Christmas Day. Hymn number 426. Go ahead and start there right on the 1st.
On the service, Lord, we sing Lord Jesus from your word. Jesus' name I pray.
For our next song, if you would, page to Hymn number 427.
We Three Kings of Orient are Hymn number 427.
Go ahead and start there right on the 1st.
We are year to date, soul-winning mystics. Upcoming events this Friday is the Yukon Christmas
Lights Fellowship evening. That's going to be at 6.30 at Chisholm Park. And so we're
looking forward to that. Then next Friday is the Ladies Christmas Party at 6.30 here
at the church building. December 19th will be Christmas caroling and we're going to meet
at 7 o'clock the neighborhood that we're going to be Christmas caroling at rather than coming
here and going all the way back over there. So we'll just meet on location for that at
7 o'clock and I'll send that location in our signal group. December 24th will be our kids
choir and our cookie bake off. The kids choir will be before service, cookie bake off after.
So looking forward to that. And then December 31st will be our New Year's Eve party. That's
a men's preaching night and food and fellowship, just all sorts of good stuff. And we've got
some stuff coming up in the first quarter of 2026 as well. Some really cool swimming
marathons. If you weren't here Sunday, we've got some awesome new maps over there. One
is of the state of Oklahoma and our goal is just to reach all the cities in Oklahoma that
have a thousand or more population first and then work on the towns after that. And then
of course we've got a lot to work, a lot of work to do over there on that map as well,
which would be the whole earth. But the way I look at it is that if God, Lord willing
gives us many decades of serving Him, we might as well just go full sin and try to do the
biggest work that we can. So we're excited for that. On the right we have our visitor
card information and our online giving as well as our prayer list. And praise God, Ms.
Whitney updated us that her mother's tumor scans were benign. So we're very happy to
hear that good news. And if you have any requests, please do email the church and we'll add that
for you. But before we go to our next song, let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer
as a church family. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to be in
church freely, to hear your word preached, to sing praise to your name. I pray that you
just bless all the different upcoming events we have in the month of December. Help us
to remember that Christmas is about your son. It's about serving you and help us not to
be carried away with covetousness or the cares of this world. Help us to keep our eyes focused
on you. I pray that you just keep everyone safe on the roads tomorrow with the incoming
storms. I pray also Lord that you just answer the prayer requests of our church members
according to your will. That you'd be with their needs. I pray that you'd bless Evangelist
Urbanic in the Philippines, Pastor Stuckey and all the great work that's being done over
there in that country Lord. Help us not to forget about them but consistently pray for
them Lord. We also want to thank you for the good news from Miss Whitney's mother. I just
pray that you would continue to bless her health and bless her life. I also pray for
my brother's safety on his combat deployment, that you bring him home safely to his family
God. I also want to pray for Theodore's mother, that you just bless her and her treatment.
And also we pray for the church members that we have here with unsaved loved ones, which
really is probably all of us God. I pray that you just help us to remember to be a witness
to our family Lord. I pray that you take advantage of the holiday season as perhaps people are
thinking about Christ more during this time of year. We pray also that you would just
bless this upcoming week, that you bless our service for you this weekend, the soul winning
and all that we do for your honor and glory in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right, this
time we'll go to our third song. Right, for our third song if you would take your hymnals
and turn to hymn number 429. Hark the herald angels sing hymn number 429. Go ahead and
start there right on the first. Hark the hymn number 429. The hymns are being passed through.
The Bible reads, "Vantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision?
Much every way chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For
what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar. As it is written, that thou mightest
be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our
unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous
who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world?
For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto His glory, why yet am
I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously reported, and as some
affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just. What then
are we better than they? No, and no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles
that they are all under sin. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There
is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone
out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable. That there is, there is none
that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher, with their tongues they
have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their
ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now we know that what things soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the
law that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 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 the law is manifest to being
witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference for
all of sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath 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, 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?
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.
Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by
faith and the uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid, yea, we establish the law.
Let's bow our heads for our prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you for this day.
We thank you for the praise before.
And we just ask that you bless our church.
We hope to do mighty work for you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Romans chapter three, if you remember where we're at in the book of Romans, Romans one,
the apostle Paul starts off of course with his salutation, his desire to see the Christians
at Rome.
He talks about the power of the gospel and the consequences of those that hate the gospel,
talking about reprobates.
In chapter two, he explains that the Jews who think they're better than the unsaved
Gentiles are not going to be excused, that they too are unsaved and they are not righteous
unless they believe in Christ, and it kind of culminates in chapter three where he gets
that quintessential verse, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
So he's building his case here.
So he starts in verse number one saying, "What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit
is there of circumcision?"
So he just got done just completely ripping against the Jews, explaining to them that
they're not righteous, they're unsaved, and in fact, they're not even the true Jews.
True Jews are those that are Jews inwardly, circumcision's not of the flesh when it comes
to the New Testament.
And so he asks this question, "Well then what advantage is it in being a Jew?
Are we just saying that they had no advantage whatsoever?
What profit is there of circumcision?"
His answer, notice verse two, "Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God."
So he's still acknowledging that hey, the Jews had a huge advantage, and you know, "To
whom much is given of him shall much be required."
And it is crazy to think that God sent his prophets to the nation of Israel, to the southern
kingdom of Judah, and he's super long-suffering with them.
He just sends them chance after chance after chance in the Old Testament.
