[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:14] Take your Bibles if you would and open them to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. And we will read in Romans chapter 3. We're going to talk today about being justified by faith.
[0:26] Being justified by faith without the law. Being justified by faith without the law. And I want to show you the most exciting news in the world.
[0:37] Today we are saved, justified, declared righteous without the works that we do. But by the works of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope that by the time we get through this passage of scripture, you'll have things there in your Bible marked.
[0:51] And you'll study and you'll learn. And you'll be able to apply them to your life. And you'll have an answer for your faith. And you'll have an anchor in the Word of God. Please open your Bible to Romans 3.
[1:02] You can keep it open there. I know I'll go other places. You can make notes in the margin of your Bible. Or on a sheet of paper. But at least keep it open so you can read and know that what we're doing is coming from the Word of God.
[1:13] Look at Romans 3.21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
[1:24] Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[1:37] Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, and to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.
[1:53] To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then?
[2:04] It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
[2:17] Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeking as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith.
[2:29] Do we then make void the law of God? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. Father in heaven, I pray that you would make this passage of scripture come alive.
[2:40] Help me to explain it in a clear way and help our people to understand it. Help us to bring it into our heart. Help us to know today that we are saved.
[2:51] If we are saved and we are born again, it is by a divine work. It is by what you have done. It is not by what we do. We can have security of our salvation. We can be sure that we're saved because of the work that you did on Calvary.
[3:06] I thank you for being a just God. I thank you for being a justifier. And I thank you so much for the privilege I have of serving you. And I give you praise and honor for all you do in Jesus name.
[3:16] Amen. If you have your Bible open, just a real quick review that you might underline. In verse 21, underline the righteousness of God. No words, it's not about your righteousness, but about his righteousness, about him being right.
[3:31] Verse 22, underline the righteousness of God. And then it comes by, look at it, the faith of Jesus Christ. It comes by the faith of Jesus Christ.
[3:42] Then skip down, if you would, to verse 26. Probably ought to put some stars here, point some arrows at it. He is the just and the justifier.
[3:52] What a tremendous truth. He is honest. He is true. He is right. He is holy. He always does what's right. He always does what's correct. And yet he saves sinful man.
[4:04] And the way he does that is by allowing Jesus to take our sin debt, by putting our sin debt on Jesus. Look at verse 28. You ought to mark this verse. We conclude.
[4:15] Man, we've been in Romans chapter one. We started chapter two, chapter three. And week after week, we've talked about it. And now we come to a conclusion. And the apostle Paul says, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we've figured it out.
[4:28] We've come to the conclusion. We've reached the answer. We've understood. We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
[4:39] We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. So let me go through some things with you. If you take notes, if you write things down, write down the word justification.
[4:51] That's what we're talking about. Justification. That is the act whereby God declares the believing sinner righteous in Christ on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross.
[5:03] It's where God looks at the cross. It's where God looks at a sinner like us and says, I say, I declare, I name you righteous. Not because of what you did. Not because of who you are.
[5:15] Not because you are righteous. But because Jesus Christ paid your sin debt. And I will say, I will declare, I will make you righteous. We are righteous by the work of Jesus Christ.
[5:27] That's justified. He says, you are right. You are justified by the work of Jesus Christ. It's an act, not a process. You need to write that down somewhere.
[5:38] Justification is not a process where God slowly gets you justified. He one day says, done, you are justified. Done, you are saved.
[5:51] Done, you are right. Done, you're going to go to heaven. There aren't degrees in justification. There's nobody in this room that could say, well, I'm a little more justified than he is.
[6:01] No, you were a sinner and one day you got saved and he said, I declare you righteous. Now, there's differences in sanctification. There's differences in the steps that we're taking and the growth that we're showing as we become more and more like him.
[6:16] Justification is something done by God, not by man. None of us could ever make ourselves right with God. No sinner could justify himself before God. Justification is a legal matter.
[6:29] It's when God says, I say you are right. He puts the righteousness of Christ on our records and he places our sinfulness on his record.
