understand. He never had a beginning and
he never had an end. How do you explain that? Everything
about us, we're just as a flower quickly fading, aren't we? We're
born dying, aren't we? We're born with a clock ticking.
It's appointed unto man wants to die, not God. The only time
that he died was by his choice on Calvary's cross for his people. He did that. He chose to do that.
He became born in time. Talk about humility. What greater
example is there than Christ on the cross of Calvary, humbling
himself even to the death of the cross for his people? He's supreme. He's superior overall. Even to say that he has to think.
Even to say that he has to think, and it is so, is just trying
to place restrictions on his isness. No, he's wheeled all
things. He's ordered all things, and all things are sure because
of its source. It's certain. Everything's certain because
of God being God. God became a man. I mentioned
that a second ago. We didn't choose to be born,
did we? God chose to be born. by a woman. Isn't that amazing?
We didn't choose to be, what part of our life did we choose
in doing? I mean, give me one thing. We
didn't choose anything. Our hair color? Yeah, we can
dye our hair, that doesn't change it, does it? We can shave our
head, doesn't change the color of it. Can the Ethiopian change
his skin or leopard his spots? No, but God? What about God? What did he choose? Everything.
And he chose to save a bunch of sinners. Isn't that glorious?
He chose to become a man to save an elected people. He chose to,
because he loved a people. And he shed his precious blood
for those people and redeemed them back to God. By his spirit
of holiness, they have been made the righteousness of God in him. What about the sun and the moon
and the stars? What control do we have over
that? He does. He has all control over it, doesn't
he? What was the sun created for? Well, it was multiple reasons,
but that's where life comes from, but it's a representation of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what about the moon? The
moon has no light in itself, yet you take away the moon. What
about the tides and the changing of, uh, how much, Destruction
would happen if the moon went away. It's a it's a picture of
the Lord's people reflecting the sun and and the Lord just
allowing this ball to keep spinning because of his covenant, his
promise of mercy. As long as there's a people,
he said, I won't flood the earth ever again. I won't destroy all
life ever again. That's his promise, isn't it?
Everything's made by Him and for Him, and it's a reflection
of His grace. It's a reflection of His mercy
for His people. How about the rain that falls?
What would happen if it stopped raining? How dependent are we
on God in every way? We don't think about it, though,
do we? What about the breath I'm taking, the air we're breathing?
He's God, and He's made all these things for His people that we
might exist. It's in Him we live. It's in
Him we move. We have our being in Him. The Lord looked at Job and Job
was complaining about his circumstances. He said, where were you, Job,
when I laid the foundation of the world? Where were you when
I put the stars in the sky and I divided the sea from the sand?
Where were you? Answer me. You got an answer?
Give me an answer. Job said, no, I think I'm going
to put my hand over my mouth. I'm not going to talk anymore.
I'm not going to speak. The Lord showed him the truth,
didn't he? He gave him repentance. That's what the Lord's done for
his people. We see him as God. We see him as holy. And we see
we have to have a substitute. We have to have the Lord Jesus
Christ. Papers are sticking to the pulpit,
sorry. All by God's grace, according
to his counsel. According to his purpose. According
to his will. He chose to do something. He
chose to create the earth and the fullness thereof. He chose
to create time. He chose to become a man. Why
did he do all these things? To redeem his people. To redeem
his people back to God. to redeem all of those given
to him in the covenant of grace, given to Christ, the father elected
of people, the son redeemed those people, and in time, the spirit
regenerates those people. This is all by grace, isn't it?
All by grace. No man can come to that knowledge
unless God gives the truth, reveals it to him by grace, by grace. Everything in salvation, everything
in time is because he is holy, because he is God. He must send
his spirit to make us alive, otherwise we'll be in darkness,
we'll be stumbling through life thinking we know something when
we know nothing. He has to say, let there be light. He has to
say, live. He has to say, Lazarus, come
forth. He has to say, walk. Receive thy strength. He has
to say, be thou made whole. And only then can we see him
as God. Only then can we see him as high
and lifted up. Only then can we, as Isaiah,
he said, what did Isaiah say? In the year of Kenyuz, I saw
the Lord. How'd he see him? High. He saw
him seated. He saw him high and lifted up.
