Let's ask the Spirit of God to make the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ and his grace and mercy to be plain, effectual, and glorifying to
his name today. That's my goal, and that is my
desire. So let's look at chapter 3 of
Romans. What advantage then hath the
Jew? All of you are familiar with the nation Israel. God called
Abraham and said he would make of him a great nation. Through
him all nations would be blessed. And God sent them down into Egypt.
There were only 70 of them. It started with one man, Abraham.
When they went down into Egypt, there were seventy, went down
to live there with Joseph. Four hundred years later, when
God gave them the Passover, and delivered them miraculously and
with an awesome hand from the land of Egypt, they tell us there were two,
three, or four million of them. And he gave them the tabernacle. priesthood and the sacrifices.
And Paul asks here in verse 1 of Romans 3, what advantage then
hath the Jew? What profit is there in circumcision?
What advantage did these people enjoy or have over other nations? Circumcision. All these things
that God gave them and taught them. But he says much. in every
way, cheaply, because unto them, that unto them were committed
the oracles of God. Turn to Romans 9 for just a moment. Let's see what he's talking about
there, the oracles of God. Unto them were committed the
oracles of God. Verse 4 of Romans 9 says, Who
are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption? The glory. The glory means the Shekinah
glory of God. You know, God's presence was
with the nation Israel. He led them by day, by cloud,
at night by a pillar of fire. And in the Holy of Holies, over
the mercy seat was the Shekinah glory of God, between the cherubim.
God said, I'll dwell between the cherubim and meet you at
the mercy seat. No other nation had a mercy seat,
a tabernacle, Shekinah glory, a priesthood, a sacrifice. And unto them the covenants,
the covenant with Moses, with Abraham, the giving of the law,
the Ten Commandments was given to Israel, the service of God,
that is, the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the
promises, whose are the fathers. David was a Jew. Isaiah was a
Jew. Jeremiah was a Jew. All of the
prophets to whom God spoke. or Israelites, the scriptures
were written by the Jews. Of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, the Messiah was a Jew. Jesus Christ, our Messiah,
was born in the house of Jesse, tribe of Judah, household of
David, born to a woman, a virgin, who was the heir or in the line
of David's throne. And Joseph, his foster father,
was a Jew, who raised him in a carpenter's shop. Christ came,
who is over all. God blessed forever. Christ is
God. He is over all. He was a Jew.
So what advantage? Verse 2, much. Every way. Then verse 3 says, But what if
some did not believe? Most of them didn't. When God miraculously brought
them, and they saw his judgments, his acts, that's what I read
to you a while ago from Psalm 103, he made known his acts unto
Israel. They saw the sea dried up. They saw the plagues in Egypt,
the death of the firstborn, the deliverance miraculously by the
hand of God. They saw the smitten rock, the
manna from heaven. They didn't believe. to Kadesh Barnea, to go into
the promised land. God said, Go into the land. I've
given it to you. I've given you the land. Go take it. They said,
We'd better appoint a committee and go down and send twelve men
down there to see if we can take it. So they appointed a committee
of twelve, I think one from each tribe, and they went down into
the land. They came back and said, It's
the land as God said it is, flowing with milk and honey. But there
are giants in that land. There are giants in that land,
there are armies and powerful people. We can't take it. Ten
of them brought back a pessimistic report. They said, let's turn
around and go back. Can't make it. Two men, Caleb
and Joshua, said the Lord gave it to us, the Lord will give
us the victory. But the ten took them out into
the wilderness and they all died. All, listen, all died. who were over 20 years of age
when they left Egypt. Everybody who was 20 years old,
or upward, left Egypt, died in the wilderness. They did not
go into the Promised Land. Their children did. For one reason,
they didn't believe. That's what he says here, what
if some did not believe? Listen to the question. Shall
their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? What is
the faith of God? The faithfulness of God. The
purpose of God. Does their unbelief cancel the
covenant? Does their unbelief, the fact
that this whole nation in mass, except for two men, Caleb and Joshua, perished in
unbelief? Does that make God's purpose
and faithfulness and promise to Abraham of none effect? God forbid that you should even
say such a thing. God's purposes do not depend
upon men. Men depend upon God's purposes.
