I want you to open your Bibles
now to that portion of Scripture that Brother Jay read a moment
ago, Romans, the third chapter. Now, I'm going to set forth tonight, as clearly and plainly as I can,
the way of redemption, the way of salvation. And I will say
that anyone who leaves this building tonight, who goes out unsaved,
unbelieving, unconvinced of the way of redemption,
will do so without excuse. As the Scripture says, they are
without excuse. Romans 1.20 says they are without
excuse. Romans 2, 1 says, Thou art inexcusable,
O man. Now let's look at verse 19. I'm
going to be as clear as I can, as plain as I can, and define
each statement from the Word of God. Verse 19. Now we know
that what things soever the law saith. Now here's the first question. What does the law say? We know
that what things soever the law saith. What does the law say
and to whom does the law speak? To whom does the law speak? It
saith to them who are under the law. Who is that? Well, every
son of Adam is under the law of God. Every person born of
woman is born under God's law. Everyone born in God's world
is under God's law. The law of God is the law of
the kingdom. It's the law of the universe.
It's the law of this world. And every person born of woman
is born under the law. So what the law says, it says
to me, it says to you, John Haslam. It says to you, Ed Harder. It
says to you, Jeff. It says to you, Robert. It says
to you, Paul, every, Lisa, every person in the world is under
God's law. And what the law saith, it saith
to me. It's speaking to me and it's
speaking to you. Now let's see, it says four things. The law
says four things. Number one, that every mouth
may be stopped. That's the first thing the law
says. The law says first of all, Cecil says shut up, doesn't he?
That's the first thing the law says. It says let your mouth
be stopped. Let your mouth be stopped. Look
back at verse 4 of Romans 3. God forbid, yea, let God be true
and every man a liar. Let God be true and every man
a liar. That's the first thing the law
says. Lesson number one to be learned by all who seek God.
The living God. Now not religion. Lesson number
one to be learned by any person here who's seeking God, who's
seeking Christ, who's seeking redemption, who's seeking a saving
interest in the Son of God, who's seeking salvation. Lesson number
one to be learned is this. Close your mouth and let God
do the talking. Now that's uncomplimentary, but
that's true. And we may talk of man's dignity
and man's intelligence and man's splendid dignity and righteousness,
the grand and noble creature, but the Word of God tells us
the truth about man. It puts him, first of all, in
the dust. The Word of God says, Dust thou art. To dust thou shalt
return. Dust thou art. The Word of God
ranks us with the lowest. It says, Thy worm, thy worm,
Jacob. It says, All flesh is grass,
and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower fadeth, but the word of God liveth forever. The
word of God says that man does not know the truth, not by nature,
that he does not speak the truth, and that he does not love the
truth. Whole Romans 3 and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Now
I know this is uncomplimentary, but my friends, this is truth.
What does the law say? The law says to everyone under
the law, let your mouth be stopped. You do not know the truth, not
by nature. You do not speak the truth. Let
God be true and every man a liar. You do not love the truth. Men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
Our Lord said, I've come in my Father's name and you'll not
receive me. Let another come in his own name and him you will
receive. You'll listen to an imposter.
You will not listen to the Son of God. In 1 Corinthians 2, it
says in verse 9, As it is written, I have not seen, that's the natural
eye of man, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things God hath prepared for them that love him, but God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. Verse 14, The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness
to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. So that's the first lesson to be learned. If truth
is to be learned, we've got to stop our mouths and open our
ears. If the truth is to be learned, men's mouths must be stopped. We must hear him speak who speaks
in truth from heaven through his word. That's the first thing
the law says. Now let's go back to our text. What the law says,
it says to every person. Now if we don't learn lesson
number one, we're not ready for lesson number two. So this is
lesson number one. Let every mouth be stopped. Every
mouth. This one here too. The one with
all the education, with all the religious instruction, with all
the intelligence, with all the natural ability. Let every mouth
be stopped. We don't know. It says in the
Word of God, if a man thinks he knows, he knows nothing as
he ought to know it. Let every mouth be stopped. Let
God be true, let the Word of God be true, and every man a
liar. Are we willing to take that place?
