I'd like for you to turn in your
Bibles with me to the Book of Romans. I'm going to be speaking
this morning from the third chapter of Romans. Now, I'll read a text,
but I'll be going back and referring to several verses before this
text and a couple of verses after the text. Now, here's the text
in Romans 3, 23. The Scripture says, For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. being justified
freely by God's grace through the redemption that's in Christ
Jesus. Now, here's our subject, God's
way of salvation. Now, men have many ways of salvation,
many ways to heaven, many ways to be redeemed and reconciled,
but God has only one. The Apostle Paul was so certain
of this that he made this statement, if any man preach any other gospel,
even if it be an angel from heaven, any other gospel than this gospel
that I preach to you, let him be accursed." Now, that's dogmatism,
and that's confidence. God has one gospel. But now,
before I begin the message, I want to make clear and plain what
I'm not saying on this television program. These are some things
that I'm not saying. First of all, I'm not saying
that men are not religious. Quite the contrary. Most everyone
today is very religious. Religion today is big business. Big business. There's big money
and entertainment in religion. Religion is a major part of our
political scene, our social life, and our emotional life. Almost
everyone has religion. So I'm not saying, understand,
I'm not saying that people aren't religious. They are religious. They're like the Jews of old,
of whom Paul said they have a zeal for God, they have an interest
in God, they have an enthusiasm for God. I don't doubt that at
all. And then secondly, what I'm not saying, I'm not saying
that people are not sincere in their religion. Most of them
are very sincere, quite sincere. Saul of Tarsus was so sincere
that he killed people who did not agree with his tradition
and his doctrine. He was so wrapped up in his form
and ceremony of religion that he destroyed anyone who got in
his way. The followers of Jim Jones were
sincere. Where in the world could you
get that many people to commit suicide, en masse, if they were
not sincere? I remember a young lady in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, who had religion. She was very sincere in her religion.
In fact, she said that the Lord told her, she was reading a scripture
which said, if your right hand offends you, cut it off. And
she said the Lord told her to take an axe and cut her arm off.
So she took an axe and chopped her arm off. That's sincerity.
So what I'm not saying, I want you to get clear, I'm not saying
that people aren't religious. Religion is big business. There's
religion everywhere in every town and city and hamlet and
countryside in this nation. People are religious and they're
sincere in their religion. Some of them are very sincere.
Some of them are willing to go to jail for their religion. And
then thirdly, I'm not saying, I'm not saying that religious
people have no morality. They do have morality. And I'm
not saying that they do not have good deeds. They have good deeds.
They're moral. They're generous. They're kind
to others. Listen to the Pharisee as he stood in the temple. God,
I thank you. I'm not like other men. I fast. I tithe. I give alms of all that
I possess. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
an adulterer. I'm not unjust. I do all these
things. This man was moral. This man
was sincere. And this man was a man with good
deeds. He told God that. And religious
people today have orphanages, they have schools, they have
rest homes for old people, they have rescue missions, they have
all of these things. And I want you to understand
this. I'm not saying that people aren't religious. We've got more
religion today per square foot than we've ever had in the history
of the world. People are religious. And many
of them are sincere. They're like the old crusaders
who went to their death holding a cross up in front of them trying
to take new countries for Jesus. They're sincere. They're sincere. And then there's some of them
are moral people and generous people and kind people. What
I am saying is this. Now you listen to me and listen
well. What I am saying is this. I'm saying there's a difference
in having religion and having a saving relationship with a
living God. There's a lot of difference between
having religion and having a saving relationship with a living God.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ said in John 17, that's the priestly
prayer of the Master. He said, this is life eternal.
This is life eternal. Not that you might have religion.
or even have sincerity in your religion, or even have morality
and good works, but this is life eternal, that they might know
thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."
Now Paul, the Apostle Paul, who earlier was Saul of Tarsus before
he met Christ, his name was Saul of Tarsus, and he was an expert
on this condition. He was an expert on having religion
and not knowing God. He was an expert on having the
tradition and the custom and the ceremony and the ritual and
not knowing God, ever learning and never coming to knowledge
of truth. He was an expert on that by personal experience.
And he wrote in Romans 2, verse 28, listen. Paul wrote, he is
not a Jew who is one outwardly. Now, when we use the word Jew
there in the epistle to the Romans, Paul is talking about a son of
Abraham, a true spiritual son of Abraham. He's talking about
a true Christian. a person who has a knowledge
of God and a right relationship with God. And this is what he's
saying. He's not a Christian who's one outwardly. He's not
a true son of Adam who is one outwardly. He is a Christian,
he is a believer, he is a son of God who is one inwardly. Do you see what Paul's saying?