God's will does not rest with our will. Our will rests with
his will. I told my class this morning, I hear preachers say,
God won't violate your will. You better hope he does. You
better hope he smashes your will and conquers your will and changes
your will, because you will not come to him unless he comes to
you. And he's got to overcome your
will and make it submissive to his will. Even the Lord Jesus
prayed, not my will. And you talk about your will? who thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, in human flesh, prayed, Not my will be done,
but thy will be done? Come on now. If this generation
of religious people does not get in harmony with God's word,
they will perish just like that nation in Israel, all but two
of them, comparatively. It's either believe God or perish. God forbid. Let God be true in
what he says, what he purposes, what he wills, what he devises,
what he gives to us, what he withholds. Let God be true in
every man of our lives, every one of us, without exception.
It is written that thou, God, mightest be justified in thy
sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged by foolish
men. That's a quote from Psalm 51, if you want to look at it.
Psalm 51, verse 4, I believe. Psalm 51, verse 4, Yes, against
thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when you speak, and be clear
when you judge. Let God be true, every man a
liar. Let that be resolved right now. That God may be justified, vindicated
in all his sayings, and might overcome. He will, because he's
just when he's judged of foolish men. But comes the objection. But comes the objection. If our
unrighteousness, the fact that he loves sinners and saves sinners,
chief of sinners, if our unrighteousness commends, makes glorious the
righteousness of God, the grace of God, what shall we say? Shall we say that God is unrighteous,
who takes vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid. But then how shall God judge
the world? You see, the black background.
You go in a jewelry store and ask to see a diamond. And that
jeweler takes the diamond out of the case. You ever notice
every time they do, they'll get a black velvet cloth and lay it on that glass counter.
Black, just black, black. They take that diamond and lay
it on that cloth. Now, that background doesn't give any beauty to that
diamond. It doesn't make it sparkle any more. It doesn't contribute
one thing to it. But by contrast, we see the beauty
of the diamond. And when God takes a fellow like
me off the dunghill, out of the grave, out of sin,
and saves him by the blood of Christ. It doesn't add one thing
to his grace, his strength, or his power, or his glory. But
by contrast, you see the grace of God. It's magnified. You see what I'm saying? So our
unrighteousness does come in. It does, by contrast, show the
beauty of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. but
it doesn't enhance the grace at all, it's all his. The beauty
is in him, not in us. For if the truth of God, here's
that man again talking now, this is objections to grace, this
is objections to free and sovereign and particular grace. If the
truth of God hath more abounded through my lie to his glory,
why yet am I judged a And not rather, as we be slanderously
reported and as some affirm, that we say, let us do evil that
good may come. If the truth of God hath more
abounded through my lie to his glory, then let us lie. Let us
do evil that God may be glorified. All right, here is the answer.
Men say, if the truth of God and the grace of God is magnified,
and made glorious in forgiving and saving and washing and redeeming
the chief of sinners. Then why condemn him? Why don't
we just do evil that good may come? Why don't we do evil that
glory may be revealed? But, my friend, evil never produces
glory. Evil never produces anything
but evil. The fact that God's glory is manifested through grace
to the chief of sinners is not because of the sinner, but because
of God. It's not because of his evil,
it's because of his grace. Grace is his work through the
righteousness of Christ, and he uses all things for his glory. And the Lord, listen, we talk
about doing evil. Solomon said in Proverbs 16,
the Lord hath made all things for himself, for his purpose,
for his glory, even the wicked for the day of evil. Everyone
is going to serve his purpose, either the purpose of his grace
in Christ or his purpose in magnifying his justice. She'll serve his purpose. What
then? All right, talking about the
Jews again, verse 9. What then? Are we better than
they? These Jews, these Israelites, are they superior to the rest
of the nations? Are the Jews better off than other nations?