And what does the Bible tell us that the prophets of the Old Testament were doing?
They were bearing witness, they were giving testimony of the coming Messiah, who is Jesus.
So it's not like the Jews were just completely in the dark, and all of a sudden Jesus shows
up on the scene.
It's just like, "We've never heard of a Messiah.
What are you talking about?
We had no idea."
No, those who actually believed the Bible, those who actually loved the Old Testament,
when Jesus showed up on the scene in John 1, they're like, "Hey, we found him, of whom
Moses and the prophets wrote Jesus."
Right?
When Jesus came on the scene, to those who actually loved truth, to those who were searching
the Scriptures, it was not a surprise, it was not a shock, they're saying, "Oh, this
is the fulfillment of all those prophecies."
And so today people act like, "Oh, the Jews, they have an excuse because they were expecting
something different, they were expecting Messiah to come and take over the world and establish
an earthly kingdom."
Well, that's their fault for not reading the Bible and for not believing the Bible because
that's not what it promises in the Old Testament.
Of course, the second coming of Christ, when He comes to reign on this earth, that's going
to be a different story, but at first He comes meek, He comes lowly, He comes not to be desired,
no beauty that we should see Him and desire Him.
So they had a great advantage because of the fact that they were committed, that to them
were committed the oracles of God.
Now, I think you could say the same thing of all of us in this room today in 2025, that
we have a great privilege and a great advantage given to us, I would say more so than even
the Jews of the Old Testament because we have the complete canon of scripture.
In the Old Testament, though it was clear enough to see who the Messiah was when He
came on the scene, I preached a whole sermon called Jesus the Messiah, just proving how
from the Old Testament, you know, Jesus fits all of the characteristics of the Messiah.
But, you know, we don't see through a glass darkly in the way that they did in the Old
Testament.
We have it just so plain given to us, and we get to understand so much more having the
New Testament.
And we ought to be thankful for that and not just squander the great blessings that we
have been given.
A lot of people just like to look to the past and think, "Oh, to live in the Old Testament
when great works were being done for God, when Elijah's performing miracles, when God's
splitting the Red Sea."
And we just look back in time and think, "That was the time to serve God.
That was the time you could do great things for Him."
Or man, to be one of Jesus' disciples, which, hey, that would be cool.
No doubt about that.
But you know what?
Peter said, he's like, "Hey, I saw Him.
I saw Him transfigured on the Mount."
But guess what?
We have a more sure word of prophecy.
So even better than seeing Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, we have the whole Word
of God.
So what a great advantage we have today.
People talk about white privilege, there's white privilege.
What else is there?
There's pretty privilege.
That's a true thing.
What else is there?
White privilege, you know, having all these advantages in life.
But you know what the best advantage we have is having the Word of God.
That is a real advantage that we have in life.
So he's not discounting, "Hey, even though I'm saying the Jews, they need to get saved.
The Jews are not God's chosen people.
They're not even true Jews anymore."
Hey, they still had a great advantage.
They still had a great advantage given to them being that they had the Word of God.
Verse three, "For what if some did not believe, shall their unbelief make the faith of God
without effect?"
Now, the Apostle Paul has a very deep love and loyalty for the Jews.
And he talks about elsewhere in Romans that he could wish himself a curse for Christ for
his brethren, his kinsmen, according to the flesh.
So I think it's kind of funny how he says, you know, what if some of them, what if some
did not believe?
You know, it's almost like he's downplaying that word "some" there, because really a lot
of them did not believe.
The vast majority of those that were Jews did not believe.
But he's asking this question, for what if some did not believe?
Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
I love that the Apostle Paul in Romans, he does what good preachers do, he anticipates
questions and he answers those questions before it could even be raised.
So this theoretical question, no one's really said this, he's not directly quoting someone,
but this is a good question.
"For what if some did not believe, shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?"
There are those who would say, "Oh, you're saying the Jews aren't saved?
You're saying the Jews aren't God's chosen people anymore?
So what are you saying?
Are you saying God's not faithful to his promise?
Are you saying God's not being trustworthy because he made a promise to Israel and that
promise was unconditional," which isn't true, but that's what they'll say, "that promise
was unconditional and it was an eternal covenant?"
And some people will say that, "Okay, well, if the Jews didn't believe and they're supposedly
God's chosen people, you're saying they're not anymore, then it's almost like you're
saying God isn't faithful, God is no longer faithful."
And he's kind of anticipating this question that we hear today, don't we hear the same
question today?
And he says, "God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar as it is written
that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged."
You say, hey, don't look at the fact that the Jews did not believe and start condemning
God and start being in judgment of God and acting like it's his problem.
No, the fact is, is that he offered it to him, he came unto his own, and his own received
him not.
You know whose fault that is?
The Jews.
It's not like God has not been good to the Jews in this world.
You know, because since rejecting Christ, they have been a cursed people, they have
been dispersed into the four corners of the earth, they have been without a nation, they
have been scored.
I mean, they're just an abomination in the sight of man in general.
But that's not because God was not long suffering with them and gave them all the opportunities
and gave them all the chances.
That was their own stupidity and wickedness to reject Christ, and they're reaping their
own what they've sown in that area.
It says, "Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar."
See, we should look at the story of the Jews, and instead of judging God, judge man's sinful
nature.
He says, "That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when
thou art judged."
Now, this is quoting, go to, if you would, keep your place there, to Psalm 51, Psalm
chapter 51.