In the dust, dust thou art, with the lowest thy worm, Jacob. Actually,
that word worm, someone pointed out, you'll find it in a marginal
reference of your Bible, it's a maggot. The lowest form of
creature, the wiggling maggot. Let every mouth be stopped. Man
doesn't know the truth. He doesn't speak the truth. He
doesn't love the truth. We're talking about spiritual
truth now. Spiritual truth. All right, what's the second
lesson that the law teaches us? Have we learned number one? Job
learned it. He said, Lord, once have I spoken,
yet twice. And God's patient to let us get
away with speaking once, our foolishness. But he let Job speak
twice. He said, I'll put my hand on
my mouth and never speak again. I've talked about things beyond
me, things I don't understand, things too wonderful. I've babbled
about things I don't understand. I've popped off about things
that are mysteries, the mysteries of God. It's a wonder that God
lets us live, isn't it? That's what the law says first,
though. Shut up. Let every mouth be stopped. All
right, what is the second thing the law says? The law says all
the world is guilty. All the world is guilty before
God. All the world is guilty. Now,
it'd be well to divide this sentence into three parts. And we're learning
tonight, and I'm just teaching, I'm not preaching, I'm trying
to teach something. Let's divide it into three parts. First of
all, all the world. Not just the profane. We can
look at the most, at the fellow that stands out there on the
job, and oh, how he curses. Oh, his mouth Every other word
is a curse word. Every other word is God's name
in vain. We say, boy, he's guilty. But he is. Or we look at the
old drunk staggering down the street. He's got his paycheck,
and he's gone by the bar, and he's spent everything, and his
wife and children have no clothes or food. And you say, oh, he's
guilty before God. Look at these open ripples. But
that's not what he's saying here. He doesn't say the profane. He
doesn't say the blasphemer. He doesn't say the injurious.
He doesn't say the open-raffled. He says, the law says, all the
world. All the world. That's you and
me. Guilty before God. Turn, if you
will, to Psalm 14. All the world. Psalm chapter
14. Beginning with verse 1 of Psalm
14, the Scripture says, The fool hath said in his heart, Know
God for me. No God for me. They are corrupt. They are abominable. They have
done abominable works. There's none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any, any that did understand and seek God. He says they're all gone aside. They're all together become filthy. And that word is stinking. You
see it in your marginal reference? stinking There is none that doeth
good. No not one. What does the law say? It says
close your mouth Because every one of you every single one of
it every son of Adam is guilty Guilty, what does that word guilty
mean to offend in one point is to be guilty guilty guilty of
the whole law of God I read one time something jotted it down,
found it this week. Men praise morality. And most
of us do. We praise morality. Men praise
morality. Can you join in that group? Believe
you can. And hate holiness in its true form. Now think about
that a minute, Jim. Men praise morality. and hate
holiness in its true form. A preacher of many years ago
said this, O virtue, O righteousness, thou fair and lovely object,
could you descend down among men and appear in all your perfection? O holiness, O virtue, all men
would prostrate themselves before thee and you would be beloved
of all mankind. Is that true? Is that true? Now let me read it again. You
think about it. O virtue, O righteousness, O
holiness, thou fair and lovely object, could you descend among
men and appear on this earth in all your perfection, your
perfect holiness, all men would prostrate themselves before you
and you would be beloved of all mankind. Is that true, Charlie?
That's foolishness. Because he did that very thing.
He did that very thing. And the men who professed to
be most moral and to be the contenders for fundamental orthodox religion
spit in his face and nailed him to a cross. Oh holiness! Men
love morality. They speak well of morality.
They praise morality. They hate holiness. They hate
holiness. They hate holiness in its true
form. We're guilty, guilty of not loving
God with all our hearts. We're guilty, guilty of not loving
men as we love ourselves. We're guilty, guilty of the pride
of self-exaltation and self-concern. We're guilty, guilty of nailing
God's sons to the cross. We're guilty, guilty of saying
we will be like God. We're guilty of wrong thoughts,
wrong spirits, wrong attitude, hate, envy, jealousy, covetousness,
lust. Guilty. All the world, guilty. That's what the law says, guilty.
Oh, that's an awful sound when the judge brings down the gavel.