[6:40] That's what happened when we got saved. God reached over and he said, this is all the sin Austin's committed. He is a wicked and horrible guy and he ought to go to hell forever. He deserves it because he has sinned against the holy God.
[6:52] But here is a perfect and wonderful, righteous, blameless, sinless son of God. And I will take what Jesus did and I'll put that on Austin's account and I'll take all of Austin's sins and I'll put them on Jesus's account.
[7:05] And Jesus will pay his sin debt. And Austin, you are now righteous. Not based on what you did, but based on what Jesus did. Based on what Jesus did. And by the way, nobody can change the record.
[7:18] Nobody can change the record. He did it. It's done. We're saved. Not by us, but by him. Can you say amen right there? Now, let me give you a few things you might write down in the margin of your Bible.
[7:29] Chapter three, verse 21. You might write down the word merit. Getting right, getting saved, being justified is not based on merit. It's not based on merit.
[7:40] Verse 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law, without the law is manifested, is shown, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
[7:51] And by the way, being witnessed by the law and the prophets is the apostle Paul says, hey, I can show you this in the Old Testament. This isn't something new I'm cranking out. This isn't something new I'm making up.
[8:02] This isn't a New Testament doctrine like it's never been heard of before. Hey, even in the Old Testament, it's clear that the only way to be right with God is for God to do a work in your life.
[8:12] So, righteousness was not based on the law. It was without the law. Listen to Galatians 2.21. Maybe you could write that in the margin of your Bible right here. I do not frustrate the grace of God.
[8:25] For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Listen to this. If you could do right, if you could obey enough rules, if you could go to heaven based on what you do, then there would be no reason for Jesus to have died.
[8:39] He died because you couldn't do it. He died because we couldn't do it. And Paul said in Galatians 2.21, I do not frustrate the grace of God.
[8:50] Nothing you did and nothing you do will please God to salvation. In Philippians chapter 3, just remember this and maybe make a mark there to remember that.
[9:00] Go look up Philippians chapter 3 later. The apostle Paul, before he knew Christ, said this. I was born right. I was circumcised right. I was of the right group of people. I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
[9:11] And if you want to talk about being a rules keeper, if you want to talk about obeying the commandments, I was blameless. I didn't do wrong. I did not do wrong. I kept the law.
[9:22] I kept the rules. If you recall, a rich young ruler came to Jesus one day and he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord said, obey the commandments. And he said, well, good on that one.
[9:32] Been doing it all my life. Never have messed up. I'm in good shape. They had a very strong misconception. They thought that you could be saved by what you do. Sounds like something we might think here, but you can't.
[9:45] It's not what you do. It's what Jesus does. Let me show you what the Bible says the law does for us. Let me show you what the Bible says that the rules, the commandments, the law does for us.
[9:58] If you would note there Romans chapter 4 verse 15. That's right. Close. Look it up. Romans chapter 4 verse 15. The law worketh. What's the word?
[10:08] Can you help me? The law worketh wrath. The law worketh wrath. You know what happens? Hey, when you see the law, God says, I told you what not to do and you did what I said not to do.
[10:20] And that makes me angry. You disobeyed. The law doesn't bring grace. The law brings wrath. Galatians chapter 3 verse 10.
[10:31] Maybe you'll write that one down there. It says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Write that down. As many as are under the works of the law are under the curse.
[10:43] If you say, I'm going to go to church. I'm going to keep the commandments. I'm going to be a good guy. I'm going to do all the right stuff. I'm going to, man, I'm going to do everything. I'm going to be right down the line. I'm going to just do right.
[10:53] I'm a good guy. He said, you are cursed. You are under the curse. He says, for it's written in the Old Testament. It's written in the Old Testament. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of law to do them.
[11:08] I'll read verse 11 to you in just a second. But would you notice what it says in verse 10? What if you did real good on 99% of the law? What if you kept 99%? Here's what the Old Testament said to you.