The apostle Paul's quoting this, and this is a quote from David.
King David here is writing Psalm 51, let's start reading in verse number one.
He says, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from
mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my
sin is ever before thee.
So notice David's attitude is not that of condemning God, standing in judgment of God,
complaining, God, it's not fair, God, you didn't do enough for me.
David has an attitude of accountability for his sins, owning up to his own sinfulness
and asking God for mercy.
That is the heart of the type of person that gets saved.
That is the heart of the type of person when Jesus comes that actually accepts him.
He says in verse number four, "Against thee, the only have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight," notice this, "that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear
when thou judgest."
You know, I love that David wasn't one of these, some of these people just annoy me
so much that when they sin, they cannot just take accountability and just say, "I suck,
I'm the problem, but God is righteous, God's word is good, God's laws are perfect, and
you know what?
I have just fallen short."
Instead, what people like to do is they like to constantly make excuses for their sins,
right?
So the Jews today just have their plethora of excuses as to why they rejected the Messiah
instead of just saying like, "God, have mercy on me according to your loving kindness.
I was bad, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, I acknowledge my transgression."
Hey, that's the attitude they should have today.
I'm sorry, we rejected him, we set his blood beyond us and on our children.
Hey, Lord, please be merciful to us.
We accept you, we believe in you, we trust in you, but that's not what they do today.
They make excuses, they make excuses for why they don't believe in the Messiah.
And this is what wicked people do.
Today when people sin, they don't go and commit adultery and say, wow, I was an evil piece
of crap and adultery is super wicked and wrong.
And you know what?
I was wrong and I want to get right and I want to move forward in my life.
Look, there's some people that do that, but that's the vast minority of people.
Normally, you know what they're going to do?
They're going to say, well, you don't know how he treated me and you don't know the type
of wife that she was, and you don't know, I just deserve to be happy.
And I did it for this reason, and if you were in my position, you would understand what
are they doing?
They're just making excuses.
Instead of saying like, hey, let God be true and every man a liar.
Hey, when I sin, that's not God's fault.
I'm not going to sit in judgment of God's word and say, here's why it was too harsh.
Here's why my situation actually is the exception.
You just say like, I sinned.
I suck.
I was wrong.
I'm sorry, God.
Please forgive me.
Hey, renew that clean spirit in me.
Renew a right heart in me, restore unto me the joy of my salvation.
That's the right attitude to have.
But today, a lot of people don't have that attitude.
Go back to Romans chapter three.
When we sin, we're still supposed to look at God and say, yep, he's still just.
I was the one that was wrong.
That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
See, if you're going to try to judge God, he's always going to overcome.
You're going to always be the one that's found wanting.
He's going to overcome.
Verse five, then he asks another question, but if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness
of God, what shall we say?
Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?
I speak as a man.
He's saying, well, if we're unrighteous and every time we're unrighteous, all we're doing
is showing that God is righteous.
You see, following so far, he says, what shall we say?
Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?
He's saying, hey, if I sin, if I'm unrighteous, and at the end of the day, all that does is
show how holy and righteous and good God is, well then, is it fair for God to judge me?
Because all I'm doing, really, is just showing, yeah, the Bible's right, yeah, God's righteous
because I'm sinful, it's what the Bible says.
He's saying, is he wrong for judging me?
He's saying, I speak as a man.
He's like, this is man's wisdom.
These are stupid questions.
This is a dumb way of thinking.
He says, God forbid, for then, how shall God judge the world?
Hey, even though good can come from bad situations, and there
could even be evil that happens in this world,
and good can come out from that, that
does not mean that God just ceases to judge the evil.
God is always righteous in judging sin every single time.
He's saying, God couldn't judge anything, then,
if that attitude was legitimate.
Obviously, that's not going to be the case.
Verse 7, "For if the truth of God
hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory,
why yet am I also judged as a sinner?"
You know, if I go around lying, deceiving, dissembling
with my lips, and all that does, at the end of the day,
is it shows the truth of God, well, then,
who are you to sit and judge me, right?
How can you sit here and judge me for lying,
if all it does is make God look good?
And man, this is definitely a Jewish way of thinking,
because the Jews in the Talmud,
they're always coming up with different situations
to where you could sin.
And beware of people that are always trying to find you
the exception of when you could sin.
That's just weird.
You don't wanna go down that road.
Verse eight, "And not rather,"
you know what, I gotta take my watch off
'cause I'm getting blown up.
Probably some sodomite calling us, so.
All right.
"And not rather, as we be slanderously reported,
and as some affirm that we say,
let us do evil that good may come,
whose damnation is just."
And boy, boy, do we get this exact same false accusation
thrown at us today.
He's saying that there's these slanderers out there,
these liars that are going around and affirming
or saying that the apostle Paul is teaching,
let us do evil that good may come.
And if you've ever gone soul winning,
this accusation is gonna be thrown at your face.
Oh, so you're saying that we're all sinners
and because we can't earn our way to heaven,
we have to just put our faith in him
and accept, excuse me, a free gift
and just take his grace and get eternal life.
Oh, so what are you saying?
You just live however you want.
Oh, so what are you saying?
You could just go rob a bank and still go to heaven?
Oh, you could still steal and lie and still go to heaven?
Right, and of course you can still go to heaven,
but what's the accusation?
Oh, let us do evil that good may come, right?
That it's somehow good to go around and sin.