Guilty. Guilty. There the man stands,
waiting the verdict, and the judge brings down the gavel and
says, Guilty. And when Almighty God's gavel
hits that terrible throne of justice, it rings throughout
the whole universe, and every son of Adam, every daughter of
Adam, every living creature stands before Him, and we can hear but
one word, Guilty. Guilty. Guilty, guilty of the
blood of the Son of God. Guilty of trying to throw God
off His throne. Guilty of a wrong spirit, attitude. Yes, we have our moral standards,
but before God, we're guilty. Turn to Luke chapter 60. And
you know, here's something else I read. We have a standard. Everybody
has several different standards. You say, I don't. I have one
standard for all men. Now, I don't believe that. I
don't believe that. I say everybody has four standards. You have one for yourself. That's
right, one for yourself. And when we violate it, we can
justify ourselves. We have one standard for ourselves.
We have another one for our family. especially every mama has a different
standard for her boy than she does your boy. Brother Barnard
used to say, no mama has a bad boy and no daddy has a bad girl. We have another standard for
our children. We have another standard for
our friends. We have another for our enemies.
Isn't that right? You know it's so. You know it's
so. We have a standard for ourselves.
We have rules and regulations we lay down for ourselves. We
have another standard for our family, we have another for our
friends, and a completely different set of rules for our enemies.
And our Lord says here in Luke 16, 15, and he said to them,
you are they that justify yourselves before men. You justify everything
you think and do before men. You'll even use God's Bible to
do it. To justify yourselves before men. But God knows your
hearts. Oh, God knows my heart. And that
which is highly esteemed among men, that which is highly esteemed,
that which you highly esteem religiously, and which I highly
esteem, is an abomination in the sight of God. Guilty. Guilty. Before God. That's where the problem is.
Before God. What does the law say? It says,
number one, let every mouth be stopped. It says, number two,
let the whole world, every son of Adam, every daughter of Adam,
stand before God. Before God. I'm not talking about
before these people. But before God. Stand before
God guilty. Guilty. Guilty of breaking His
holy law. Guilty of robbing Him of His
glory. Guilty of falling short of His
praise. Guilty. Guilty. All right, let's
read this. What does the law say? Turn back
to Romans 3. Let's take it step at a time. What does the law
say? It says, let every mouth be stopped.
It says, secondly, let all the world become guilty. And it says,
thirdly, in verse 20, it says, by the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. He says, by the
deeds of the law, by the works of religion, by the ceremonies,
rituals, professions, decisions, by all of the processionals,
doctrines, and creeds, and catechisms, and confirmations, and sprinklings,
and sacraments, or whatever, by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now this word justified, let's
look at it just a moment. See it in verse 20, justified.
Now look down at verse 24, being freely justified. See it there? Now look, if you will, over here
at verse 26. He says, "...to declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that God might be just and justifier." Look
at verse 28, "...therefore we conclude that a man is justified."
Look at verse 30, "...seeing as one God which shall justify."
Wouldn't you say that these verses, Jay, got something to do with
justifying? Justifying. Wouldn't you? There, I've read
it six or seven times in just a short, short portion of script. Justify, justify, justify, justify. Would you happen to know what
justify means? Justification? Justified? It's used right there. It just
keeps on you. Justify. You know what it means?
You know, I really believe that if we're going to be preachers
or teachers or witnesses or authorities on the Scripture, we ought to
find out what some of these things mean. Now, the average theologian
will totally confuse you. The average preacher will confuse
you. If you ask him a question when he gets through, you say,
what did he say? He really doesn't know either. But just as simply
as I can, don't get mad at me. I'm telling you the truth. They're
not trying to be clear. They're not trying to be plain.
They're trying to be confusing. They're frustrating the grace
of God. The word justification is a legal term. It is a legal
term. The word justification is always
used in the legal sense. Always. Buy your Webster's Dictionary,
right? Go in there in my study. There's
one in there. Pick it up and read it. Justification's a legal
term. It's used in a legal sense. Always. And this is what it means. Justification. Justified. This is what it means.
It means it now, it always has been, and it always will mean.