And his train filled the temple. He saw him as God. That's how
we see him. Before that, Isaiah was murmuring
and complaining himself over circumstances of Israel, the
things that they were doing. He said, these people are, they're
perverse, they have unclean lips. And when God showed him himself,
when God showed him God, Isaiah said, yeah, the people have unclean
lips, but I'm the man with unclean lips. Isn't that what he does
for us? And what do we do when we see him? We flee to Christ
by the faith that he's given. Run to Christ, that's what we
do. When he reveals Christ, we see
that's our only hope of justification before God. He's holy. He's holy. He's holy. Not one character of God can
be diminished, can't be altered, can't be changed, can't be forfeit.
He's forever. He's constant. That's what the
word immutable mean. He's unchangeable. He's the same
yesterday, the same today, and the same forever. Whatever it
takes to please God right now, it always took that and it always
will. And what is that? Holiness. That's what I'm talking
about this morning. I'm trying to describe our God
and it's an impossible task, but that's what I'm speaking
of is holiness. He is holy. He's other than we are completely.
His holiness demands justice and judgment for sin. And we
must have that spirit of holiness in order to please him. Now I
went and did the thing that I constantly say I don't like doing is giving
you a pre-sermon to the message, but that's exactly what I did.
Anyways, look in Romans chapter one with me. Let's read these
verses. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he hath promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,
concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the
son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead. by whom we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name. Among whom are you also the called
of Jesus Christ to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called
to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. You see those words in verse
four that says this, The spirit of holiness. That word should
be capitalized. That word spirit should be capitalized.
That's the third member of the triune Godhead. That's God's
spirit. You can look up the original.
I don't know why they didn't capitalize it when they translated it, but
they didn't. It should be. It's the Holy Spirit. It's the
Holy Ghost. That's who it is. It's God's spirit of holiness. It's by him that we just read
Christ was resurrected. Christ was resurrected by the
Spirit of holiness. By him, Christ was made a man. But Christ was not made the Son
of God. He always was. He always was
the Son of God. He was declared the Son of God
with power, he just said there. He was born a man, and he was
declared the Son of God. He's the express image of God's
person. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. In him dwell the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. Every attribute the Father has,
Christ always had. Why? Because Christ is God. Christ
is God. The Son of God is God, period. And seeing Christ as God, seeing
Christ as holy, is salvation. If we see Christ Jesus, the revelation
of Christ, is salvation. Christ is salvation. Believing that Christ is the work of the
Spirit, isn't it? What about false religion? How
dumbed down was our false Jesus and false religion? He didn't
accomplish anything. He tried to do something, but
he didn't really do it. He made a way, but you have to
do your part. That's not what God does. No,
it doesn't make any sense, does it? I said this and I wrote an
article on this, but it'll be in there next Sunday, but I want
to use this analogy again. I think I said this Wednesday
night. If you're building a house. If you're building a house. then
you're going to make that house exactly what you want it to be.
If you had all the resources that you needed, you had the
time, you had the money, you're going to make that house exactly
like you want it. Am I right? The cabinets are going to be
the cabinets you want. The paint's going to be the color. You're
not going to give that job to somebody else and say, I'm going to let
you pick the color of my cabinet. Surprise me. I'm going to let
you pick the color of my flooring. I'm going to let you pick the,
no, no, it's my house. And it's going to be exactly
the way I want it to be by God's grace, of course. You agree with
what I'm saying there. What do we think about God and
His salvation? It's His house that He built,
His kingdom. Is it not going to be exactly
like He purposed it to be? He's God. He's sovereign. He's
Lord. He didn't try to do anything.
He saved His people from their sin. We're just getting to be
the benefactors of living in His house. Isn't that glorious?