But you know what's funny?
It's a complete slander and it's a complete lie
because our church and other churches
that actually preach that salvation is free,
that it's of faith, that it's a free gift,
we're the ones that actually preach the hardest against sin.
We're the ones that actually have
the highest standards oftentimes
as compared to these work salvationists
that are at the front door chugging a beer,
telling you, "Yeah, you just gotta be a good person.
"Yeah, you just gotta, you know, not murder people."
What a high standard.
That's amazing.
Maybe we could be as righteous as you someday.
Whereas, no, we're just honest.
Like, hey, we do suck.
We are sinners.
God is just.
He's the one that's gonna overcome when he is judged.
Notice what he says.
He says, "Whose damnation," in verse eight,
"Whose damnation is just."
He's saying, man, these people are damned.
And God is just in damning these liars.
Because you know what?
People that would teach lies about the gospel,
just let them be damned.
Let them be accursed is what Galatians
chapter number one teaches.
He's saying, let these people be damned.
Their damnation is just.
You guys hear this thing still blowing up?
Get out of here.
We don't need to hear that anymore.
Verse number nine, what then?
Are we better than they?
No and no wise.
For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles
that they are all under sin.
He's coming to this conclusion here.
Hey, no one's righteous.
The Gentiles aren't righteous.
The Jews aren't righteous.
The liars aren't righteous.
Look, we are all sinners.
Verse 10, as it is written,
there is none righteous.
No, not one.
Then he kind of gets into describing humanity in general.
What is humanity like without Christ?
There's a lot of people
that have a lot of different ideas on this.
Even some of our founding fathers,
there's like a clash of ideology
between people are basically good
and people are just generally gonna do good.
And then the people who really started our country saying,
no, man is inherently evil
and man needs to be checked with checks and balances
because if you just let man run loose,
it's just gonna be hell on earth.
Okay, let's see what the Bible says.
There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God.
See, without God, you know people are stupid.
Without the Lord Jesus Christ, without the Bible,
people just don't have any understanding.
And basically, whatever is popular
in that person's day and age,
they will just blindly believe and follow.
That's humanity.
It says there's none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good.
No, not one.
This is a verse, the latter part of it.
I'm constantly quoting to people out soul winning
because they're constantly telling me,
"Hey, what do you gotta do to go to heaven?"
And they say, "Be a good person."
And I always tell these people,
"Hey, of course, God wants us to be good people.
"But here's the problem with that
"is that none of us are good people."
The Bible says that there's no one that's good.
Jesus said there's none good, but one, that is God.
Speaking of himself, and so this idea of,
"Oh, get to heaven by being a good person."
Okay, well, this just crossed out everyone though.
No one is a good person, but today people are prideful
and think too highly of themselves.
And you wanna know why people are prideful?
'Cause they're not reading this.
Because if you're reading the Bible,
it should constantly be checking you
and making you humble, realizing,
"Hey, I am not hot stuff.
"I'm not all that's cracked up to be.
"I'm constantly falling short."
Because there's none that do with good.
No, not one.
Verse 13, "Their throat is an open sepulcher."
I mean, that's some pretty vivid imagery there.
Thinking about walking in to an open sepulcher
and thinking about seeing the dead rotting bodies
and the decaying flesh and the bones
and the smell of death coming from that open sepulcher.
That's what man's throat is like, right?
Jude talks about how, hey, Christ's gonna come
and he's gonna judge all those ungodly sinners
for all their ungodly speeches,
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Why, 'cause man's throat is just like an open sepulcher.
Man is wicked and with the tongue, man is lying,
man is blaspheming, man is flattering,
man is doing all this evil with his throat, with his tongue.
With their tongues, notice they've used deceit, right?
So God doesn't look at someone who goes around being a liar
and says, this is a good example,
this is something that's good.
People that use deceit is an example of what
the unregenerate man is like.
Someone that goes around lying.
The poison of asps is under their lips.
You know, whenever there's a poisonous creature,
you wanna get as far away from that as possible.
Today I saw a black widow, I killed that thing,
stay away from that thing.
Stay away from snakes.
I don't get it how people just wanna pick up snakes
and play with it, that's stupid.
Stay away from that.
Well it's like, that's how dangerous men can be.
You know, men can be very dangerous too.
Men can lie, poison of asps is under their teeth,
whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Notice verse 15, their feet are swift to shed blood.
I mean, that's a sobering thought
because, you know, we're saved in here.
I hope you're walking in the spirit.
I hope you're not sitting around
thinking about killing someone.
You know, you need some help if you're thinking about that.
But here's the thing, like,
I could see myself being in a situation
where I'm forced to take someone's life out of self-defense,
defense of myself, of my family, of my loved ones.
And here's the thing, even in that situation,
I would do it, but I never want to, you know?
No one wants to go have to kill someone.
There's sometimes that that has to happen,
but it's not like you want that to happen to you.
You want to avoid conflict.
You want to, you know, avoid that at all costs.
But think about even just our aversion to killing someone
when it would be justified.
Then think about how there's people
where their feet are swift to shed blood.
Not only are they okay killing in self-defense,
they're okay murdering, which is unrighteous killing.
Not only are they okay murdering,
but their feet are actually swift to go and do that.
They're looking for it.
There's people on this earth and the unregenerate man,
just without God, not having the spirit,
not able to walk in the spirit, what is he gonna do?