No. In no wise. Actually, they're
more accountable. The more truth and light that
is given, the more accountability, the more responsibility. is upon
that person. Are they better off or superior
to other nations? No, and no wise. We have before
proved, shown you, both Jews and Gentiles, they are all under
sin. That's what I read a moment ago. Look at Romans 5.12. They
are all under sin. Jew, Gentile, male, female, old,
young, white or black, bond or free, wise or unwise, they are
all under sin. Look at Romans 5.12. by one man, as by one man, Adam. God just made one man, Adam.
He's the representative, the federal head of all men, all
women. Even the woman came out of Adam. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death, disease, sin, darkness, death
by sin, so death passed upon all men. for all sin than Adam. That's what happened to our world.
Adam was created in the image of God, perfect, upright, holy,
the scripture says. Man sought out inventions. He
was deceived. The woman was deceived. The man
willingly went into the sin. And when they sinned, they died.
When they sinned, they lost the light, they lost spiritual life,
and death and sin and judgment passed upon all men. And that's
what he's saying here. They're all under sin. They're
all under the curse of sin, under the bondage of sin, under the
influence of sin. Sin influences everything we
do. As it's written, verse 10, there's
none righteous. There's none, the word is holy,
there's none holy. You understand this? When you
call the Pope, Holy Father, that's blasphemy. is one Holy
Father, God. And our Lord Jesus Christ used
that word in his prayer in John 17. Holy Father, keep through
thy own name those whom thou skipst. Only God is holy. Listen to me, men and women have
a morality, an outward character, activities that impresses
other men and other women, and is called by this world holiness. But there is no holiness but
God's holiness. True, immaculate, infinite, perfect,
pure holiness is God. Holy is His name, not yours or
mine. Holy. There's none holy. No, not one. Listen, there's
none that understand it. There's none wise. There's none
that understands. Can we, by searching, find out
God? It's higher than the heavens. It's deeper than hell. It's broader
than the sea. What can you know? God dwells,
the invisible God dwells in a light to which no man can approach.
Oh, there are men in this world who, according to the standards
and thoughts of this world, are wise, wiser than others. wiser
than other men, but the standard's awful low. Christ is wisdom. You read Proverbs 8, wisdom is
Christ. He's the wisdom of God. So there's
none wise in that manner. And there's none that seeketh
after God. There's none that truly worship
God. It's impossible, except for the Spirit of God. a person
to worship God. In his spirit, by his spirit,
we're enabled to seek the Lord, to worship God, but not in our
own strength. They're worshiping other gods.
They're worshiping the god of their imagination. They're worshiping
a god which they have themselves made. He does what they let him. He said, you thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself. That's the weakness of religion
today and the preaching today, is they're gods like they are.
Their god does what they let him do. Their god has a standard
that's their standard. Their god has laws and rules
that they have made up and that they're enforcing. You come to
our church, be a member of our denomination, get baptized like
we are and pay your tithes to us, you're safe, are you not?
That's their god. There's none that seeketh after
or worship the God, the living God. Christ said this is eternal
life, that they might know Thee, the true and living God. That's eternal life. It's not
just to have a God that's approved by AAA, FCA, FCI, something like
that. It's to know the true God, the
living God. And listen to verse 12, they're
all gone out of the way, out of his way of truth, out of his way of holiness, they're
all gone out of the way. They all together become unfit,
unprofitable. That's us, that's mankind, that's
human nature. Unprofitable. Unfit. And there's none that
do it good. Ah, preacher, people are doing
good all around the world. They're doing man good. and human
good, that's true. To feed the hungry and take care
of the sick and to give people a place to sleep, we do that
here. We buy groceries for people, we help the unfortunate, we buy
clothes for children, we pay people's doctor bills and pharmacy
bills, we do, that's what we should do. Do good unto all men,
not only to the church but to all men, everywhere. But that's
not God good, that's man good. This rich young ruler came to
our Lord one day and said, Now good master, he said, hold it
right there. To you I'm not God, I'm a teacher,
a good teacher. To you I'm a human being, and
that's all, just a man. So why do you call me good? There's
none good but God. Is that clear? There's none good.
And we often use this term where he's a good man. Yes, considering
men, he's good. But considering God, he's a dirty,
rotten scoundrel. That's just so. Considering God,
he's a terrible rebel. A woman said to Brother Richardson
one time, said, well, my son's a good man. He said, he hates
God. Is that good? He hates God. He hates the gospel.