We're the, He's the head, we're the body. This, our house, the
scripture says, is the temple of the Lord. It's glorious by
design. He gets all the glory, making
His people as holy as He is, putting us in Zion, putting us
in His kingdom, putting us in Christ, making us the righteousness
of God in Him. When did He do that? Before the
foundation of the world was ever laid. He saved His people in
the covenant of grace, in eternity past. And in time, he became
a man, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and he successfully redeemed
every single one that was given to him. Now, you and I believe that only
by one way, and that is the spirit of holiness being given unto
us. When God says, you remember when
God says, go fetch him is what I was going to say. Do you remember
Mephibosheth? He was lame on both of his feet. He couldn't
get to the king. He was enmity against the king
because he was of Saul's lineage and Saul would have been the
enemy of King David. You remember, Abisheth was lame
on his feet, but because of a covenant made between David and Jonathan,
his lameness was not even looked at. It didn't even matter, did
it? Why? Because of the covenant between
David and Jonathan. David said, is there any left
of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake? Ziba spoke up, being a servant of Saul's heritage, being a servant
unto Saul, now David, of course, but he said, yes, Jonathan has
one son, but he's lame on both of his feet. He's down in Lodabar
in my car, which is the house of no bread, the land of no bread.
What David say, go fetch him, bring him. That's the job. of the Holy Spirit to go and
fetch the Lord's people, to call them to him, to make them alive,
to breathe the breath of life into them. And when Mephibosheth
came before the king, just as you and I come before the king,
when the spirit says, live, what do we see? We see the king, we
see that we're enmity against the king and we fall flat on
our face and we say, have mercy on me, the sinner. But what do
we hear the king say? What did David say to Mephibosheth?
Fear not. Why? Why can God, how is it possible
that God says fear not to a bunch of dead dog sinners that are
enmity against him? He says, because I will show
thee kindness for one reason. Jonathan's sake. Whose face do
you think that David saw when he looked at Mephibosheth? He
was in the likeness of Jonathan, wasn't he? He was the spitting
image of Jonathan. He didn't see Mephibosheth, he
saw Jonathan. Oh, that's our hope. Lord, don't
look at me. Don't see me. Don't see my works. Don't see
my merit. See Christ in me. The hope of glory, please. And
I can't do that. You're going to have to do it
all. I'm down in the land of no bread. I'm dead. I'm lame
on both of my feet. I can't get to you. Even if I
approach, I'm going to die. Now I need a substitute. I need
the Lord Jesus Christ. What is this? Thou should look
upon such a dead dog as I am such a dead dog, as that's what
Mephibosheth said. David said, bring the robe, bring
the ring, and put him at my table. I love the ending of that. It
says, and Mephibosheth ate at the king's table continually
and was lame on both of his feet. That's the last words in that
chapter. He was lame on both of his feet. But you know what? Nobody
noticed Mephibosheth's lameness. There was a covering, wasn't
it, of that table. We're going to take the Lord's table this
morning. And that's what it represents, a covering of blood. The body
of Christ that was broken for his people. That was Mephibosheth's
covering, that table. That's what he was feasting upon,
wasn't it? Oh, that's what we do. How do we do that? It's all by the Lord's spirit.
It's all by the Lord's purpose. The spirit of holiness has made
us alive and given us a hunger and a thirst for righteousness.
That's why Christ said, blessed are they that hunger and thirst
after righteousness, they shall be filled. What are they filled
with? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's
our desire, isn't it? Lord, feel me now. We sing that
song sometimes, don't we? Feel me now. Hover o'er me, Holy
Spirit. Bathe my trembling heart and
brow. Feel me now. That's the believer's prayer. Now, this Spirit of God quickens
His people from dead. And He does this by revealing
God wholly. But at the same time revealing
that Jesus Christ is God as holy as God because he is God and
he reveals he's the center substitute. He reveals that there is a covenant
of grace whereby we can live. He reveals flea to Christ, and
he gives the means necessary. He causes us to do so, doesn't
he? He doesn't pass by and say, well,
I'm coming, Mephibosheth, but you gotta let me into your heart.