A prisoner standing before the judge. He's been accused of certain
crimes. Now, there's not but one way
that you can justify that man. Not but one way. And that is
to declare him or find him not guilty. Isn't that right? That's
the only way he can be justified. Now, you can parole him, but
you haven't justified him. He's still guilty. You can pardon
him. He's still guilty. You can probate
him. He's still guilty. You can forgive
him, he's still guilty. You can commit him to jail and
let him serve his sentence, even when he finishes serving it and
you set him free, he's still guilty, right? There's not but
one way he can be justified, and that is find him not guilty. And the law says, what the law
says is this, the law cannot justify anybody. It cannot Read
that verse 20 again. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law. In other words, if you're guilty,
you're guilty no matter if you start keeping the law, or if
you appreciate the law, or respect the law, or love the law, or
commend the law, or agree with the law, you're still guilty.
And the law cannot make you unguilty. Not guilty. It can't justify
you. It just can't do it. By the law
is the knowledge of sin. All the law can do is say, you've
broken this, this, and this. Therefore, you're guilty. That's
all the law can do. You can get your thou shalts
and thou shalt nots and thou shalt and thou shalt not, and
he's still guilty. He may agree with it. He may
commend it. He may love it. He may say, well,
I agree with it. He's still guilty. And that's
what the law says. The law says, guilty. Guilty. And the law says, by the law
shall no flesh be justified. By the law, by the word of God,
is the knowledge of sin. To know the true God and the
true law of God is to know sin. All right, what does the law
say? One thing more. Are you with me? The law says, number
one, why don't you close your mouth and open your ears and
listen to God? That's the first thing it says.
Because he says by nature you're a liar. God is true and we're
liars. And it says, secondly, the whole
world is guilty before God. That's what the law says. And
thirdly, the law says it cannot justify anybody. It cannot change
that condemnation. It cannot change that judgment.
We're guilty, guilty. And the law cannot alter it or
change it. We're guilty. All right, notice
verse 23, 22. It says down here in the bottom
part of verse 23, the last line, there is no difference. There
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Now watch this. What does the
law say? And it says there is no difference. There is no difference
between Jew and Gentile, between male and female, between black
and white, between old and young, between rich and poor, There
is no difference between barbarian, scythian, bond, or free. There
is no difference. All have sinned. Now, the law
doesn't say there is no difference, all men are equally evil. That's
not true, and you know that's not true. All men are not equally
evil. There's public enemy number one,
two, three, four, five, and number ten's not Christ's best number
one. We know that all men are not equally evil. We know that
all men are not as evil as they can be. You're not as mean as
you can be. You're not as mean as you would
be if God turned you loose. That's its preventive grace.
There's nobody here as evil as he can be. God could turn you
loose and make another devil and have another devil on our
hands. You know that? The Satan himself at one time was an angel
of light. whom God passed by. That's so. And all men do not
give vent to all their imaginations. Aren't you glad they don't? You
see what I said? There is no difference. Now,
when it says there is no difference, it does not mean that all men
are equally evil, that all men are as evil as they can be, or
that all men do give vent to every imagination. This is what
it does mean. that all have sinned, that's
what it says, there is no difference, all have sinned. Everybody's
guilty of sin, they've sinned against God, they've broken God's
law, all have sinned. It means this, all have forfeited
any claims to righteousness. It means that. It means, thirdly,
that all have come short of God's perfection. It means this, that
all will be damned if left where they are. There is no difference. That's what the law says. The
law says four things. It says, let every mouth be stopped.
There's not anybody allowed to speak. There's no opinion recognized. There are no ideas to be considered.
There are no thoughts of men to enter into this justification. Let every mouth be stopped. Well,
I think, hold it. Well, this is the way I see it.
Well, we Baptists, let every mouth be stopped. You know what
I'm saying? Well, I think that Just be quiet. That's what the
law says. Why? Because you're all guilty.
