I was going to say his legs swollen
today. Yeah, well, it was swollen yesterday. Brad's got an appointment to
do a bone marrow puncture on the 26th of this month. And then they'll decide what
treatment he's going to take. He's going to do an experimental
drug that's a pill. I've been reading up on it. Pauline
gave me the brochure. And I think it's important. I remember him because that limp
note in his jaws made his face pretty swollen. So I remember
him pretending to be Farris, also Tracy Wright, and the others
who requested credit. I remember Julius Tarragus. How
come his leg was swollen today, too? I already told them. His
leg was swollen today. Well, it's, he got a very aggressive
form uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... hymn number 477. Let's go. Years
has made a man of me and cry. Every month I look to see if
I know they're not impossible. on Calvary. Mercy, love, and grace cross
me. On and there's nothing left to
me. There I've heard some happy words
at Calvary. I've got words to say, I've learned
Leave a trickle at the flow, I swear Till I get a piece of
gold and glory To count on to me Mercy, every way you please,
puts me On and every mile ? I could meet them a third or so ? ? I'll
be righteous and ever free ? ? Now I'm here to feel the saving
grace ? ? Now I gladly know Him as my King ? ? Now I reckon smoke
can hold me safe ? Oh salvation's plan Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the light and comfort of
his hand that held the world at ease. Mercy there was great, and grace
was free. Pardon there was much applied
to me. Then I heard a song by me. I'm gonna sing hymn number 235. this is a summation of it all,
verse 25, whom God sent forth on charge, Romans 3, 25, to be
of propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness
for the remissions of sins that are past through the forbearance
of God. Let us pray. Father, we are thankful
that such words can be heard and understood and believed by
your people. We know that because you have
given them faith, that they can indeed look to the cross, to
the Christ of the cross, and pour their sins on his body over
the tree, and effectually put away the sins of his people by
the sacrifice of himself, who is indeed the propitiation through
faith in his blood, wherein God Almighty, you dear Father, were
satisfied for all the sins of your people. Justice was satisfied,
the law was honored and fulfilled, and you're satisfied with your
people. We're thankful that such thoughts are even allowed to
enter poor sinners' heads like ours. We pray for those who are
sick. We pray for Brother Fred as he's
preparing for this new type of treatment, which is lymphoma.
We pray for Brother Wayne as he's in solid care that you continue
to minister to him. We pray for Inez also who's there
to be with her and her family. We pray, Father, for our other
shut-ins and for those who are on our prayer list. We ask, Lord,
you'd be merciful to them in respect to Tracy Wright, also
We remember the deep hearts of families who've lost loved ones.
We know that these are hard times, and we ask, Lord, that you be
merciful and kind and tender toward them, fix their eyes upon
Christ, and let them know that if they are in need of a child,
there is nothing that comes their way. That is not apart from your
appointment, and we value your wisdom in these things. Father,
help us this hour, so we can get together to make causes in
our hearts to worship in the truth. We pray these things in
Christ's name, in his holy name. Amen. ? As we bow to the Savior ? ? Hear
our humble cry ? ? Thou, Lord God of glory ? ? Hear our blessed
cry ? ? Savior, Savior ? ? I don't know why ? ? So I'll
lose my worries ? ? To my bestie's light ? ? With heavy and unholy
mercy ? ? I must make believe ? He shall heal my unbelief. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. Love will be shall come to thee. ? You have passed me by ? ? Trusting
only in thy favor ? ? Would I seek thy face ? ? In my wounded, broken
spirit ? ? Take me by thy grace ? Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. I know that Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Sound the spring of all my comfort,
warm and mild to me. Whom have I opened beside my seat? Whom in empathy That's it. Our Father in heaven, we thank
you for mercy. We thank you that you did not
pass us by, that you included us in that great and purposeful
plan of salvation whereby your Son came into this world to die
in the womb instead of those who were chosen from the foundation
of the world, secured their salvation, and made to be their righteousness,
their wisdom, their sanctification and redemption. What a thing
you've done for your children. We can say with Paul, as we wrote