Circumcision is not of the flesh. Spiritual circumcision is of
the heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, you
call me Lord with your lips. And you go through all the routines
and all of the rituals and all the ceremonies of religion and
you tithe and you fast and you quit this and quit that and quit
the other and make a great profession and pretense of piety, but your
hearts are far from me. That's what I'm saying. There's
a lot of difference in having religion, the mechanics of religion,
the so-called piety of religion and the zeal of religion. There's
a lot of difference in having religion by tradition and custom
and name. and profession. There's a lot
of difference in that and knowing God Almighty in your heart in
saving faith. There's much difference. That's
what I'm saying. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, 5, they have a form
of godliness, but they deny the power thereof, a form of godliness. We have substituted, and you
know it and I know it, we have substituted in our religious
campaigns and revivals, we've substituted a decision for the
new birth. for our heart work, for our work
of grace in the soul. We've substituted a mechanical
walk in the aisle and making a profession of religion. That's
been substituted for regeneration, for the new birth. We've substituted
church membership for repentance. Most religious people have never
repented toward God. They've never truly embraced
Christ Jesus. But they have a form. They're
church members. They're identified with some
denomination. And then we've substituted activities
for worship. Now, you know that's so. We have,
our churches are so busy making announcements and counting people
and having contests and having all sort of raffles and all sort
of entertainment and ball games. We've substituted much activity. So one of the old writers wrote
something about much ado about nothing. And that's what it is.
We've got all these activities, but very little worship. Very
little reverence, very little godliness, very little coming
before God in prayer, in praise, in thanksgiving. We substituted
activities. We're busy. Somebody asked a
member of our church one time, what do you do for your young
people? What do you do for your young people? And this man replied,
we preach the gospel to them. They love the word of God. They
love the gospel. They love to worship God. Young
people, as well as old people, need to worship God, need to
call on God. I'm not saying that people aren't
religious. I'm not saying that they're not
sincere. I'm not saying that they do not have good works and
morality. I'm saying there's a lot of difference
in the mechanics of religion, in the outward form and show
of religion, and having an inward, spiritual, intimate relationship
with a living God. And that's what Paul said in
Romans 2. He said he's not a Jew who is one outwardly. He is a
Jew who is one inwardly. Now watch this. What I am saying
is this. Now listen to me. I am saying
that today's religion, you get this and get it well, I'm saying
that today's religion is man-centered. Man-centered and not God-centered
at all. That's exactly right. It comes
from man, man's the source of it. And man is the goal and intent
of it. Most of today's preaching...
Now, listen to me. You think this through. Most
of today's preaching and religious talk is about what you and I
should do for God. Won't you give God your heart?
Won't you give God your time? Won't you give God your talent?
Won't you give God your time? Won't you give God something
else? My friends, God doesn't need me to do anything for him. But I seriously and solemnly
need God to do something for me. That's what I need. Today's
religion is man-centered. The religion of the Bible is
God-centered. Preachers today are talking about
what you and I need to do for God. The old writers talked about
what God needs to do for us. There's a difference. Do you
know the difference? The Scripture says Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. God did something for Noah. The
scripture tells us about God calling Abraham out of Ur, the
Chaldees. Abraham, God called him out.
He said to Abraham, go to a land I'll show thee. I'll make thee
a great nation. I'll do it. I'll make of you a great nation.
You're not going to make of me a great God. I was a great God
before I called you. You're a nobody. You're nothing.
You're Mr. Nobody from nowhere. You need
me. I don't need you. That's what God's saying to Abraham.
Jonah, from the belly of the fish, cried, Salvation's of the
Lord. Salvation's not something I do
for myself or I do for you. It's something God does for me.
It's a work of His grace, of His power, of His Spirit, of
His Word. David didn't talk about what
he had done for God. He talked about what God had
done for him. Read Psalm 23. He said, He maketh me to lie
down in green pasture. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. That's
all. He did this for me. I've done
nothing for God. Nothing. Actually, did you ever
notice when our Lord Jesus Christ was talking about the sheep and
the goats, and he separated them, one on the right, one on the
left, when he told the sheep that they had ministered to him
in prison, they bested him. Hungry, they fed him. Naked,
they clothed him. They said, Lord, when did we
ever see you like that? We don't remember doing anything
for you. He said, inasmuch as you've done it to the least of
these, you've done it to me. So these people had to be reminded
of what they'd done. They didn't remember it. They
didn't know they'd done anything for God. They knew God had done
a whole lot for them. Listen to what our Lord said.