[11:20] If you mess up on one part, cursed. You can't mess up on anything. You either get it all right or it's all wrong. You can't get it mostly right. It's all, it's a pass or fail.
[11:32] It's either you pass or you fail. You either did it or you didn't. You can't have part of it. He said, you have to continue in all things. Why don't you write that down? Hey, I obeyed my parents almost all the time.
[11:44] Not good enough. I hardly ever told a lie. You told a lie then. I hardly ever killed a guy. Well, if you killed one, you killed a guy. That's exactly what he's saying.
[11:55] He said, you got to continue in all things. In verse 11, look at what he said in Galatians 3, 11. But that no man, no man is justified by the law in the sight of God.
[12:08] It's evident the just shall live by faith. Now look this way just a second. What about Gandhi? Hey, what about Mother Teresa? Hey, what about all the good people that ever lived? What about Billy Graham?
[12:19] How many of them are okay in God's eyes because they were good people? And here's his answer. None. None. No man is ever justified because he did good.
[12:31] No man is justified by the law. Not in the God's sight. You might say, well, he was too good to go to hell. He's all right with me. And God would say, that's fine. Whatever y'all think. You can vote the way you want. But I said, he ain't good enough.
[12:42] And I'll just sum it up for you. The just shall live by what? The just shall live by faith. Salvation comes by grace. Not what you do.
[12:54] And write it down in the margin of your Bible right there. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Something that you ought to memorize if you haven't memorized. Look at Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. And remember this. For by grace are you saved through faith.
[13:06] And that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Not of works. Lest any man should boast. How does a man get saved? For by grace are you saved.
[13:16] Would you repeat that with me? Put that back up 2, 8 please there, Brother Micah. Look at it. Read that with me. Are you ready? For by grace are you saved through. And that not of.
[13:27] It is a what? It's a gift of God. And why does God want to do that? Look at verse 9. Not of. Lest any man should boast.
[13:38] Can you imagine some of the people in this room. You have been really big givers. Boy you've given so much money to God. You could easily be walking around going. I got here to heaven because I gave 10 trillion dollars.
[13:49] I am a good guy. And there's other people in this room saying man I have taken care of widows and orphans. And I'm a good guy. And everybody would be walking around up in heaven saying hey how'd you get here? This is the NFL Hall of Fame.
[13:59] How many touchdowns did you make? How many points did you make? How many great things did you do? And it would be a whole big room of nothing but arrogant boastful proud people. But the truth is nobody's going to get to heaven that way.
[14:12] Not of works lest any man should what? Boast. He said hey that's not the way it works. It's not the way it works. Titus chapter 3 verse 5. Another verse you ought to write in the margin here.
[14:22] Titus chapter 3 verse 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done. Not by works of righteousness which we have done. But according to his.
[14:33] You got the verse behind me. But according to what? According to his mercy he saved us. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. We didn't get saved by what good stuff we did.
[14:44] None of us in this room are going to say. Hey it was down by the little old creek. By the little old church. By the little creek out in the country. And the Holy Ghost of God came on me. And I just felt God working in me.
[14:55] And I've been such a good guy. And I've done so many good things. And that's the day I made my decision. I got baptized by the best preacher in the world. Number one preacher. So he baptized me. And you start bragging about anything you've done.
[15:05] He's going to say hey it's not by works of righteousness which we have done. That's what caused us all to humility. Every one of us step in here and we say I'm saved and I'm born again. But I didn't deserve a bit of it.
[15:16] I got saved by grace. No bragging here. I got saved by grace through faith. No bragging here. In Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16.
[15:29] Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. You are not justified by the works of the law. But by faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.
[15:43] And not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Now let me just stop a second and say. Listen to this real quick would you? It's not merit. It's not merit.
[15:54] It's not what you have done. The reason some of you are always worried about losing your salvation. Is you always focus on the wrong guy. You keep wondering did I do enough? Did I pray the right prayer?
[16:06] Did I say the right thing? Did I do the right thing? Do I know the right thing? Am I good enough? And I'll give you the answer. No. No. No. No. You stink. You stink in every one of those questions.