in Romans 8, what can we say to these things? God be for us
and can be for us. We are thankful, for we know
that all good things that we have come from above, from the
Father of lights, in whom there is no variables, no shadow of
a turn. We thank you that you've been so merciful. As we return
unto thee that which you've given us, let us do so with joy and
thanksgiving. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Okay. you I'd like to invite your attention
back to Romans chapter three. David Brainerd was a missionary
to Native Americans in New York. He died of tuberculosis at 29
years old. He said you could follow him
through the snows of New York and New Jersey and the various
reservations where he went to speak to different tribes where he spit his blood out of
his lungs into the snow. You can follow his trail to these
places. He wanted to marry Jonathan Edwards'
daughter, the man who preached sinners in the hands of the name
of God, and started the Great Reformation. When Jonathan Edwards
refused to have him married, he said that she would ruin his
marriage. There are four things he wrote
in his book that God required of him for salvation that stopped
him dead in his tracks. He said God required perfect
righteousness and he could not produce it. He said faith was a requirement
in the salvation of the soul and he couldn't produce that. He said, faith is a sovereign
gift of God, and he could not give it himself nor oblige God
to give it to him. And he saw that God could, at
his own pleasure, save him or damn him. And he couldn't do
anything about it. What Brother Brainerd didn't
see was that such language is the language of faith. And so
every believer understands these things. because faith excludes
all things that man might produce. It's not easy to believe. I know
people talk about it's easy to believe, and easy to believe
isn't. It's impossible to believe, apart from a sovereign work of
grace in your heart that bestows faith upon you and puts it in
you and thereby you live a different life. You're a completely different
person. What you confused and rejected
moments before, when God gives faith, seconds later, you believe
everything He says and can never be doubtful of anything He says. Oh, you'll doubt yourself because
you look at yourself and there's no doubt thereof. But the faith
that God gives rest entirely upon what he said does never
question it. It's foolishness to the world.
The world wants empirical proof, some type of evidence that you
are a child of God, but there simply isn't any, except that
you believe. And that's a sure thing. Peter said we believe that thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. He said we believe
and are sure. He didn't say we are sure and
therefore we believe. It was faith that was the assurance.
He believed because God had given him faith to believe he was sure. And here in this text we find
the phrase through faith in his blood. and it's inserted in the
middle and right alongside the grand themes of salvation that
Christ accomplished for God's glory. Christ did what he did
for God's glory according to John 17. In fact, God glorified
Christ to do the work of salvation so that Christ could glorify
God in the purpose and planning of salvation. God could not be
glorified in salvation, which is his greatest work, if Christ
wasn't glorified to do the work and finish the work of salvation. This has to do with God's glory. It says in chapter verse 23,
all have sinned and come short of God's glory. It has to do with the three justifications
by grace. These are works of God. Verse
24, it says, being justified freely, that means without a
cause in you, by grace, by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. The work of God, the glory of
God is about the redemption obtained by Jesus Christ. It says in Hebrews
chapter 11, he entered in once to the holy place, not with his
own blood, the holy place is not made with the hands but with
his own blood and there he obtained eternal redemption for us propitiation
or satisfaction or appeasement to God's justice has to do with
this salvation this is a work of God you'll notice in verse
25 when it says whom God sent forth to be is in italics It
is said that way throughout the Old Testament, through the New
Testament, that four times the word propitiation is used. It
is preceded with the words to be, that are supposedly added
by the translators in order to help us understand. I think it
detracts from that. The words to be could speak of
intent rather than actual accomplishment. I believe this should actually
be whom God sent forth of propitiation. a thing that actually took place,
a propitiation that actually took place. The righteousness of God is declared.