A new heart I'll give you. A new nature I'll give you. I'll
put my Spirit within you. I'll write my law in your heart. That's what we need. We don't
need men doing anything for God. If God needs anything, He's not
God. God is independent. Before God
made the worlds, before God made men, before God made anything,
God was perfect. Without any need, we need Him. He doesn't need us. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. Here's workmanship. Created in
Christ Jesus unto good works one day the disciples asked the
master Who can be saved and the master replied with me and it's
impossible Now, that's what I've got. That's what I'm saying I'm
saying this thing of the new birth this thing of salvation
this thing of eternal life is as Impossible with you as an
Ethiopian changing his skin or leopard changing his spots But
Christ added with God all things are possible Listen to the people
in Matthew 7, 22. Listen to these folks. Lord,
we cast out devils in your name. We've done many wonderful works
in your name. We've preached in your name.
Listen to them. They keep telling Christ what they did for him,
and he disowned them. He literally disowned them. But
the people around the throne of God in Revelation 5, what
did they say? They didn't speak of what they'd
done for God. They spoke of what Christ had done for them. They
said, and washed us from our sins in
his own precious blood. To him be the glory both now
and forever. Thou wast slain and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people,
and nation unto heaven. Thou hast made us kings and priests
unto our God." You did it. We didn't do anything for you.
The Pharisee and the Temple. Now, if you'll measure these
things and think about them, The Pharisee in the temple talked
about what he had done for God. He said, I fast, I tithe, I do
all these things. And most preachers today are
driving a bargain with their congregations trying to get them
to do something for God in exchange for God's blessing. That kind
of God is not worthy of worship. And that kind of God will not
have the worship of a true believer. The Pharisee talked about what
he had done, and he had done, and what he hadn't done. And
the publicans stood over there and asked God to do something
for him. He said, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Let thy blood
be propitiation for me on the mercy seat. And he went home
justified. So what I'm saying, I'm trying
to say it loud and clear. I'm saying that an outward form
of religion is not an inward relationship with God. And I'm
saying that the big problem of religion today We're exhorting
men to do something for God when in reality, we all need to shut
our mouths and fall on our knees and open our ears and have our
palms raised as empty beggars and cry for God if he's pleased
in his mercy to do something for us. That's what we need,
a God-centered religion. And I'll tell you this, the Bible
clearly says, saluations of the Lord. And that's what it says.
David wrote, the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord.
It's of the Lord in his planning. It's of the Lord in his execution.
It's of the Lord in his application. It's of the Lord in his sustaining
power. It's of the Lord in his ultimate perfection. He is alpha
and omega. He is the beginning and the end
and all in between. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should vote. It is not of him that willeth.
That's what the scripture says. It's not of him that runneth.
It's of God that showeth mercy. If you'll go through the New
Testament and study the qualities of salvation, how the Bible describes
salvation, how does it describe it? Well, it describes it as
a new birth. Salvation is a new birth. It
describes it as a new creation. A creation, something out of
nothing, that's creation. Discovery is when you find something
that's already there. But salvation is a new creation.
And then it's described as a true revelation of God, a knowledge
of God. And this is described as a resurrection,
a quickening from the dead. Now, take all four of these things,
the new birth, the new creation, a true revelation, and a resurrection
from the dead, and only God can do any of these things. Man cannot
perform any of them. The evangelist can't, the preacher
can't, and he stands in the pulpit and sings a song at the end of
the service and invites people to come to him and shake his
hands and bow before him. He can't help them. He can't
help himself. God's the Savior. Mercy comes
from God. He's the source and fountain
of every saving grace, of every blessing. Come, thy fount of
every blessing, to my heart to sing thy grace. My friends, I'm
saying this, that a man is free to build his hopes for eternity
on whatever foundation he chooses. You can build on the sand of
flesh. You can build on the sand of religion, you can build on
the sand of tradition, or you can build on the rock of Christ
Jesus. That's right. And you can build on your religious
works. You can stand someday before
God and boast and brag of what you did for God, what you gave
to God, how you served God, and later hear him say, depart from
me, I never knew you. Or you can build your hope for
salvation on the person and work and free grace of Jesus Christ,
who wrought for us a perfect righteousness and a perfect holiness
and a perfect standing before God's law and justice. But if
we build on the person of Christ, We're going to have to turn to
the Scripture and find out who he is and what he did and why
he did it and where he is now. We're going to have to forsake
our ways and our thoughts. We're going to have to forsake
our customs and tradition. We've been in this mess a long
time. There's no shortcuts out of it. We built these false foundations
and these false walls of religion. We've cased ourselves in a refuge
of lies and under falsehood we've hid ourselves. And it's not easy
to get out. We're going to have to go to
the Scripture. I want you to turn back to Romans 3, and I'm
going to give you five or six or seven things that I understand
from this scripture, Romans chapter 3. Now, here's the first thing
I understand. I understand that I am by birth,
by nature and practice, a sinner. But you're a preacher. I know
I'm a preacher. I've been a preacher 37 years.
I'm still a sinner saved by the grace of God. There are things
that I think and say and do that I ought not think, say, and do.