You're all guilty before God. And all of your strivings and
doings are not going to justify you. Because there's no difference. There's no difference. We're
all on one dunghill. We're all in one pit. We're all
in one cesspool of corruption. There's no head any higher than
the other. There is no difference. Okay, let's look now back at
verse 21. But now, but now, somebody else has something to say. The
righteousness of God. The righteousness. Do you know
what that word righteousness is? What is the righteousness
of God? The holiness. You know, I know
a lot of people use that word holiness so loosely and so carelessly
it's frightening. Holiness. Holiness. In my flesh dwelleth no holiness. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Somebody said of me one time,
said, he's not holy enough. Well, my soul, I reckon not. Gracious Allah, can you think
of anything holy? That makes me, makes cold chills
run down my spine. Holy. You holy? But now the holiness,
the righteousness. You know what we're talking about
here? Now we're not talking about God's personal holiness. We're
not talking about God's personal holiness. What are we talking
about? We're talking about here, when
we talk about the righteousness of God, we're talking about that
perfect holiness, that perfect righteousness that he has provided,
that he has purposed, that he has intended, and that he has
imputed through his son's obedience for every believer. That's the
holiness we're talking about. Now there are a lot of people,
turn to Romans 10, there are a lot of people who are going
about to establish their own holiness, their own righteousness,
their own standing. There are a lot of people doing
that. Paul said that in Romans 10. He said, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. They're not saved. I bear them
record. They have a zeal of God. In other words, they're enthusiastic
about God. They believe in God. They believe the Bible is God's
word. They're religious. They're orthodox. They have a
zeal. They're moral. They have a zeal
of God. But it's not according to knowledge.
not according to knowledge, for they're ignorant of God's righteousness,
God's holiness. God's holiness. Now let me tell
you something. God is perfectly, infinitely,
immaculately, eternally holy. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up. His train filled the temple.
The cherubims and seraphims cried, holy, holy, holy Lord. God of hosts. God is holy. God
is truth. God is love. God is just. God
is righteousness. God is holy. God cannot look
upon evil. Even when his son was bearing
our sins, he had to turn his back on Calvary's cross. Holy. God's holy. God's so holy that
he said, Moses, you can't look on me and live. When Moses appeared
in the presence of God, he had to hide him in the cleft of the
rock as he passed by. Even when Moses had been in the
presence of the Lord, even his reflected presence, he came down
off the mountain, the people couldn't even look into Moses'
face when he had been in the presence of God. It was so glorious
he had to put a veil over his face so the people wouldn't be
struck dead. Holy! And we talk in the same
breath of our holiness? Of holiness? We're a holiness
church? There's nothing holy about us.
We're the opposite of God. God's truth and we're lies. God's
light and we're darkness. God's love and we're hate. God
is perfect and we're imperfect. God is good and we're evil and
you know it. But in order for us to have any
fellowship with God, we've got to have the same holiness He
has. We've got to have that same righteousness.
And what Paul says is these folks in Romans 10 who have a zeal
for God, an enthusiasm for God, are going about to establish
their own holiness, their own righteousness, in the hope that
that holy God will look down upon their righteousness and
accept them. That's what he says in verse
3, they're ignorant of God's holiness, the holiness, the perfect,
immaculate holiness of God, and they're going about to establish
their own holiness, and will not submit themselves unto the
righteousness of God. They won't do it. And our Lord
turned to Matthew 5, and the scripture says without holiness
no man will see the Lord. And that's not talking about
without doing the best you can either. And that's not talking
about striving to be religious or moral. And that's not talking
about walking the straight and narrow. Without a holiness just
like God, no man will see the Lord. That's what that's talking
about. In fact, our Lord in Matthew 5 says this, as He looked at
the moral men of His day, the religious men, the Pharisees,
He said to His disciples, I say unto you, that except your holiness,
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. You shall in no case enter into
the kingdom of heaven." So in other words, Charlie, he's saying
the scribes and Pharisees, moral as they were, religious as they
were, fasting twice a week, tithing all that they had, keeping the
law. Paul was a Pharisee. He said, they're not going to
enter the kingdom of heaven. He as much as tells us they're not
going. He says, and you're not either, unless your righteousness
is better than theirs. And ours isn't. You know that
it isn't. Not our fleshly righteousness. So turn back to Romans 3, now
to our text. What are we talking about here?
But now the righteousness of God, the immaculate holiness
and righteousness of God is manifested. Here's what we're talking about.
God has purposed provided and purchased by the obedience and
death of his son a perfect holiness for somebody. In other words,
it is possible that a sinner can be holy in God's sight if
he has that righteousness. It's possible that a sinner shall
be declared not guilty before God's throne if he has that holiness.