You gotta let me, you gotta take the first step. I'm limited,
my power's completely limited. If you don't take the first,
that's not what he said. That's silly, isn't it? No, he says
live, and then he brings us. Against our will, and he gives
us a new will, doesn't he? A will that looks to him, a will
that worships him. Lord, Lord, I see you as high
and lifted up. I see myself as the sinner, unable
to get to you. Have mercy upon me. And he says,
I will. I will, for Jonathan's sake. I will, for Christ's sake. For
Christ's sake, he forgives his people. Turn with me to the book of John
chapter 16. This is what the Lord Spirit. Does in the heart of his people,
this is the work that he does. You know, the Spirit never draws
attention to himself. He always points to Christ. The
Spirit never draws attention to himself. He always points
to Christ in his finished work. Look in John 16. And look in
verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. If I go not away,
the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will
send him unto you. And when he has come, he will
reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not. Of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see
me no more. Of judgment, because the prince
of the world is judged. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but ye cannot bear them. Howbeit, when he the spirit
of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. Who is that
truth? Christ said, I'm the way, the truth. He guides his people
unto Christ. He will guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak. And he will show you things to
come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine, therefore saith I, that he shall take of
mine and shall show it unto you. The Spirit does not draw attention
to himself. The Spirit does the work whereby
he was ordained to do, and that is bring men to the knowledge
of the truth, bring them to Christ. He reveals what the father has,
the job that he's been given to do, the tasks that he's been
given to do. And you've heard me mention this before, but what
was those tasks? And we can simplify it by saying
the father elected a people that was his responsibility. The son
redeemed those people and the spirit regenerates those people.
What's our task in all of that? Nothing. Now anything God requires,
God's gonna have to provide, because he's only pleased with
what he produces. He's only pleased with holiness. You know the good
news? He makes his people just as holy as he is by the spirit
of holiness. He reproves his people. Look
at that word there in verse seven. No, verse eight,
I'm sorry. When he has come, he will reprove
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. That word reprove
has many different definitions, has several different definitions.
So we have to read in context what each one of these that he's
mentioning here. But he says, reprove. Meaning
expose. He exposes sin. How does he expose
that sin? By his gospel. By the light of
his gospel. His gospel shines forth revealing
our sin. Revealing what we are. Revealing
who God is. That's the work of the Spirit.
How does he reprove or show one's own fault concerning righteousness?
That's what he said. He's going to reprove concerning
righteousness. Well, that word reprove means show one's own
fault. How does he do that? By his gospel, showing us that
he is holy and that we are not. He does it all by his gospel.
It's so simple, isn't it? That we get no glory in all of
this. There's no glory for us whatsoever. He gets it all. He
gets it all. He exposes that we have no righteousness. He gives repentance and faith,
doesn't he? His Holy Spirit shows that in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. By his spirit
he shows that in him dwelleth all good, all good things. Repentance reveals God is holy
and we are not. Faith reveals Christ. Faith reveals
Christ as the substitute for his people. Now you notice that word, if
you look in verse 13, when the spirit of truth has come, he
will guide you. That word guide, men use words like that, not
even knowing what they mean. But that word guide means show
or reveal. That doesn't mean, that didn't
just mean that he's, we took the first step and he's taking
the rest. No, this is him bringing us all the way, just as Mephibosheth
was brought all the way to King David. This is him drawing us. What did Christ say? No man come
to the father except the father which sent me draw him. And he
that cometh to the father I will in no wise cast out. That's what
he said, wasn't it? So this coming unto him is all
based upon the quickening of the spirit. It's all based upon
the drawing of the father by his spirit. It's all based upon
his work. My intention this morning is to make certain that this
thing of salvation must be understood, that it is all of God. It is
all His doing. It is all His work. You and I
don't do anything in it or we pollute it because we're not
holy. It's really that simple. We don't do anything. When God
says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, He must give the faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not believe God.
Not in ourself. Our flesh is limited. by its
will, and its will hates God. The flesh's will hates God and
will not choose God. What did Christ say to the Pharisees?
You will not come to me that you may have everlasting life.
You won't. Why? Because they can't. Only
the Lord's people can. How? How do they come to him?