I was born a sinner. By nature and by practice I'm
a sinner, and I need the cleansing, redeeming blood of the Son of
God, and so do you. And the sooner you discover that
you're not a good person, you're good in, comparatively speaking,
in reference to other human beings, but that's just one worm bragging
on another worm. But I'm talking about in the
sight of God. We're sinners. God is perfect. God is holy.
God's perfect love, perfect righteousness, perfect truth. And we're not.
And to offend in one point is to be guilty of the whole law
of God. Scripture says in Romans 10, Romans 3, verse 10, there's
none righteous. There's none righteous, no, not
one. I mean perfectly righteous. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. There's none good, no, not
one. And what the law saith, what the law of God saith, not
the law of man, but the law of God, not the law of your religion,
the law of God, not your church with a standard, but God's standard. Your standard won't do. It's
God's standard that'll judge you. And what the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped. And all the world, that's preacher
and in the pulpit and deacon in the pew and Sunday school
teacher in the classroom and all you folks out yonder, Let
all the world become guilty before God. And that's where it's done. It's before God. Guilty before
God. I understand that. Secondly,
I understand this. I understand that by the deeds
and works of religion or law or morality or whatever, I cannot
be justified before God. I understand that. Look at Romans
3, verse 20. Now, the law tells me I'm guilty.
So therefore, by the deeds of the law, By the works of the
law, there shall no flesh be saved or justified or redeemed
in God's sight." Now, that's where the works got to be done,
in His sight. You see, we justify ourselves before men. Our Lord
Jesus said, you are they that justify yourselves before men.
But that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to
God. So I'm saying that by the deeds
of the law, no flesh, religious or otherwise, believer or unbeliever,
No flesh, by the deeds of the law, by the works of the flesh,
is going to be justified in the sight of God. Now, the third
thing I understand is this. I understand that God has provided
a holiness. I understand God has provided
a righteousness before his law, which he will accept, with which
he's satisfied, and which he'll give to us, and which does not
require me producing or providing or performing anything. That's
what it says. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified, but now, right now, the holiness of God,
the righteousness of God without the law, that is, without my
obedience, is manifested. It's spoken of by the law and
the prophets. What is it? It's the righteousness
of God. It's the holiness of God, which
is by the obedience and faithfulness of Jesus Christ, and it's free
to everyone who believes in Christ. That's what it says right there,
Romans 3, 19 through 22. In other words, it's saying Christ,
who knew no sin, was made sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness, holiness of God in Him. God hasn't changed
His law. It's still perfect. And we've
still got to meet it. But I can't meet it. I know that.
I can't either. But Christ did. He was tempted
in all points as we are, yet without sin. There was no sin
in him. He knew no sin. He was a perfect
man. He walked on this earth from
cradle to grave in perfection. And the Father said, I'm well
pleased with him, and he was a representative man. By one
man's disobedience, I was made a sinner. By another man's obedience,
Christ, I was made righteous. So there is a righteousness.
And I understand that this holiness, this righteousness, is free.
It's free. It's not in exchange for 10%.
It's free. It's not in exchange for my works, it's free. It's
free in Christ to all who believe. Listen, being freely justified
by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, for God
has set forth Christ to be our righteousness and a propitiation
through his blood by faith, by faith. Four things you need to
remember. Everything God has for sinners.
He's put in Christ, not in the church, not in the ordinances,
not in the law, but in Christ. It's ours through a relationship
with Christ, and that relationship with Christ comes by faith. And
thirdly, that faith is born from the Word of God. Faith cometh
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And in the fourth place,
it's the Holy Spirit that makes the Word effectual. Now, here's
the fifth thing. That this righteousness and justification
through Christ is the only way that a holy and just God can
redeem sinners and be a holy, just God. God can't change. And in order to redeem us, He's
got to be God. Would you have God change His
nature? If He did, you'd have no God, and your salvation wouldn't
be worth anything. But God Almighty, it says, set
forth Christ to declare His righteousness that He might be just and justifier
of them that believe on Christ. And then I understand in the
sixth place, there's no room for boasting. Paul said in verse
26, 27, where is boasting then? What you got to brag about? It's
excluded. How? By the law of works? No,
by the law of faith. So my friends, this is good news.
This is not man's way of redemption. This is God's way. It's good
news to the guilty. It's a gospel that glorifies
God. It's a gospel that's true to the scriptures. It's a gospel
that meets the sinner's need. And it's a gospel that keeps
the sinner safe. God's way of salvation is by
grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the whole basis
of it and foundation of it is the person and work of Jesus
Christ, our surety, our representative, our substitute. He died. that
we might live. He paid our debt. We no longer
owe it. Can you believe? Can you receive
Him?