His feet are just gonna be swift to shed blood.
And when you see throughout the history of our world,
when you see nations that reject Christianity,
nations that reject the Bible
like the Soviet Union in the 20th century,
what do you see? Tens of millions of people murdered.
Why? Because the unregenerate man,
his feet is just swift to shed blood.
And look, we live in a pretty safe area.
We live a safe life in America.
But hey, even here in Oklahoma City,
there's been over 60 murders this year
of people just senselessly, for no reason,
wickedly killing another person.
You know, this world is dangerous
because it's full of sinners.
Now again, would we look at this situation
and then start blaming God for it
and start criticizing God for it?
No, no, no, it's the liar's fault that he's a liar.
It's a murderer's fault that he's a murderer.
It's not God's fault.
God is righteous the whole time.
Verse 16, destruction and misery are in their ways.
In the way of peace have they not known.
There's no fear of God before their eyes.
See, don't let the world trick you into telling you
that their life is so fulfilled without Christ,
that they're doing so well, that they're so happy.
You know, it says destruction and misery are in their ways.
People who are unsaved, people who do not have the Bible
are miserable, sad people.
They hate their lives, they have nothing to live for,
they hate themselves, they're totally black-pilled
and nihilistic about everything.
You know, a good example of this, I saw this video
this week that Pastor Shelley and Ben were playing
on their podcast, and it was of this woman who was asked,
you know, like, "Hey, do you regret having your abortion?"
And she's like, "No, I love it.
"I love that I had an abortion.
"If I get pregnant, I'm gonna have it again.
"And in fact, I'm gonna go sterilize myself."
And she was like proud of it and she's just boasting.
It's like that person would sit there
and would lambast Christianity
and would just blaspheme God.
That person would make fun of the Bible.
That person would call us,
"Oh, old fuddy-duddies, you guys can't have any fun.
"You guys are miserable.
"Your wives are oppressed."
But that person hates themselves.
That person hates God.
That person hates life.
That person hates children.
You know, that is man.
Man is not good.
Man is not, well, you know,
everyone's a pretty good person.
It's just like, without God,
you just go down a really dark path.
The longer you're without him, the darker it gets.
You hate him, you reject the gospel,
even darker into reprobation.
You know, the type of person
that would enjoy murdering a baby,
hope to murder a baby again,
and sterilize them.
Let me just tell you, that's a reprobate, folks.
That is an evil reprobate.
That is someone without a conscience,
with a seared conscience, with a hardened heart,
someone that hates himself.
Destruction and misery are in their ways.
In the way of peace have they not known.
There's no fear of God before their eyes.
Boy, oh boy, does that describe the world.
How the world today just has no fear of God.
And us as Christians, we cannot understand this
because we read his word and we tremble at his word.
We realize that God sees everything.
He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And so anyone who's wise is constantly
going to be checking themselves, saying like,
OK, I can't fool God.
I can't fool God, so I might as well fear him.
Keep his commandments.
But today, people will blaspheme God, no fear.
People will attack Christians, no fear.
People will sue Christians, no fear.
Andrew Tate, the human trafficking piece of garbage,
will send his attorney on X and threaten Pastor Anderson
with a lawsuit.
Why?
Because you have no fear of God.
You have to have no fear of God to sit here
and threaten a pastor, to sit here
and threaten a man of God.
That person has no fear of God.
Well, we already knew that because Andrew Tate was
a complete piece of garbage.
An evil human trafficking reprobate, you know.
But hey, why would people go after a pastor?
Why are people not afraid to speak evil of dignities?
Why are people not afraid to speak evil of the Bible
and of God?
Well, because there's no fear of God for their eyes.
Dangerous individuals that have no fear of God.
Verse 19.
"Now we know that what things, so ever the law sayeth,
it sayeth to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped.
And all the world may become guilty before God."
Hey, the laws for sinners, right?
Knowing that the law is not for a righteous man,
but for the ungodly, the disobedient,
all those sins the Bible talks about in 1 Timothy 1.
He's saying we know that whatever the law says,
it's saying to those people.
It's condemning those people.
And what is it trying to get them to do?
What is the function of the law?
Notice that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world may become guilty before God.
See, no one who is honest reads the Bible
and then their application, their takeaway
from reading the Bible is saying like,
man, I'm doing pretty good.
Oh man, this is awesome.
I check all the boxes.
I am perfect.
I am sinless.
No one comes away with that idea.
What you come away with is your mouth is stopped.
You know, before you're prideful,
you thought you were great, you're running your mouth,
you read the Bible, you're like, oh, I suck.
Oh, I'm a sinner.
Oh, I need a savior.
Oh, I'm guilty before God.
This is why I just have to believe that people who think
that they're good people, people who think, oh yeah,
I followed the 10 commandments,
I followed all the commandments, I'm doing good.
You know, these people just haven't read the Bible
or they're just, their brain is off or something
because reading the law is supposed to make you guilty.
The idea that you could be justified
by the law is complete insanity.
It is insane.
Verse 20, "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."
He's saying, "Hey, you're supposed to come to the law
"and you're supposed to walk away with your mouth shut,
"realizing that you're guilty."
Not walking away saying that you're gonna be justified
by the deeds of the law, right?
And there's lots of deeds of the law.
There's the thou shouts and the thou shouts nots.
And here's the thing,
none of us have completed those perfectly.
So he's saying, "Therefore, because of that,
"no one's gonna be justified by that.