With the eyes of faith given unto them by the declaration
of the gospel according to the spirit of God, according to his
will, according to his purpose, all for his glory. That's what he meant whenever
he said in Ephesians 2, you hath he quickened. That means to be
made alive. He's given faith hasn't he quickened
us who were dead and trespasses and in sin. Men believe that
they are not all the way dead. But when God says that we're
dead, you can look it up. I mean, it's not that you have
a that you needed a fibulator. It's a rotten corpse. It's, it's
beyond regeneration by works. It's impossible. That's when
he, but he says you were dead. He's quickened, he's made alive.
He said, Lazarus, come forth unto our heart. He said, come,
and what do we do? Do we say, no, I think I'm gonna
stay dead. Did Lazarus, that's silly, isn't
it? No, no, he came forth bound both hand and foot, the scripture
says. That's what the Lord's people do when they hear the
Lord's voice. Isn't that what Christ said?
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. And they follow me and
I give unto them eternal life. And the good news of the gospel
is this. They shall never perish. Neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. That's good news, isn't it? That's
good news. It's all him doing it. First Peter three tells us for
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh. but now he's quickened us by
his spirit. We're no longer dead. We've been
made alive, made to know him in truth, made to rest in Christ
completely, rest in his work, his salvation. I was gonna have us turn But I don't have, I don't have
the time. So I'm going to try my best to,
for the sake of time, to just declare unto you what the Lord
revealed unto me about Moses. Moses, as we know, saw the Lord
in the form of a burning bush. He said when he was on the, he's
on the backside of a desert, he's on Mount Horeb. And I would
remind you that Mount Horeb is the same exact mountain as Mount
Sinai, that he's used different names. He's on Mount Horeb. And God appears in a burning
bush. Moses said, I'm gonna turn aside
and see this great sight. And he goes and sees it, and
as he's approaching, the voice calls out into him, which is
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he says, put off thy shoes from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Now the spirit of holiness is
the only way that we can be made alive and have any hope of approaching
God. But we don't approach God, the
Father, through Mount Horeb or through Mount Sinai. That's the
law. That's what that represents, the law. Matter of fact, Mount
Horeb, by definition, is the word desert. The word desert. And Mount Sinai, by definition,
is the word thorns. What's that a picture of? The
only thing in the law that we're gonna find is death and desolation
and desert land. There's no water in the desert.
There's no life in the desert. The only thing we're gonna find
is the curse. That's what the curse, the thorns represent is
the curse. What was the curse unto Adam?
Thorns and thistles shall the earth yield all the days of your
life. That's the curse. So how do we approach God? Well,
what did Christ do for his people? Did he not become the curse for
his people? What did they put upon his head?
The crown of thorns. They took the water of life.
and with wicked hands crucified and slain Him. So how do we approach
God? Pleading Christ alone. Not bringing any shoes, representing
our own righteousness, not trying to approach Him by the works
of the law, not trying to approach Him by our deeds. Those shoes
must be removed. And that is the work of the Spirit.
He removes the shoes of self-righteousness. He removes our false covering.
He removes our false hope. And He says, you need a substitute.
I need a substitute. You need one that bore your sin
on the cross of Calvary. You can't approach God by his
law. You remember when the children
of Israel were in the desert when they first got to Mount Sinai,
God said, don't touch that mountain. When I come down, if anybody
touches that mountain, even cattle, they'll be put to death. Why
is that? God is holy. The place where
on we stand must be as holy as God is. And that is exactly who
we stand on, the Lord Jesus Christ, the rock of ages. We come to
God by his Christ alone. Understand something, we can't
approach God without the death sentence being put upon us. But
the only thing stopping you and I from approaching Christ is
our pride. It's our stubborn will. It's
our self-righteousness. That's what prevents us from
coming to Christ. The gospel goes out and says,
whosoever will, let him come, take of the water of life freely.