He hates the truth. And yet he's good. But he's good
to his mama. And a man good to his wife, good
to his children. That's wonderful. We should be. But don't you bring
that to God for your righteousness now. Because he won't have that. There's a bunch of folks at the
judgment said that. They said, Lord, we preached
in your name. We cast out devils in your name. Did many wonderful
works. He'll say, depart from me. I
never knew you. You're workers of iniquity. Because
you deceive men where the gospel is concerned. You deceived men. You preached
a false gospel and a false God. You're a worker of iniquity,
even if you're so-called moral enterprises. It's none good. And then, you know, we talk about
we offend in word, thought, and deed. Look at these next verses. And write this out in the margin.
Verse 13, 14. 13 and 14 are words. Their throat is an open sepulchre.
That's right. People don't want to hear the
truth. I'm not talking about the truth of the gospel. I'm talking about
the truth about Cicero. They use deceit. The poison of
snakes is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. That's our words. Now, look at
our deeds. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. destruction and misery in their ways. That's our deeds. Selfish, covetous, me and mine. God bless me and my son John,
us four, and his wife, and no more. And here's our thoughts, the
way of peace they haven't known. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Isn't that a terrible commentary on our our
human race, but it's the truth. And that's where we are, and
that's what we are in his sight. So, verse 19, now watch this. Now, we know that whatever the
law sayeth, God's word, God's law, God's truth, God's precepts,
it sayeth to all them that are under that law. Who is that?
That's every human being. It's the law of God. So every
subject of God, the law speaks. It's the law of God, so everyone
in the universe is under that law. And what God's word and
God's law says, it says to everyone under his dominion, in his universe,
in his worldly kingdom. And here's the results, that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become Guilty. Guilty. Guilty as charged. Preacher, what you said this
morning, what you've read there in God's Word, that's me. That's me. From the sole of my
feet to the top of my head, that's me. No goodness, no soundness,
no truth. A sinner. Not good, not holy,
not righteous. Guilty before me. Guilty. Here
are two words so important, before God, not before me. Somebody says, well, I'm good
as you are. You certainly are. That's not the issue. I'm good
as anybody down there in your church. I'm sure of that. As
good as they are. But boy, if you know better than
we are, you're in a mess. That's what I've got. You answer
them when they say, I'm good as anybody down at your church.
Being so, you're still in a mess. I'd say you might be better. But this is before God. And what
does the law say? Our Lord interpreted it. He said,
you've heard it said by them of old time, I shall not commit
adultery. I say unto you, to look with
lust in your hearts to be guilty already. That's God's law. You've heard it said by them
of old times, I should not kill. I say unto you, the law says
unto you, to hate in your heart is to be guilty of murder. You've
already killed hundreds of people. Killed them dead at their door
now. I hated the Japanese in World War II. I hated them. I
wanted to kill them. I did everything I could to do
it. And there are people right now that people hate. You're a murderer. I am too. That's the law of God. It reaches
the heart, the attitude, the spirit, not just outward. I've
never killed anybody. Oh, yes, you have. I've never
committed adultery. Oh, yes, you have. I've never
sworn. Oh, yes, you have. Anything more
than yes or no, Christ said, is blasphemy. The very fact that we have to
swear means that our word is not good. They get you on the
witness stand and make you swear you're going to tell the truth.