"For by the law is the knowledge of sin."
That's what the law does,
is it brings us the knowledge that we are sinners.
Verse 21, "But now the righteousness of God
"without the law is manifested,
"being witnessed by the law and the prophets."
So there is a righteousness of God that exists
that has nothing to do with the law,
that is outside of the law.
How do we get that righteousness?
Because you can't get it by the deeds of the law.
That's what he just said.
Yet people will walk away saying, "Salvation's by works."
Or they won't say that verbatim.
They'll say, "Salvation's by faith,
but you got to do the works."
What?
You just said salvation was by works.
How do we get that righteousness?
Notice, it was witnessed by the law and the prophets,
even the righteousness of God, which
is by faith of Jesus Christ.
Unto all and upon all them that believe,
for there's no difference.
So what was the law doing?
It was condemning us of sin.
Also, the law and the prophets, verse number 21 says,
was giving witness to something.
It was giving the witness of the righteousness of God
without the law, which is what?
Through faith in Jesus Christ.
Again, this brings us back to the idea that,
hey, the Jews and everyone is without excuse.
Because even if you only had the Old Testament,
even if you are a Jew growing up with just, you know,
the books of Moses, the Old Testament,
it's still all prophesying of Jesus Christ.
And it's not prophesying a different message of salvation.
It's not like the Old Testament,
it's telling you it's a combo of faith and of works.
No, it's just pointing to Jesus
and it's pointing to the righteousness of Jesus by faith.
To who? To all, not just to the Jews, to all.
And upon all, them that believe, for there's no difference.
We all know this verse, "For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God."
We always read that in isolation, but now we know like,
hey, this is the context of where he's bringing this up.
Verse 24, I love this verse, "Being justified,
notice freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus."
If salvation was by you being a good person,
that's not free.
That's you paying for it, you earning it.
And it doesn't matter how much you try to trivialize it.
Look, getting baptized is a work.
Going to church is a work.
You had to drive here, you had to get dressed,
you had to get in the car, you had to do all these things.
Oh, preaching the gospel, that's work.
All of God's commandments are work.
Believing in him though, is receiving his free gift.
It says, "Being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God had 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."
There's a lot there, but it's saying that Jesus Christ
was sent forth to be our propitiation,
meaning he is the satisfying of that debt that we owe.
Jesus Christ is that propitiation, his death on the cross.
You know, we've gone through some of the sayings
of Jesus Christ on the cross,
and we're constantly talking about this concept.
How do you get that payment applied to you though?
It says through faith, specifically what, in his blood.
You know, it's important to believe
that Jesus Christ died on the cross
and shed his blood for us.
There are people that wanna attack
the blood of Jesus Christ,
but if you just do a Bible online software search
and you just look up blood,
you're gonna find a lot of references
to the blood of Jesus Christ.
We don't wanna downplay that.
It says faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness.
See, when you believe in Christ, you know what you're doing?
You're declaring his righteousness.
Instead of saying, oh, I'm good, I'm a good person,
I repented of my sins, I kept the commandments.
No, all we're doing is we're declaring his righteousness.
Some of you have probably heard this example
I use all the time out soul winning,
where I just ask the person and they always get this.
It's like, hey, if I told you I'm going to heaven
because I'm a good person and I'm a pastor
and I live a good life, I read the Bible,
I pray, I preach the gospel,
I help old ladies cross the street,
I provide for my family.
Who does this sound like I'm trusting in?
And then the bell goes off in their head.
They're like, oh yeah,
that sounds like you're trusting in yourself.
Even though that was just what they told me
about themselves, right?
They just got telling me, oh yeah, I'm a pretty good person.
I love a good life.
I try to love people.
I try not to judge.
I try to have a nice spirit.
I try to be spiritual.
They list all these great things about themselves
and they tell me, oh, you're trusting in yourself.
It's like, right, right, right.
But I said, but if I said to you,
hey, I'm not a good person.
I'm a sinner, but I believe Jesus was perfect.
God in the flesh, that he lived a perfect life,
that he died on the cross, that he shed his blood,
that he descended into hell to pay for my sins,
that he rose again from the dead
and I'm only trusting that to take me to heaven.
Now who am I trusting in?
They're like, oh yeah, Jesus.
Well, that's all you have to do to be saved.
You have to stop trusting in yourself.
You have to stop thinking you can get there.
You have to stop thinking that it's a combination
of believing facts about Jesus and you living a good life
and realize that all it is,
is putting all your trust in Jesus.
It's not believing those facts that save you.
It's putting your trust in those facts to save you.
Big difference.
And he says in verse number 26 to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him,
which believeth in Jesus.
See, it makes no sense for someone who is not just,
not righteous to somehow be able to justify themselves.
That makes no sense.
I mean, that's like the big bang.
I mean, nothing creating everything.
It's like you're unjust,
but you're somehow gonna make yourself just.
You're unrighteous,
but you're somehow gonna be righteous by yourself.
No, salvation only makes sense through Jesus Christ
because he's the only one that's just.
He's the only one that has never sinned.
He's the only one that is perfect in every sense
of the world word.
And so because he's just,
he has to be the justifier of him,
which believe it in Jesus, right?
So he justifies everyone that believes in him.
What's weird about other religions is like,
you know, a lot of other religions don't even claim
that their quintessential leader is sinless, right?