And what do men do by nature? They flee to the desert mountain
of desolation. They flee to the curse of the
law, thinking they have a hiding place. And he says, no. No, he
says, I'm going to disannul your covenant. He said, you thought
you made a covenant with death. You thought you would live. There's
no life in those covenants. There's no life in the law. The
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus
Christ. We must have a substitute. We
must have a surety. We must have one that can touch
God and not die, and touch man and not be defiled. And that
is who Christ Jesus is. And that's exactly what He's
done. Did He do that for everybody? Did He finish the work in salvation? of saving everybody? If he did,
everybody saved. But why is there people in hell
then? Scripture's clear, there's people in hell. No, he didn't
die to save everybody. He didn't die to try to do anything. He successfully redeemed his
people back to God. Now we have a covering. Now we
have a true righteousness all revealed unto us by his spirit
of holiness. We're just as holy as he is. I love the verse that says that
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. I like that
word are, don't you? That doesn't mean going to be. That doesn't mean maybe, might
be. It doesn't mean if you let him.
It's none of that. It's are. It is. It's certain.
See, God only deals in certainties. He never tried to do anything
one time. are sanctified right now. God's people are the righteousness
of God in him. Now let's look back in our text
in closing in Romans. The scripture is so clear, brethren,
that No flesh, no flesh, we can look at this in Romans 3, but
for the sake of time, I'm just gonna quote it to us. No flesh
is justified by the deeds of the law. No flesh. No flesh is
justified by the deeds of the law. Put out, perish the thought
of thinking that you and I can do one thing that God is pleased
with. It's not true. That's a lie.
That is the lie. That is the lie. That is taking
the place of Jesus Christ. That was the sin in the garden.
Eve wanted to be God, and that's what men want to do. They want
to have a righteousness of themselves, and it's not possible. It's not
possible by the deeds of the law. But oh, we have righteousness
in Christ, don't we? He's made into us all our righteousness,
isn't he? Look in our text, Romans 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated into the gospel of God. Notice
it says thee there, and I mentioned this Wednesday, but there's only
one. There's only one gospel, there's not many. Which he hath
promised to for by his prophets in the holy scriptures. Now what
was the promise by his prophets? It's concerning his son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, which was made the seed of David according to
the flesh. and declared to be the son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
You could stop right there. That's the gospel that we just
read. It's that simple. It was all based upon what he
did, what he did, what he did. He was resurrected from the dead
by the spirit of holiness by whom we have received grace and
apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for
his name. Among whom are you also the called
of Jesus Christ. To all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ first offered
himself without spot and without blemish to God, the Father. And through his eternal spirit
was resurrected. The Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected
by the spirit of holiness. How are you and I resurrected?
The same thing. The same thing. That's the work.
We can't resurrect ourself, can we? I have deviated from my notes
so severely that I have no idea where I'm at, but I know exactly
what I'm telling you about. I'm fully persuaded that every
word I'm telling you is God's gospel. It's his truth. And that
if we are to be saved, it is going to be Christ that saved
us. If we're going to be called, it's got to be the work of the
spirit that calls us. Oh, Lord, call me. That's the
prayer, isn't it? Don't pass me by. Pass me not. Oh, tender savior. Lord, save
me. Have mercy upon me. And what
are we called to? What are we called to? Well,
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, he glorified. We're called unto justification,
see, in Christ. Christ, his blood, that's our
justification, isn't it? What are we called to? Look in
verse six. You're called of Christ. That's who we're called to, Jesus
Christ. Verse seven, he calls them beloved. He said, to all
that be in Rome, beloved of God. We're called the beloved of God
were called the saints of God. I remember in religion, men would
say, well, I used to be a sinner. Now I'm a saint. I don't think
I've ever heard a believer actually say that. I'm just being honest
with you. We still see the sin that we are, don't we? Not him.
He says, no, you're the righteousness of God in Christ. You're a saint.
Me? This? You're saying I'm a saint?
That's what he says. I didn't say it. He said it.
Oh. Oh, what grace. What mercy, Lord. He calls that
to be revealed in me. He calls that to be revealed
in you. That's our prayer, isn't it? That's what we're called
to. And finally, the last thing we're called to, he says it,
the end of verse seven, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord. How can we have peace with God?
By the Lord Jesus Christ and his grace alone. Salvation is
of grace, isn't it? That's what the spirit reveals.
That's what we're called to. The confession that Christ is
all to the glory of God, the father. Called into the same
holiness of God, all by his spirit of holiness. Thank God for his
spirit of holiness.