[16:17] You weren't good enough. You couldn't pray good enough. It wasn't what you did. It's the goodness of our God. Who saves us when we trust what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary. By the way the apostle Paul said.
[16:30] Hey by the way this is witnessed by the prophets. And I'll just give you one verse. But in Psalm chapter 32 and verse 1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Whose sin is covered.
[16:40] Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. And in whose spirit there is no guile. Listen to this. Every time in the Old Testament that they offered a sacrifice. They were showing that they weren't able.
[16:52] And it had to be a blood sacrifice. In the Garden of Eden they sinned against God. And a little lamb died. And skins were provided to cover the nakedness of those people. In the book. In the from the starting in the book of Exodus.
[17:04] And on the law was given. And when the law was given. They couldn't keep the law. So they had a day of atonement. And on the day of atonement they came forward. And it was stated. Hey you messed up. You can't be good enough.
[17:14] And they'd all come forward. Scared to death. We have sinned against the holy God. And God said. But I have provided a sacrifice for you. And that's what happens to us when we get saved.
[17:25] We realize that. The story of Abraham will follow in Romans chapter 4 in just a minute. And it's going to take you right back to the Old Testament. Because Paul says. You Jews think.
[17:35] It's by your good works. You think it's by what you do. You think it's by how hard you work. You think it's because you got circumcised on the right day. Because you eat all the right foods.
[17:45] Because you don't go to the wrong places. Because you always do good stuff. And you think that's what it's about. And he said. But let me tell you about how Abraham got saved. By the way. Abraham got saved before there ever was a law.
[17:56] He got saved before there ever was a law. We'll see that in Romans chapter 4. But in Romans chapter 4 in verse 1. He says. What shall we say then? That Abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh.
[18:07] What did Abraham the founder of our nation find out? Verse 2. For if Abraham were justified by works. He has whereof to glory. But not before God.
[18:19] For Abraham. For what says the scripture? Abraham. Help me. What does it say? Abraham what? Abraham believed God. And it was counted. He was declared.
[18:30] Abraham believed God. And God said. I'll call that saved. It was God doing a work. Before I leave the merit one. You might write this down somewhere. But salvation and Christianity are not performance based.
[18:45] But faith based. Salvation and Christianity are not performance based. But faith based. None of us go to heaven because of what we do.
[18:59] Or what we have done. Fact is you won't go to hell because of what you've done. You go to hell because you wouldn't trust Jesus and believe what he did on the cross of Calvary.
[19:10] Second thing I'd like you to see. The second thing I'd like you to see. Go to Romans chapter 3 and verse 22. The means is faith in Christ. How do you get saved then?
[19:22] If justification is not by the works. If it's not by my merit. If it's not by what I do. Then how can I be saved? How can I get right with God? How can I get to God?
[19:33] How can it happen? Well it says in verse 22. Romans 3 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by what? Help me now. It is by what?
[19:44] Faith of who? Jesus Christ. Unto how many? Upon all. And upon all them that believe for there is no what? It is by faith. He said hey you want to get the righteousness of God?
[19:57] You can start today and say man I am going to be the most righteous and holy guy. I am going to afflict my flesh. I'm going to fast and pray. I'm not going to do anything that anybody could ever question or doubt.
[20:10] And he would say that's not how you get there. That's not the means to God. The means to God is by Jesus Christ. It's the faith of Jesus Christ. Underline it in verse 22.
[20:21] It's the faith of Jesus Christ. I don't care if you're a Jew. And I don't care if you're a Gentile. There's no difference. It's through the faith of Jesus Christ. Now let me say this.
[20:32] Listen to this quickly. It's not believing God either. You're liable to say well people everywhere believe in God. But believing in God gets nobody to heaven. The devils believe and tremble.
[20:44] James chapter 2 in verse 19. Thou believest that there is one God? Well you're doing good. The devil also believe and tremble. The devils also believe and tremble. It is trusting in Jesus Christ.