I mean, I don't think that Muslims claim
that Muhammad was sinless.
They believe he's a prophet,
but I don't think that they would just say
that he's a hundred percent sinless.
I mean, maybe I'm wrong about that.
We could check that.
But here's the thing.
Jesus is sinless and no one else.
Muhammad was definitely a sinner.
He's a Roman's one sinner
because he was a pedophile that married a nine-year-old.
So he definitely loses
when it comes to the sin category there.
But you know what?
Jesus is just.
How do you know Jesus is God?
Because he's just.
Jesus is God, therefore Jesus never sinned.
You know, Muslims like to poke at that too.
Oh yeah, Jesus is God.
He is God.
Unto the throne, he saith, oh God,
thy throne is forever and ever.
Unto the son, he saith, oh God.
Verse number 27, I love this question.
He just keeps asking these theoretical questions.
He goes, all right, if salvation is by faith,
he goes, where is boasting then?
It is excluded.
By what law of works?
Nay, but by the law of faith.
Well, wait a second.
If salvation is just a free gift,
I mean, if we're just declaring his righteousness
and not our own,
if we're pointing to Jesus as the propitiation for our sins
and not us doing the deeds of the law,
well, then how am I gonna boast about myself?
How am I gonna brag about how awesome I am?
You're not, that's the point.
And what are people doing that are not saved?
They're all boasting.
That's why it says for my grace,
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should what?
Boast, because people who are unsaved,
what are they doing?
They're boasting.
They're bragging about what an awesome person they are,
except they're not, except there's none good.
So I just, I love the apostle Paul's attitude.
Where's boasting, then?
It's gone, dummy.
You don't get a boast.
It doesn't exist.
Verse 28, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law."
I love how specific he gets here
because I'm sure he knew, and of course God knew,
that people would come along later and say,
yes, salvation's by faith.
Of course, we would never say that salvation's not by faith,
but it's by faith plus the deeds of the law, right?
But he just gets real specific, saying,
hey, we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law,
without honor thy mother and father,
without thou shalt not kill,
without thou shalt not steal.
Now look, do we still like those commandments?
Do we uphold those commandments?
Absolutely, but guess what?
Those things don't save you.
Otherwise, you'd be able to what?
Boast, I've never killed, I've never stolen,
I've never disobeyed my parents,
I've never dishonored anyone.
You know, that's not going to happen for anyone.
Verse number 29, is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also.
See, the whole world that believes
gets to claim ownership to the God of the Bible.
You know, the God of the Bible is my God.
And I stand a Gentile today, right?
Jesus is my savior.
If you're saved, Jesus is your savior.
It's not like he's the Messiah to the Jews only, right?
'Cause that's what these people are saying.
That's why he's asking this question.
Do we see this today?
You better believe we do.
How about Sam Gipp?
Back in like 2014, and I used to go to the church
that was his home base that he was constantly preaching at.
And he got up at Treasure Valley Baptist Church
in Meridian, Idaho.
And he says, "Oh, are you a Gentile?
"Are you of Gentile stock?
"Well, then Jesus isn't your Messiah.
"You were never promised a Messiah."
Look, that's blasphemous trash.
Sam Gipp is an unsaved heretic.
May he rot in hell.
These hyper-dispensationalists that get up
and say Jesus isn't the Messiah of the Gentiles,
only of the Jews, and salvation was by works
in the Old Testament, or it was a mix of faith
and the deeds of the law, you're not saved, buddy.
And you know what?
Jesus is not your Messiah, and God is not your God,
because you're not saved.
But he is my God, he is my Savior, he is my Messiah,
he's your Messiah, and guess what?
It's not just the Gentiles, it's not just the Jews,
it's everyone who believes.
See, we are a part of a spiritual nation today,
and this world wants to get so wrapped up in the carnal.
Oh, are you of Jewish stock, are you of pure European descent,
are you of whatever, black Hebrew Israelites,
you gotta be purely black, whatever.
What do all these idiots have in common?
Is that they're all carnal, they're all looking to the flesh.
It's funny how many white people on X hate me.
And it's like, are you of white stock?
I more, you know?
It's like, you really wanna get into the argument here,
you want me to speak as a fool,
because are you just jealous that I'm whiter than you?
Is that really what the problem is here?
No, it's just, you're an idiot,
and you're obsessed with your flesh, but guess what?
Being a Jew, being a Gentile, doesn't matter.
It does not matter.
People get so offended, you know,
'cause people say Jews are white,
which look at them, they're white.
What does it mean to be white?
Look, look at my skin.
You see that?
You see this page right here?
Do we all know what colors are, right?
I mean, the Jews are obviously white today.
Now, have they always been that way?
No, but guess what?
In the Diaspora, as they go out into all of Europe
and intermingle with the Germans and the French
and all these people, you know,
they came back to Israel pretty dang white.
And, you know, that just really rubs
the white supremacists the wrong way.
But guess what?
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter if they were white or black.
It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile.
What matters is do you believe in Christ?
And all the Aryans and the white supremacists
and the Nazis that do not believe in Christ
will be going to the same lake of fire
as the dirty Jews that they hate so bad.
And all the black Hebrew Israelites
that, you know, have rejected Christ,
which is all of them 'cause they don't believe the gospel,
they're gonna be burning in hell
with all the unsaved white people they don't like.
You know what?
So you just gotta put away this stupid carnal mindset
and realize that, hey, is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also.