It's possible that a sinner can be equal to the glory of God
equal, we come short of the glory of God in the flesh, it is possible
in that holiness to be equal with the glory of God. It is
possible that a sinner from this earth, a man born of a woman,
How can he be clean that's born of a woman? How can man be just
with God? It's possible that a man who was born of a woman,
born of a woman, who lived on this earth, whose hands are stained
with sin, whose heart is filled with sin, whose mind and imagination
has been the birthplace or the dwelling place of sin, it's possible
that that human being can be accepted into the very arms and
presence and right hand of God Almighty as equal with His holiness. You say, is that possible? It's
not only possible, it's dead certain. It's dead certain, that's
what he's saying here. But now, the righteousness of
God, not the righteousness of the church, or the church member,
or the believer, or the preacher, or the moralist, the righteousness
of God. Now watch, what does it say?
Without the law. Now let me tell you something.
If I have that kind of righteousness, not guilty, just before God,
it's going to have to be without the law, without my obedience
to the law. It'll have to be without because
I've never kept the law, can't do it now, and never will be
able to do it. You say, talking about the Ten Commandments? I'm
talking about every commandment. I'm talking about the commandment
of Christ that says, Love God with all your heart, mind, soul,
and strength. I'm talking about the commandment of Christ that
says, love your neighbors as yourself. I'm talking about the
commandment of Christ that says, pray without ceasing. I'm talking
about the commandment of Christ that says, be satisfied with
what you have. Having food and raiment therewith to be content.
If you have two coats and your brother doesn't have one, take
yours off and give it to him. That's the commandment I'm talking
about. The one that says, if a man says, go one mile with
me, go two miles with him. The commandment that says, love
your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that
despitefully use you, bless and curse not. The commandment says,
if your enemy hunger, feed him. Take all you have and send it
to Russia, they're hungry over there. Huh? That's what I'm talking,
that commandment's what I'm talking about. Some of these others that
we've set up are so easy for us, we're too old to care. But some of them are pretty tough.
I'm talking about the commandment that says, look not on your own
things, but on the things of others. I'm talking about the
commandment that says, sell what you have and give it to the poor. That's the commandment I'm talking
about. And I'll tell you, is it possible that we'll have a
righteousness in the face of those commandments? Yes, sir. But it's without the law. It's
without your obedience. It's without your obedience.
But it's not without obedience. So somebody's going to have to
obey that law. Somebody's going to have to, who thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation,
took on himself the form of a servant, became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. The one who loved his enemies
and who could with the pain of the nails in his hands and the
blood running from his cross can say, Father, forgive them
and mean it. That's right. It's without the
law. It's being witnessed by the law
and the prophets. Look at verse 22. It is that righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Now that can be taken
two ways. It's by the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ,
the fulfillment of Christ, and it's mine by faith in Christ.
You see what I'm saying? All right, now let me be just
as honest as I can. Let me be just as forthright
as I can. And every preacher, he ought
to be. He ought to try to be anyway.
What does the law say? It says, let every mouth be stopped. But every mouth. And let all the world become
guilty on it, confess it, admit it guilty. I got nothing to say,
I'm guilty. Guilty, before God. By the deeds
of the law, you're not going to be justified, you're not going
to be declared righteous, you're not going to be holy, you're
not going to be accepted. Do what you will, get sprinkled
when you're 12, and confirmed when you're 13, and catechized
when you're 15, and baptized when you're 20, and rededicate
17 times, come to the altar, raise your hand, pray through,
get all these things, you're still not justified. And there
is no difference. But the righteousness of God
says there is a perfect holiness. There is one that God purposed,
God promised, God provided. There is one that Christ purchased.