You ought to tell the truth without swearing. But we can't do it. They've got
to put us under threat of jail to make us tell the truth. Isn't
that a threat of perjury? I'm guilty, guilty. Therefore,
let me tell you something here. By the deeds of the law, by the
works of the flesh, by the goodness of religion, by doing certain
deeds, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." See,
these words, these little words that people miss. Guilty before
God. You're not going to try me at
the judgment, he is. Guilty before God. That's all
I can say. And what I do is not going to
justify me only to make people say, oh, he's a good man, he's
a preacher, he's given his life to pastor the church, he's done
this, that and the other. In your sight, I may be justified by what I
do, but not in his sight. And we do, we justify ourselves
before men. Let me show you that. Luke 16,
you can mark this in your Bible. It's what I'm talking about right
now. He said this to the religious Pharisees when he was walking
the earth. He said in verse 15, he said
to them, to the religious preachers and teachers and bishops and
supervisors and superintendents, he said to them, you are they
which justify yourselves before men. But God knows you high. And that which is highly esteemed
among men, that which men brag on. is abomination to God. I fasted twice in the week, he
said. I gave tithes of all I possessed. I gave a gift to the United Fund
and helped the poor. I justified myself before men,
but not in his sight. I looked on the high. And that
man went home unjustified. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, religion, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
But by the law is the knowledge of sin. When I read what God
requires, it reveals my failure and the fact I've come short
of his glory. The law can't comfort anybody, but a Pharisee can't
comfort a sinner. The mirror tells us what we really are.
That's what His love. But now, wait a minute, here's
the remedy. But now, right now, right now,
there is a remedy. We talk about holiness and the
holiness movement and all this sort of thing. But now, the righteousness,
the holiness of God, the very holiness of God. We're not talking
about His essential holiness. We're talking about the holiness
that He requires of us and has provided for us. Not by our deeds,
but by the deeds of another. Not by our works, but by his
works. Not by our sacrifice, but his sacrifice. Now the righteousness
of God, that pure, immaculate holiness of God. Without the
law. It'll have to be without the
law if I have it. It'll have to be without my doings if I
have it. Because I can't do it. So this righteousness, this holiness
of God, without the law, is manifested. Where is it manifested? In the
Word, by the law. Who bore witness to the existence
of this righteousness, this holiness God provides? All of the prophets
bore witness to it. Jeremiah said, He's the Lord,
our righteousness. They all bore witness to it.
It's witnessed by the law itself and the prophets that a righteous
Redeemer would come. And by his life and by his death
he would redeem a people and give to them and confer upon
them the very righteousness of God. Look at Romans 5 a minute. I read this while ago. We'll
talk about it tonight. Verse 19, Romans 5, by one man's
disobedience, that's Adam, the many, many, many, many, many
were made sinners. By the obedience of the one,
Christ Jesus, the second Adam, shall the many be made righteous. So now the righteousness of God,
the true holiness, not this self-claimed holiness, not this religious
holiness that's so rotten inside. He said today's religion, our
Lord said today's religion is like a grave. On the outside
got pretty green grass and pretty flowers, but inside full of dead
men's bones. We put on the uniforms and the
crosses and the big white hats and parade around, you know,
and it's nothing but a tombstone, a grave in here, in here rotting. It's like a cup that you've washed,
the outside of the cup, the inside has got germs and filth. And
you hold up that cup, looks so pretty but I wouldn't want to
drink out of it. That cup of the religious Pharisees
and teachers and preachers held up to you looks awful pretty.
But don't swallow what you get out of it. It'll contaminate
you. That's right. By the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Him, not us. Listen. But now
the righteousness of God without the law. Now wait a minute, without
the law. Let me show you a verse you need
to read in connection with that statement. Matthew 5, 17. You need to read this in connection
with that right there. without the law, a righteousness
without my obedience to the law. But now, wait a minute, Matthew
5, 17. Our Lord Jesus said, think not, I am come to destroy the
law or the prophets. I've come not to destroy it,
but to fulfill it. Wait a minute. He fulfilled the
law. There's a man, a God-man, who
walked this earth and fulfilled the law. He said, I glorify thee
on the earth. I've loved you with all my heart,
mind, soul, and strength, and my neighbor is myself. Greater
love hath no man than this, that lay down his life for his friend."