That's his glory, that's his work in verse 25. It says, to
declare his righteousness for the remissions of sins that are
passed through the forebearance of God, speaking of the Old Testament
sayings, and then to bring it up to date, to declare or say
at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and justify
the iniquity of Jesus Christ. the work of Jesus Christ, his
people, allowed God and caused God to be just when he justified
you. This is no mistake. God said,
this is no mistake. I declare my righteousness. When
I saved Sam, it was a just decision. Why? Because God had been appeased
and justice had been satisfied. And in the middle of this great
catalog of God's doings, there's these words, through faith in
his blood. I thought about this, and I believe
it has to do with us believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
I also thought this, after I finished the message, I was sitting there
pondering it, as I often do, rolling it over in my head, and
I thought, the context could mean that it was God who had
confidence in Christ's blood. It was God who had faith. It
could read that way. And God had sent forth to me
appreciation for appreciation through faith in his blood. We're
not mentioned in that text. But I don't know whether that's
the case or not, but God did have confidence in Christ. This
is my beloved son, in whom I am well appeased, pleased, satisfied,
propitiated, hear ye him. And I thought of another verse
over in scripture, in Ephesians chapter one, in that great catalog
of God saving his people. It says in verse 12, that we
should be to the praise of God's glory, that we should be to the
praise of God's glory, who first trusted in Christ. Is that talking
about us? Or is it talking about God? Because it goes on to say, in
whom ye also believe. Was it God who first trusted
in Jesus Christ? Was it God who had confidence
in this and didn't he? Indeed he did. He sent his son
to die in his place. And he sent him not to be a propitiation,
he sent him a propitiation as a propitiation. But, that's not
why I'm going with this message. Because I believe this through
faith in his blood can and does apply to the child of God. And
it also applies to the fact that our faith in his blood is also
a work of God, just like the rest of the things set forth
in this passage of Scripture. Right in the middle of this catalog
of God's works is this phrase, through faith in His blood. First
I ask, why should faith even be included here, and not these
things, the work of God? Indeed they are. And faith also
must be a work of God. It is a gift of God. not of works,
it says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9. If I embrace
your saints in faith, that not of yourselves, it's a gift of
God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. Faith is included in these things
that God has done. He has given us faith to believe
the gospel. It's to ensure that any activity
on our part is excluded. And if we believe God, it's a
work of God. Didn't our Lord say that to those whom he had
fed 5,000 with a few loaves and fishes. And they wanted to make
him king. They were going to capture him
and put him in chains and call him king so he would feed their
bellies. And when he refused to do that and moved away from
them, they could judge him. They said, well, how can we do
the works of God? What they were saying was, how
can we make these fish where they said all these things
were spread all around. How can we work the works of
God? He said, this is the work of God that you believe on Him
and sin. This is God's work. This is God's
work. Note well that faith is not a
generic term here. Here it is directed toward an
object. It's directed toward the blood of Jesus Christ. Now when you see the word blood
of Jesus Christ, It's not talking about a drop of blood, like the
song says, one drop of blood. That's a stupid song. When you
see the word blood of Christ in there, it's talking about
the death of Jesus Christ. The shedding of blood brought
about death. Or else, well, it's just a belief.
And a man may have covered it up. Shedding of blood means the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In faith in his death, what do
we observe in baptism? what do we preserve when we preach
the gospel? It's death. This is what the observation
is. This is the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood of him who
is charged with and accountable for the propitiation for sin.
It's God who charged him with this. It says that. Whom God
set forth. If you look over there in the
verses, if you have a marginal reading, It's foreordained or
charged. God foreordained to be or ordained
of propitiation. His word for propitiation offers
an inert mercy seat. We know that in Scripture. Mercy
seat. What's the importance of that? It was that top of the
Ark of the Covenant. The two cherubim sat upon the
mercy seat with their wings toward each other, facing each other.
And that mercy seat was where the blood was poured out by the
high priest on the day of atonement. And God said in Deuteronomy 25,
this is where I'll commune with you. He said, I will commune
with my people above the mercy city. That means if there's gonna
be a communication with God, a communion with God, it has
to be where the blood was shed, where the blood was poured out.
Jesus Christ is called the propitiation. He's called the Mercy City. This
is how we commune with God. We don't commune with God one-on-one.
We commune with God through a mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfied
God, and He is a man, and He can touch us, and He is God.
He can commune with God, and we commune with God through Him.