[20:57] It is not God. The Muslims have God. The Hindus have gods. It's not God. It is Jesus Christ. The means of salvation is the person of Jesus Christ.
[21:11] In John 14 6. Jesus said unto them. I am the way. The truth. And the life. No man comes to the father but by me. So you might say well I know a guy.
[21:23] He really loves God. And he believes God. But he don't believe in Jesus like we believe in God. Or like we believe in Jesus. Here's what I'd say to you. Well our Jesus said he's the way. He's the truth. He's the life.
[21:34] And nobody gets to God but by him. He's the means. He's the means. He's the way you get saved. True faith. Let me give you some definitions of true faith real quickly.
[21:45] It is obeying God. True faith is obeying God. Romans chapter 6 in verse 17. The Bible says. But God be thanked that you were the servants of sin. But you have obeyed from the heart.
[21:57] That form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. It is. Austin you're not good enough. Excuse me God. You're not good enough. You want to get saved. Quit trusting you and start trusting God. Start trusting what Jesus is doing on the cross.
[22:09] Yes sir I'll obey. I'll trust Jesus. You obey the truth. You obey the truth. And the truth is. Trust Jesus. And what he does on the cross.
[22:20] True faith is not an emotional feeling. There are going to be feelings. But we grew up in the. Man we grew up in the southeast. Released. And you know real salvation is when you get.
[22:30] When you get goosebumps all over you. Real salvation is when you cry a lot. Or you shout a lot. Or you run a lot. But real salvation is not about your emotions. Real salvation is not about you. You'll have emotions.
[22:41] But that's not it is. Real salvation is understanding the truth. About Jesus Christ. And believing it in your heart. Real salvation is about understanding the truth about Jesus.
[22:53] And believing it in your heart. Look if you would at Romans 10 13. Write that down. Maybe in the margin of your Bible. And you can watch on the screen. But watch this. Romans chapter 10 and verse 13. For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[23:05] Is that true? Yeah it's true. Isn't that wonderful? Anybody. Anywhere can call on the name of the Lord. But. There's some clauses that go with that. That make something clear. It's not just saying.
[23:16] Hey Jesus I believe you. Look what it is. Look if you would. In Romans chapter 10. Look if you would. In verse 10. Chapter 10 verse 14. Well how shall they call on him in whom they have not.
[23:28] How shall they call on him in whom they have not what? Believed. And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Now here's what is going on.
[23:40] Anybody anywhere who will call on the name of Jesus will be saved. But you can. Hey I lived in Peru. Man they named their kid Jesus. I have baptized Jesus many times.
[23:50] I have baptized Mary many times. I have baptized Jesus Mary. I mean a man with the name Jesus Mary. I was like man which one of your names do you want to go by? Jesus Mary.
[24:00] Jesus Maria. I mean I baptized. Hey they worked at a store called the Holy Spirit Pharmacy. I mean I. But you. Knowing the name's not it. You see it's whoever calls.
[24:12] But the call has to be based on what? Look at it. What's the call got to be based on? You cannot call on him unless you have believed. You cannot call on him unless you have believed. You cannot believe on him unless you have heard.
[24:25] And you cannot hear about him unless somebody tells you about Jesus Christ. Salvation. The means is Jesus Christ. That's why you come here and we open this book and we read from it every week.
[24:38] And we study it every week. Because faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. And so we'll study the Bible and preach the Bible and teach the Bible. Till we can learn the Bible.
[24:49] And they obeyed in verse 16. Look at verse 17. Romans 10 17. So then faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. Salvation is of the grace of God.
[25:04] The grace of God. That's a beautiful fantastic word that you hear a lot. But look what it says in Romans chapter 3 verse 24. You got your Bible open there? In Romans chapter 3 and verse 24.
[25:15] Being justified freely by his. Now help me with the verse. You got your Bible open. Read with me. Being justified costing how much? Being justified how? Excuse me.
[25:26] Being justified how? Freely. Being justified freely. How do we get to survive freely? By his grace. Through the redemption that is in who? Boy it's all Christ Jesus.