Seeing it as one God,
which shall justify the circumcision by faith
and uncircumcision through faith.
So whether you're circumcised, uncircumcised,
doesn't matter.
There's only one way you're gonna be justified.
It's not of works, it's not by the deeds of the law,
it's not by boasting, it's by faith in Jesus Christ.
Then he closes on this, again,
these theoretical questions, I love it.
I love how his brain works.
Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid, yay, we establish the law.
He's saying, hey, everything I just told you,
that hey, you're not a good person, we're all bad.
This world without Christ is super wicked.
You can only be justified by faith
without the deeds of the law.
It doesn't matter, Jew or Gentile,
you gotta believe in Christ to be saved.
He's saying if the law just condemns us,
if the law just shows us that we're sinners,
do we just then make void the law through faith?
He says, God forbid, yay, we established the law.
There are those who are like hyper grace,
teachers of hyper grace, Joseph Prince, Joseph Jones,
people like this who teach hyper grace
that because salvation is by faith,
therefore the commandments don't matter,
violating the commandments,
God's not gonna be mad at you if you do that.
No, when you actually understand salvation,
when you actually understand the law and where we stand,
we can actually establish the law
and instead of making void the law
and saying, well, you don't understand,
here's all the excuses for why I sin
to make ourselves look better.
We could just say, this is holy and perfect.
You know what, I don't need to change it
or make excuses about myself
because I have wholly fallen short of it.
And we can just lift it up high
and keep it as a high standard
and not have to drag God's standards down to our level.
Because here's the thing,
if you wanna be justified by works,
what are you going to have to do?
You're gonna have to lower the bar to wherever you are at.
Here's the thing about being a Christian,
even after you're saved, we should strive to do good.
We should strive to do good works.
We should strive to follow God's commandments.
But we too also recognize that we will always fall short.
And here's the thing, we don't have to drag it down
and say like, "Well, you don't understand,
"adultery is okay in my situation because my wife was bad."
You don't understand.
Me telling a lie was okay in this situation
'cause I was at the point of death.
Don't you understand?
I was gonna be put to death if I didn't lie.
No, I could just say like,
"Hey, if someone lies in that situation,
"they're wrong, God's right, but they're still saved."
We don't have to change God's commandments
because people are sinful.
I mean, think about,
and this idea of like, "Oh, lying is okay
"if it has to do with death."
It's like, "Why then did Jesus say,
"'Be thou faithful unto death.'"
This doesn't make any sense, right?
I mean, obviously those who are saved cannot take
the mark of the beast,
probably 'cause you can't lie and worship the beast.
You know, wouldn't it be weird just like,
"Well, you know, I can't buy or sell,
"so it's okay if I just lie and say that it's okay,
"you know, I'm on the beast team, let's worship the beast."
No, that would be wrong to lie.
Jesus says, "Be thou faithful unto death."
It's always wrong to lie.
We don't wanna make void the law through faith.
And look, I've heard people say this my whole life.
There's tons of good people that say that.
I'm not saying anything about them, but it doesn't make any sense to try to change the
law of God to fit whatever issues that we're having, you know?
And think about this also.
If it's okay to lie when death is on the line, isn't that typically like when people are
gonna lie anyways?
It's like, well, lying is wrong, except when you're in a hard situation.
Lying is wrong, except when you're gonna be in a compromising situation.
It's like, isn't that just about the time where you're gonna be tempted to lie?
I mean, why would I be tempted to lie if there's nothing on the line?
Why was Peter lying?
Why was Peter denying Christ?
Because his life was on the line.
If you would have, you know, gone up to Peter and Jesus while they're fishing, while they're
hanging out in the desert, while they're doing ministry, and he's like, "Hey, do you know
Jesus?"
Yeah, he's right here.
Let me show you to him.
He's the Lord.
He's God.
But when death is on the line is when Peter denied Christ.
Why?
Because that's the only time men are really tempted to lie in those situations anyways.
So look, here's the thing.
If someone's in that really bad situation, death is on the line and they lie, OK, I understand
why their human nature did that.
But they're still wrong.
The Columbine shooters supposedly walking up to people and saying, do you believe in
Jesus Christ?
And people will argue, would it be ethical?
Would it be moral to save my life to say, you know, no, I don't believe him.
I deny him.
Would that be wrong?
Yes, that would be wrong.
That would 100% be wrong.
What if I die?
Then you die.
Be thou faithful unto death.
I don't want you to die.
I don't want anyone to be in that situation.
It's a hard situation to be in, but hey, let's not make void the law through faith, right?
He says no.
We established the law.
God has his standards.
We always fall short of it.
We want to strive to it the best we can, but you know, when we fall short, we're not going
to twist the commandments.
We're not going to twist God's word.
We're not going to bring God down to our level.
We're going to say, hey, he's perfectly holy.
He's perfectly righteous.
And you know what?
We suck.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you so much for your word and thank you for the free gift of salvation.
Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, to be the one that is just and the justifier of all
of us who believe.
I pray that people would lose the carnality of just dividing over race and these different
outward identifications that people have, Lord.
I pray that we would just be faithful to your word, that we would not want to bring it down
to our level.
We love you in Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.
Right.
With that, we'll go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service.
If you would, take your hymnals at this time and turn to hymn number 428, "It Came Upon
a Midnight Clear."
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, hymn number 428.
Go ahead and start there right on the first.
It came upon a midnight clear.