There is no approaching God unless a death has been accounted for
you. Because you're a sinner, and
I'm a sinner. God's eyes are too pure to behold
evil. The sun, moon, and stars are
not pure in His sight, much less man that is born of woman, a
worm, a maggot, or a donkey. Communion with God? Well, if
God looks us up and says, well, he's dead. And his life is hidden
with Christ in God. That's the only way that's going
to take place. That mercy season, I said, that boots through the
day of atonement and pictures the work of Christ on Calvary
by His blood dead. He satisfied God in every aspect
of the sins of the elect, every aspect of it. Faith, this faith
that gives God, or that God gives latches onto and understands
and embraces all scriptural and spiritual principles, not the
least of which is the necessity of the substitution and confidence
in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. These things are
faith lays hold of. Why? Because it's the work of
God. I settled everything. He didn't
leave anything undone. He did it all. He went down to
give you faith and believe what he had done. He took care of
it all. Seven things. First, faith believes
and is sure that salvation cannot be produced from anything in
or about natural man. Faith understands that in the
matter of salvation, nature, specifically our natural ability,
our will, our inclination, our emotions, our conscience, are
excluded. Faith understands that. If you
have faith. If you say you have faith and
you believe you have something to do with your salvation, you
don't have faith. You've got something, but it's not God giving
faith. You read verses 10 through 18,
you'll see what we really are. And you'll see that nothing about
us can do anything. In verse 10 it says, as it is
written, it's written in Psalm 14, there is no right and unrighteous,
No, not one, yet God requires a righteousness and declares
that his salvation is righteous in saving us in this passage.
But there is none righteous, no, not one, not among humanity,
not as we are born in this world. There is none that understands,
no matter how smart they are. There is none that seeketh after
God. They don't seek God. Doesn't the Bible tell us to
seek the Lord? Yes, it tells people to seek
the Lord. Tells his elect to seek the Lord. Who's he talking
to in this book? Is he talking to the person who has no interest
in this book? No, he's talking to the people who can understand
this book. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit,
neither can he know them, nor discern them, because they are
spiritually discerned. There is none that understand it. There
is none that seek it. They are all gone away. They are all together
to come unproblemed. That's what we added to Zebra.
There is nothing, there is none that doeth good. Not one. Man's throat is an open separator. With their tongues they have
used deceit to bind us. The poison of ash is under their
lips. They kill with their words. They slay with them. Their mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. Man, that could read like a headline
in today's world, couldn't it? This is a bitter world. People
are bitter about everything, except for the child of God.
Destruction and misery are in their ways. I know people talk
about making this world a better place and making mother earth
a better place. I can't get better. It was good once. It was good
and very good once. It was perfect once. It was as
fine as fine could be in a place called the Garden of Eden. And
man got on that. And it's been on a downhill run
ever since. Like a giant juggernaut racing the pace at high speed
down to the bottom of the ravine. This is where the world's headed.
Things shall wax worse and worse. The law of many shall wax cold,
and so it is. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. The way of peace have they not
known? There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's the
description of these people. So faith knows that there's nothing that could have anything to do
with our salvation. It has to be a work of God. Secondly,
faith believes and is sure that keeping the lawful righteousness
to stand except before God cannot produce salvation. Faith understands
that. And those who say we must go
to the lawful righteousness, they don't have faith. It's that
simple. Not God giving. Verse 19-22 it
says, Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, that saith
unto the law, that every mouth might be stopped, and all the
world might become guilty before God. Therefore, that being the
case, therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now, The righteousness of
God, without men keeping the law, is manifest, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, and all the law and the prophets
get witness of what? The Lord Jesus Christ. Even the
righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Christ, which
is a phrase that means the work of Christ, you see that phrase,
the faith of Christ? I'm not talking about his belief,
I'm talking about his work, Paul uses that all the way through
all of his principles is that phrase, the faith of Christ.
Unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference
for all has sinned and come short of the Lord God. Faith excludes
human merit and works for righteousness and salvation and will have nothing
to do with the law. Because getting back under the
law makes me guilty, not only guilty. Thirdly, faith believes and is
sure that no one but God deserves and possesses glory for the work
of salvation. We've all come short of the glory
of God. We've all come short, but God's
glory is involved in the salvation of his people. In fact, that's
where he gets his greatest glory. Faith excludes all nature, all
humanity, even at its best state, from achieving the mark of God's
glory. I am lifted up to sin. Fourthly, faith believes and
is sure that the blood of Christ's sacrifice alone satisfy the just
demands of God. Faith believes that. How do I
stand before God except because Jesus Christ died in my room
instead? That's the only reason. That alone justifies me. Nothing
else justifies me, not anything. I do or can't be in faith. That's
what faith believes. Why? Because that's what the
word says. Verses 24 through 26 says you can be justified
freely. You can't be justified by the works of the law, but
you can be freely justified. And the elect have been freely
justified without a cause. That's what that word freely
means. Without a cause for you, you didn't cause this justification.