[25:39] Boy it's all Christ Jesus. Jesus is the one who saves us. Jesus is the one who paid the sin debt for us. Jesus is the way to God. Jesus is who we're trusting. It's a gift. Not something we earn.
[25:51] It's not something we achieve or accomplish. The law shows how perfect God is. Jesus is the one who saves us. And how wicked we are. And grace is God giving us his righteousness.
[26:03] Redemption is Jesus paying the price for our sins. You must come to God knowing that you could never save yourself. Only Jesus can.
[26:14] You believe what he says about paying your sin debt. And trust that he's done so. I just let me. I want to throw two things at you. Because this is where Baptists get in trouble. Almost all of you would say.
[26:24] Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. We know you have to believe in Jesus. But you also have to get baptized. We know you have to believe in Jesus. But you also have to be faithful to the church services. We know you have to believe in Jesus.
[26:36] But you have to live a godly life. And that's not what he's saying. He said, no, you get saved by trusting Jesus. You trust Jesus.
[26:49] You don't add anything to that. You don't take anything away from that. There is no merit in anything that you do. God doesn't need your help. God doesn't look down from heaven and say, man, I almost got you saved.
[27:01] If you can just give that one extra push, I'll get you through. God looks down and says, you can't push. I'll just pull you through. It's God who does the saving. Number three, the promises to all mankind.
[27:15] Look, if you would, in verse 22. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto, how many? Unto, help me now, unto all and upon all them that believe.
[27:28] For there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So everybody's already done pickle. Verse 23, everybody's sinned. Everybody's messed up. Nobody's in good shape.
[27:38] Nobody can get to God. It's impossible. Nobody can get to God. And so God says, well, y'all can't get here. So I'll send Jesus to die. So that all, anywhere, anybody can be saved by trusting Jesus Christ.
[27:52] Salvation is for all that believe. All that believe. And there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, man or woman. In Acts 13, 39, your Bible says, and by him, all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
[28:12] You couldn't get justified by the law of Moses. You couldn't get justified by the law of Moses. If you'd have gone to the law and said, law, tell me how to get there. The law would have looked at you and said, well, if you've never lied, we can start talking.
[28:23] Well, I've already lied. Okay, fried. Well, I hadn't lied, but I mean, I hadn't lied. Well, have you ever disobeyed your parents? Once or twice.
[28:37] Okay, fried. You're out of here. There's no help there. The law helps you not. It's all Jesus. All that come to him will be saved. In John 6, 37, all that the father gives me shall come to me.
[28:50] And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. No one is so evil that they can't be saved. Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[29:02] All. He died for all. All that believe will be saved. Knowing that it is for all who believe, we should tell everyone and beg God to work in their hearts. You ought to know right now that I don't care who they are, what color they are, what language they speak, what social level.
[29:17] I don't care what kind of past they have. He loves them all. And they can all be saved. Number four. Go with me to Romans 3, 24. Got your Bible open there?
[29:28] Romans 3, 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.
[29:43] Mercy seat. That's where the propitiation was offered. A mercy seat. Propitiation. We're going to learn those two words real quickly. A propitiation. A mercy seat.
[29:54] That's where it happened. The words he uses are that the price he paid. A propitiation. A redemption. And blood. In 1 Peter 1, 18. The Bible says, No, you were not redeemed with corruptible things, rotting things, things of no value like silver and gold.