It's God's holiness. It's God's righteousness. It's
God's perfection. It is prepared for us without
our obedience, without our merit, without our aid, without our
help, without our cooperation. It's fulfilled by Him who was
born made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem
those born under the law. It's prepared by Him who had
no sin, and who was made sin, that we might be made righteous
in Him. By the disobedience of one, we
were made sinners. By the obedience of one, we were
made righteous. He came down here, Jesus Christ,
in the flesh, born like I was, of a woman, conceived by the
Holy Ghost, but born of a woman. He was born in a home under parental
authority, under governmental authority, under scriptural authority,
under Levitical law authority, under the moral law authority,
and as a human being, he never broke God's law one time. He
never offended in one point. He knew no sin. He was my representative,
He was my federal head, He was my surety, He was my substitute. And He perfectly obeyed that
law, not only that, but went to the cross and died under the
judgment of my committed sins, and put those away. And God raised
Him from the tomb and took Him to heaven and sent Him in His
right hand, and when He took Him up there, He took me with
Him. And right now, according to this book, If God accepts
me in Christ, he accepts me as Christ, in Christ, and for Christ's
sake. And I don't have one single sin. Is that too tough? But that's
so. Not one sin. Not one. I'm not guilty. What does that
say? What I read it six or seven times? Justify. It's a legal
term, in a legal sense, before the legal throne of God, and
they'll throw out of the window any of this judgment of nations,
or judgment of Christians, or judgment of believers, or judgment
of the church, or judgment of anything else. To the believer,
there is no judgment. They can haul me before any judgment
they want to in Christ. I don't have anything to be judged
by. I'm justified. That's what they'll have to say.
If you're a believer, John, they bring you before the throne of
God, they'll have to say, he's justified. They'll bring another
one, Bob, you're justified. In Christ, Paul, justified. You can't try a justified man,
he's not guilty. He's not guilty. With his spotless
garments on, I'm as holy as God's Son. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be in the person of His Son, I'm as near as He. That's
right. Righteousness. Righteousness. Now look at verse 22, Romans
3, one more time. Even the righteousness, the holiness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon
all them that, what? Work for it, labor for it, merit
it, earn it. Believe. Believe. Believe. Let me read you one more verse,
Romans 4, turn over there a minute. That's how Abraham got his righteousness,
by faith, by faith. In Romans chapter 4, verse 20,
it says, Abraham did not stagger at the promise of God through
unbelief, but he was strong in faith. He gave the glory to God,
and he was fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was
able to perform. And therefore, it was imputed
to him, charged to him, reckoned to his account. Righteousness. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him. You still with me, verse
23? But for us also, to whom it shall it. What's it? Righteousness. The same righteousness of Abraham. Let me tell you something. We
worship at the shrine of Abraham and different Old Testament.
I'm as righteous as Abraham. That's right. I'm not smart as
he, not as gifted as he, but I'm as righteous as he. That's
what it says. It wasn't written for his sake
alone that it shall be imputed, but for us also to whom it shall
be imputed, verse 24, if we what? Do the best we can. Honey, do
the best you can. Uh-uh. If we believe on him who
raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered for
our offenses and he was raised for our justification. My friends,
that's as plain as I can make it. Now if you go out of here
still whine-whine about your goodness and righteousness and
go out of here popping off about your own holiness and everybody
else's sinfulness, your blood's on your own head. I've given
it to you from this book right here. Let every mouth be Let
every one of us get out in the dust guilty by the deeds of the
law. You talk about law all you want
to. You can hang people with the
law until you haven't got a righteous man in the whole community. Nobody's
going to be justified by your rules and regulations. They're
not going to do it. You can't legalize morality.
You can't whip people in the line. They're going to bust out
somewhere. The whole world's guilty. But
there is a righteousness. I got good news. And that righteousness
is without your laws and rules and regulations. It's by the
faith of the Son of God. And it's unto all and upon all
that believe. There is no difference. Now I'm
saying this to you. If God comes in to dwell in the Spirit and
by His Son, there'll be a righteousness imparted to. God will change
your attitude. He'll change your way. He may
not do it overnight. You may have some struggles like
you've never had before, But then when life grows and develops
and we grow in grace and love and faith and joy and peace and
rest and long-suffering and all these things, but give the baby
time to grow. Give him time to grow. Watch
him grow in grace. But I'll tell you this, the day
he's born of God, he's as holy as he'll ever be before God. That's right. He's as holy as
he'll ever be. And let me tell you this, all
of your strivings and doings and growth and all that doesn't
make you any holier in God's presence. You're as holy right
now as you'll ever be if you're in Christ. If you're not in Christ,
you'll never be holy. And all your striving is to no
avail. That's so, Cecil. Is that so? That's the truth.