He did. And listen, verse 22, "...even
the righteousness of God, which is by the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ." It's by his obedience, his faithfulness. And who's it
for? It's unto all and upon all them
that believe him. There's no difference. We try
to make a difference, but there's no difference. All have sinned. There's no difference. Jew, Gentile,
old or young, they've all sinned. There's no difference. They've
all come short of the glory of God. There's no difference. We're
under the judgment. If we're short of the glory of
God, we stand in the judgment. But there's no difference here
either. Listen, being free, being justified freely, without cost,
without merit, without charge. Freely, it's a gift of God. How? By his grace, free, sovereign,
unmerited, undeserved, unearned grace. Through the redemption
that's in Jesus Christ, whom God set forth. How long has he
been set forth? Before the foundation of the
world. to Adam and Eve in the garden,
the seed of woman, to Israel as a Passover lamb, the brazen
serpent, the rock smitten, the mercy-seeking, set forth
when he came to this earth, and the stars stood over his birthplace,
and the angels came down and said unto you, born in this day,
the city of David, a Savior, Christ the Lord. Set forth, walking
this earth, who did no evil, who did good, went about doing
good, who healed the sick, the blind, raised the dead. Set forth
on the cross crucified, buried, set forth risen from the tomb.
Set forth in his ascension to the right hand of God, where
he seated, making intercession for us. He set forth to be a propitiation. The word
propitiation means reconcile her, restore her, to become favorable,
to make us favorable, to end his sight. To declare God's righteousness
for the remission of sins of the past. As far as we're concerned,
past, present, and future. But this refers to the sins of
Old Testament believers before the cross. They were saved looking
to the cross. which should come, the Messiah
who would come. We're saved by looking back to
the cross. So when he died, he redeemed
the sinners who believed on him from that time on, and he also
redeemed the sinners that time back who believed. Because those
sins were through the forbearance of God. While those sins were
committed, the blood in the mind and heart of God is already shed.
And all of this to declare his righteousness, that God may be
just and justifier of them that believe. I was over in Ireland
with Brother Bill Clark years ago. We came to a town,
and he said, this is the town of the legend of the lynch stone.
I said, what does that mean? He said, well, to make a long
story short, there was a man who was the Lord Mayor of this
town back many years ago, two or three hundred years ago. Everybody
worked for him. He owned all the land. He was
the Lord Mayor. He was the ruler of the town.
And he had one son. And this Lord Mayor was the judge
of the town, the ruler of the town. He was an outstanding citizen. He loved people, and they loved
him. They loved him. Worked for him. And this one
son committed a terrible crime. He killed a man in cold blood. And his father, being a just
man, turned him over to the city council and to the judges and
told them to execute him, hang him. But they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't do it. They refused.
They loved him so much they could not kill his son. And one morning,
the bell rang up at the big home place up on the hill above all
this. The bell kept ringing. The people came out of their
homes and assembled up there. And there was this man, Lord
Mayor, with his son and a rope around his neck. And he said to the people, this
is my son, but he's a criminal. He's a murderer. He deserves
to die. I'm not above the law, nor is my son. And if he won't
die at your hand, he'll die at my hand. But the law is going
to be preserved, and justice. When one of your sons kills somebody,
how could I put him to death if I won't put my own to death?
So with the help of two men, he pushed him off the balcony. That kind of justice is impossible.
It is with men. But it's not with God. Because
Jesus Christ, my Lord, came to this earth and was made sin for
me. My sins and your sins were found on him, and my heavenly
Father put him to death. His own son. That's how holy
God is. That's how just God is. That's
how righteous God is. He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for our sins. And let me ask you this question.
If you spared not Christ when sin was found on him, not his,
but mine, standing in my stead and your
stead, is our sin, and yet he was numbered with us, and our
head, and our representative, if the wrath and judgment of
God will execute, please God to bruise him, if your sins are
found on you, he'll execute you. That's a preacher who's being
honest with you, and truthful with you. But sin's going to
be paid for. God's going to deal with sin.
He's going to judge sin, even when it's found in His Son. You see, the cross is the greatest
expression of the character of God to be found anywhere. Isn't
it? The cross reveals His love for
sinners. The cross reveals his hatred for sin. The cross reveals
his justice. The soul that sinned shall surely
die, even if it's Christ. It reveals his purpose. Christ
didn't fail when he died. Those for whom he died and whom
he lived will be justified. God won't punish sin twice. First
at his hand and then at mine. That's not the God of the Bible.
If Christ paid my sin, that is paid in full. That's the gospel.