[30:11] From your vain, worthless, empty way of living, vain conversation received from the, by tradition from your fathers. but you were redeemed with the precious blood of christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish the propitiation is the satisfying of god's holy law by meeting its just demands so that god can freely forgive those who come the bible says in first timothy 2 5 there is one god and one mediator between god and men the man christ jesus who gave himself a ransom for all who gave himself a payment for all to be testified in due time in hebrews 10 10 it says by the which we all we we are sanctified through the offering of the body of jesus christ once and for all for by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified redemption is him purchasing the sinner and setting him free all this is pictured on the day of atonement on the day of atonement they came and they knew they had sinned they knew they'd failed god they had all these rules hanging above their head heavy heavy hanging over their head obey obey obey obey and every time they came they knew we didn't obey we might have did real good but we didn't do good enough we might have kept the majority but we didn't keep them all and they would all come together and on that day on that day a lamb would be slain to pay for their sins and that lamb's blood would be shed and actually that lamb's blood would be taken in and placed on the mercy seat and the mercy seat was like a golden cover over where the law was laid here's the law this is the demands of the law and you obey the law or you die and so what happened was the priest offered a lamb and brought that blood of that lamb and placed it on that mercy seat and said they couldn't but the lamb could they didn't but the lamb paid the debt and mercy was found by the sin payment being made through jesus christ on the day of atonement found in luke chapter 16 one goat was killed and his blood taken to the holy of holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat the golden cover of the over the on the ark over the stones of tablets of the law the blood met the demands of the law then the priest put his hands on a second goat and he confessed their sins over them and that was taken into the wilderness and set that lamb or that goat free now watch this would you please watch this all through your old testament paul said it's been testified in the old here's how it was testified every year they messed up you've been messing up you've been messing up if you look back on your past could you be honest how many of you have ever said stuff like this i will not lie again but you lied again didn't you how many of you have said i will not cheat again but you cheated again how many you said i will not get angry without a cause again but you got angry again you have tried to do right but you can't do right well thank god for the grace of god through jesus christ that saves us and those jews they said we can't man we try god we try we do our best to keep your rules and they said but we can't and he said i know you can't let's take a lamb and let that lamb die for you and they took that blood it satisfied god that's exactly what was happening that lamb was a picture of jesus christ but there was a second goat in the story and on the second goat they prayed and put their sin on his head it was a symbol we they confessed their sins as they had their hands on his head and then that goat was taken way out in the in the desert to separate their sin from them like god separates our sin from us when god looks at us he doesn't see our sin he sees his holiness because our sins are separated us from us as far as the east is from the west that's how far he has taken our transgressions away from us psalm chapter 103 and verse 12 when we sin we can pay for our sin with our own blood or the blood of a substitute can take our place now you listen what i'm going to tell you sin demands blood you will pay for your failure or somebody else will and here's what god did
[34:19] started showing it to us in genesis 3 15 and showed it to us all through the old testament you failed you well we've gone through some dark chapters haven't we i mean in rome i have really every sunday i've come to you over the last few weeks as we've gone through romans 1 and romans 2 and the first part of romans 3 and i've been like man they're gonna think it's nothing but dark dark dark dark they're gonna think it's nothing but bad bad bad because god kept saying you you're bad you're bad you're bad you're bad you're bad but we're to romans 3 21 now and here's what he says you are bad but i paid your sin debt you are bad and you deserve to go to hell but i died in your place you could never do it yourself but i did and that's the story of what happened somebody died in my place number five the mediator was how god could be just and justifier this has got to be one of the most beautiful things in your bible romans chapter 3 and verse 25 whom god has sent forth to be propitiation the payment the payment for our sin the the bore the penalty through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of god god's long suffering god's patience to declare i say at this time his righteousness that he might be the just and the justifier because i've got very little time and still got more to cover and i'll just try to save some of it but watch this you come before god and god and his holiness the bible describes jesus with eyes of fire they can see slap through you they can see every thought you've ever had they can see every failure you've had i mean he's not got x-ray vision he's got vision stronger than that he can see everything and the just holy god of heaven sits on his throne and says not a sin around me not a sin around me i'm perfect and i'm holy and we come before him and there's no way how can god be just