Freely justified what? By His grace. His unmerited favor
through the price of your salvation being paid, the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus. What redemption is, that's to
do with a mercantile exchange, whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
or rather to set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sin. He's righteous. God is righteous to put away
sin. but he can't just do it he can't
just say well sin be gone because he's God sin must be punished
he's holy but he says this he declares
that he's righteous in the remission of sin without the shedding of
blood there is no remission of sin it says in hebrews chapter
9 And then in Hebrews chapter 10 it says, where the perfect
sacrifice of Christ was offered that perfected forever them that
are sanctified, there is no more sacrifice for the remission of
sins. So sins have been remitted. How
is he righteous? By the blood of Christ. Righteous
is the remission of sins that are passed through the four barracks
of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just. and justifier of him that believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith excludes anything but the
blood of propitiation, as the declaration of God's righteousness
is the forgiveness of sin, the satisfaction of justice, and
that which enabled God to be just when he justifies those
whom he has given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If faith believes and ensures
that the scheme of saving a mad soul All boasting of human participation,
all boasting of human merit is excluded. I like that word, just
exclude. You know, I can't brag about,
no, that's excluded. I mean, I can't talk about my
free will. No, that's excluded. I can't talk about my decision.
No, that's excluded. I can't talk about walking down
an aisle. No, that's excluded. I can't talk about my faith.
No, that's excluded. All you can talk about is what
accomplished your salvation. This is what faith does. It says
in verse 20, where is most thing then? It isn't true. By what law? Words? No. But by the law of faith. By the law of faith. Faith further believes and ensures
that human merit by any act of natural man is excluded. That
is to say that even faith is not a work of humanity because
the exclusion of law of works is also the exclusion of faith
as a work. The law of faith is that absolute
principle that embraces that all glory belongs to God The justification is the act
of God conditioned upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ,
delivered to God's elect by sovereign grace through regeneration and
faith by the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Sixthly, the believer then concludes that a man is
justified by faith without the works of the law. Justified by
faith. What does that mean? Does our
faith justify us? No, faith excludes itself as
a word. It does that. And thus justification
is an order of the law. What does it mean that we are
justified by faith? It simply means that God gives
his people this wondrous thing called faith. Invisible, unprovable,
strong as iron. This specialty of whereby they
are able or unable to believe and do believe that all salvation
was accomplished by God and that they were saved, redeemed, justified,
sanctified, and accepted before the hearing of the gospel and
the forming of the faith. Faith believes that. No wonder
it's foolishness to the world. And faith finally excludes all
efforts to establish the law and personal performance of it.
and its requirements and its work of setting men up to grace,
faith itself. Only by believing the gospel,
the proclamation of salvation is not accomplished by anything
you do, any law you keep. Only by the person and work of
Jesus Christ, only by faith is the law established. We believe
that the law is established. Why? Because we believe that
it is absolutely necessary that the law be satisfied in our case.
We believe it is absolutely necessary for justice to be satisfied in
our case. We believe that the blood of
Christ is bad. So we say the law is holy and
good. I'm bad, it's good, but it's
satisfying. So we establish the law by believing
the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't establish a law by keeping
the law, but by believing Christ fully and kept it and honored
it completely and satisfied it is just to man. Faith in the
blood of Christ is the exclusion of all things in nature and believing
that all things are of God. So we go back to the words that
the Lord spoke to his disciples. Only believe. Don't do anything
else. He didn't say only believe. He said only believe. Don't do
anything else. Believe on the one Jesus Christ.
That is a miracle of Christ that you can do. Father bless us to
understand Christ. Amen.