perfect righteous holy and never sin and at the same time save us how could such a perfect god save us and here's what he said i'll just go ahead and pay the debt myself because i could you could never do it and so the holy just god says y'all deserve to die and i would take your life i would send you to hell forever that's what you deserve but rather than that i will come down and i will be born of a virgin and i will be raised on the on the earth and i will go to the cross of calvary they'll pluck my beard strip me naked mock me spit on me and crucify me and i'll die for your sins and i will be just holy and perfect and i'll make you just and holy and perfect because i can do that because i am holy and perfect and i will die for sins i never committed he is the just first john 4 8 he is a god of love but in first john 1 5 he's a god of light he sees and he knows and there's no darkness in him his holiness demands should be met god wants to justify so he pays the price of our sins it's actually jesus down on the cross and it proves the righteousness and the goodness of god listen to this he doesn't sweep your sins under the carpet he doesn't just close his eyes and say i know you sin but i won't look that's not what he does he looks and says i see your sin i see your failure i see your wickedness and it's horrible so i'll pay the sin debt and i can be just and the justifier he's a great god of patience he's held off on giving us what we deserved and he's even taken on himself what we deserve and only those that believe in jesus will be justified now you listen to this and look this way he loves everybody everywhere and he wants everybody to be saved and i can show you verse after verse but don't you dare leave here thinking we're all covered because that way he'd never send anybody to hell that's not the story the story is not universalism
[38:26] not everybody's going to get saved only those that believe in jesus will you trust what jesus did and that's why that's why as he ends this chapter he says i we conclude that a man's justified by faith in verse 28 and then they say well is he the god of the jews only or is he the god of the gentiles and aren't you trying to break the law it sounds to me like you're saying the law is not important and paul said no i'm showing you the law is important and i'm showing you no one could ever keep the law but jesus and jesus kept the law and you can be saved by what jesus did on the cross of calvary and he establishes the law and it leaves us with no room for boasting look if you would in romans chapter three romans chapter three in verse 30 no verse 27 where is boasting it's excluded but how did it get excluded by the law no of works no but by the law of faith so when listen to me i'm through but listen to me when we stand before god here's going to be our story they're going to say you've always heard them tell you this what would you say to peter to get into heaven when you stand before peter and you're going to get first off you don't stand before peter jesus is a door not peter but if you want to use that illustration if you were to stand before peter and peter would say what gives you a right to get into heaven here's what you'd say i have no rights i never did anything to make me worthy but i come in the name of jesus christ who died on the cross and paid my sin debt well what good did you do i didn't do any i just trust jesus and what he did and peter will say i that's how i got here too buddy by the way you won't get to heaven and the apostle paul will be walking around going i'm the best christian here paul will be walking everyone i was the chief of sinners and he saved me and you'll look at him and say yeah me too yeah me too i didn't deserve it i'm saved because i serve a wonderful savior i'm saved because i serve a wonderful god that doesn't break the law it proves the law the law had a purpose to say you sinned you need jesus and we got saved and said we know we sinned and we know we need jesus and today we trust jesus have you trusted him do you know that you have seen yourself sick sinful weak unholy unable to get to god do you know that you have turned over leaf after leaf and that hadn't done any good you've had rear new year's resolution after new year's resolution you've tried and tried and it's never been enough to get to god it'll never be enough that's what the law says you can't you can't you can't but here's what grace says he did he did he did trust him the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord if you're not born again today i hope you'll trust jesus i hope you'll look at yourself and see your sinfulness and see your awfulness and see your failure of a holy and a perfect god and i hope you'll see a wonderful matchless beautiful awesome full of grace full of love and full of mercy god in jesus christ who did it all so you could be saved if you're not born again today trust jesus trust jesus go home knowing this it's jesus that saved you know for sure that nobody goes to heaven by how good they are nobody goes to heaven by good things they did everybody who gets saved will be saved because of what jesus did father in heaven i love you and i pray your name would be glorified and magnified and i just pray god that you'd save somebody this morning god i pray the holy spirit you would come down and convict them and show them their sin and god shake us up and make us realize that we failed you and help us today to trust jesus and what he did on the cross of calvary and i will give you praise for all you have done
[42:29] and all you are doing i ask you god to work save somebody today help people to trust you and believe you and to magnify jesus you have been listening to austin gardner pastor of vision baptist church for contact information location service times or more audio and video recordings log on to www.visionbaptist.com