(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Great singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church. I pray that you would help us during the song service to sing with understanding and love in our hearts for you and that you'd fill our pastor with the Holy Spirit this evening. Thank you for everyone here. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. For a second song, we'll go to two hundred and forty eight. Now I belong to Jesus. Two hundred and forty eight. Now I belong to Jesus. Two four eight. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Now I belong to Jesus. Once I was lost in sin's degradation. Jesus came down to bring me salvation. Lifted me up from sorrow and shame. Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me. Free me from sin that long had enslaved me. His precious blood he gave to me deep. Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Thank you for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin, lift up your hand nice and high. One of our ushers would love to come by and get you guys a bulletin on the front. We have our Bible memory passage for the week. We're working on verse nineteen of Revelation chapter one. Any child that's able to quote the verse of the week can receive an ice cream treat immediately following the service. On the inside, we have our service times, our soul winning times, and then our church stats. Please be mindful to turn in church stats to our soul winning tribe captains and lieutenants. If you are uncertain of what tribe you're a part of, ask me, Brother Dylan, or one of our ushers, and we can help identify what tribe you are in. Everyone is automatically adopted into somebody's family. So, you know, if you're part of our church, then you're going to be in one of our tribes. On the right, we have the list of expected ladies. Please continue to pray for all of them. We also have a prayer list that we like to go over midweek. We're continuing to pray for the Negaris for her health. We're praying for Miss Lucy's mother's tumors. We've been praying for Brother Cameron Hall's leg. We've been praying for Brother Wallach's daughter, Haley, who's pregnant. It's great news for them. We've been praying for Miss Cooley's stepdad, cancer treatment. We've been praying for Brother Suhail for his fiancee, Travel Mercies. Expected to be here June 19th. I don't even know what date it is today. That's really soon. Okay, five days. All right, so we're coming up on this June 19th. Also, we're praying for Brother Illy for health. We've also been praying for Miss Linda for car and job. We've been praying for Brother Rich for back pain. We've been praying for Brother Conley. His foster brother had passed away, and so we're just praying for his family and extended family. Also, we've been praying for the Holdens for their health, and we've been praying for Mrs. Milstead's back pain as well. So a lot of health requests in there, and we'll go ahead and say just a quick word of prayer as a church family now. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this evening. Thank you for our church. Thank you for our ladies that are expecting. I pray that you just be with them during the pregnancy. Please help them to have a good pregnancy. Please help their children to be developed well and to have a timely birth. I pray that you would also just be with our church family that's suffering from illness, from sickness, from loss. Please be with them. Please comfort them during their time of tribulation. I pray that you give them peace. I pray that, if possible, you give them a miracle and just give them quick recovery. Please also bless our church family that's not able to be here this evening, that their travels and their welfare would be in good condition. I pray that you'd also just please give favor under our church members that are needing help with their jobs or their cars or their finances. We just thank you for all you give us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. On the back, we have church reminders. Please continue to pay attention to these. We shouldn't have children getting on our stage area, kitchen, or in a mother-baby room unattended. Also, please make sure that if you are using one of our mother-baby rooms, we have two different options here, that it is for children 2 and under and their mothers specifically. Also, if you have to take an older child, you can't leave them with the father in the service. Please make sure that they're still sitting during the service. That way, it's still a safe and easy environment for the younger children. Also, everyone should be in there quiet and trying to pay attention to the service as best as possible, so that way everybody can still benefit from the church service. Also, if you do bring toys for your children, please only use those in between Sunday services. Please do not share those with others. We've been trying to do a quiet time on Sunday afternoons just to give everybody an option if they'd like to stay here for the day. Also, upcoming events, July 12th, Pastor Steven Anderson is going to be guest preaching for us from Faith Ward Baptist Church. It's a great opportunity to hear him preach, so even if you don't normally come on Wednesdays, and you're just listening to my voice online, you can come. You can still show up to church, alright? Also, we have our men's conference. There's a sign-up sheet. Please sign up for that if you're planning on attending. We have Pastor Bruce Mejia from First Works Baptist Church. He's going to come out, and he's going to be preaching for us on that Friday evening, so I highly encourage you men to participate. It's a lot of fun. Everybody usually tells me they really enjoy it. It's a highlight for a lot of people, and so I encourage you to participate. Also, our conference is going to be in October this year, the 12th through the 15th Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. We have a lot of great preachers coming in, and we'd love for you to be a part of that as well. The congratulations to Annalise Nogueira. She was born on June 6th, 231 A.M., weighing 9 pounds and 19 and a half inches long. Congratulations to the Nogueiras. It's exciting for them. And that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We'll go ahead and sing our third song. Song 126 from our Psalm booklet. Psalm 126. Again, that's Psalm 126 in your white handout, so you can turn in your King James Bibles. Psalm 126. When the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the stream's in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Great singing at this time. While the offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter number 3. Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, Romans 3, the Bible reads, What advantage 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 together become unprofitable, 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 saith, it saith 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 at his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, 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 have 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 past, 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 uncircumcision through faith. You will then make void the law through faith. God forbid, yea, we establish the law. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for Romans chapter 3, and I pray, Lord, that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and help him to expound the chapter to us so that we may be edified by the preaching and learn more about your word. And Father God, we love you and thank you for salvation by grace through faith alone in your son Jesus Christ, and it is in his name that I pray. Amen. Amen. So we've been going through the book of Romans and we're here in chapter 3. Just as a quick recap, Romans chapter number 1 at the latter portion addresses the fact that the righteousness of God has been revealed and the wrath of God has been revealed. The righteousness of God has been revealed through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the wrath of God has been revealed by those who reject the gospel of Jesus Christ. In chapter number 2, it addresses, again, kind of two points. Point 1 being that the Gentiles, in which think that they're not necessarily as bad as those who have been punished by God and the wrath of God has been manifested through them, just because they might not be the worst sinner on this planet, are still not going to escape God's judgment. So the Gentiles, it's not a competition of who's the most righteous. You have to be perfect and, unfortunately, no one is perfect. Therefore, they're also going to be judged by that same law. And then in the latter portion of chapter 2, he addresses the Jew who has the law and has the commandments of God, but if he didn't follow them perfectly, well, unfortunately, he's not any different than the Gentile. And it kind of concludes in chapter 2 about there being really no difference between a Gentile that breaks the commandments of God and a Jew who breaks the commandments of God. They're kind of in the same boat. So then it begs the question here in verse 1 of chapter 3, it says, What advantage then hath the Jew? So it's saying if the Jew and the Gentile are in the same boat, in the same condemnation, are basically not having any difference here, then what advantage was there of being a Jew? Now, of course, a Jew here is talking about those of a physical lineage, those who were of the tribe of Judah or broadly just the children of Israel are kind of alluded to as Jews in the latter portion of Scripture at the time of Christ. Those who are the physically circumcised, because notice the next phrase, and circumcision, I'm sorry, and what profit is there of circumcision? So he's saying, what was the point of being a Jew or being physically circumcised if we're all the same? And it kind of begs this question, verse 2, Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. Notice what he answers. He's saying it was better to be a Jew in a lot of ways. In fact, in every way. And not in every way, a lot in every way. So he's saying just think of a particular scenario of life or a particular benefit of life, and every single possible benefit of life, it was a lot in every category. Now, to try and put this in a modern vernacular so you have a little bit better understanding, this would be similar to saying, okay, what is the advantage of being born in a Christian home or being born to parents that are fundamental Baptists? The answer would be a whole lot in every single way you can imagine. So essentially, what would be the same in contrast to a Jew at that time and a Gentile? Well, how about your parents? Yep, you're going to be better off with the parents being raised in that particular scenario. How about your society? Yep, your society as a whole, better. How about just home life? Better. Schooling? Better. Education? Better. Chances to hear about God? Better. It's just like saying, hey, in every single category of your life, it's better to have been a Jew and have been circumcised during the Old Testament portion of our history, okay? And I would liken that the same question of how about people today that are born in a Christian home as opposed to raised in a Hindu home or raised in an atheist home? You'd say, what's the advantage here? Everything. I mean, they're pretty much just every single possible advantage that could exist, they have it. But someone that's raised in a Christian home and someone that's an atheist, they're both sinners that are both going to be judged by God and they both need the same salvation, okay? So we're understanding kind of what he's saying here a little bit. Also, though, he says chiefly, chiefly meaning the most important reason or the biggest reason, the biggest advantage was what? That the oracles of God were committed unto them, meaning that the prophets of God and the people who are preaching the Bible and the men of God that were spirit-filled, they were dedicated to the Jews and they were committed unto them and they mostly preached to them, they were of them, and so, of course, that was a huge advantage of being there. Just like today, is there any advantage to being born in America, being possibly raised in a fundamental Baptist home? Yeah, absolutely, because you're going to get some of the greatest preaching, you've got the King James Bible, you've got a lot of truth, whereas being raised in some African tribe somewhere or raised in some Hindu temple somewhere would have been way worse of a start to life than being raised as a fundamental Baptist, okay? That's essentially the parallel that I would draw. And some people might undermine this thought. A lot of evangelicals or a lot of Christians today, they try to play up this idea of, why don't you give your testimony? And they'll talk about people getting saved like, why don't you come give us your testimony? And there'll be these people that come up and they say, well, I was raised in a non-Christian home and we did drugs and we went out and I had to live on the streets and I joined some gang and I got a couple teardrops and you don't even know what I've done in prison. And then I found Jesus. And it's like people that were raised in a Christian home and don't even know what drugs are, don't even know how you could find drugs, they sometimes feel like they missed out or something or they think like, wow, I could never win people to Christ because I don't have this powerful testimony. But as we study this chapter, we're going to learn it's not about your testimony anyways, number one. Number one, you having a terrible life doesn't make me want to get saved. It actually has nothing to do with the gospel whatsoever, okay? And unfortunately, most of these people bragging about it don't even believe in salvation by faith. They believe in work salvation because what they're trying to say is look how big of a change I made in my life, ergo I'm saved, whereas it doesn't matter how big a change you made, it matters if you believe in Jesus Christ or not. And really, though, the best life that you could have would have been raised in a strict fundamental Baptist home and not having that testimony. It's silly to think that's the better approach or that your life was better. And so what you should learn as a parent is I should give my child the best home to live in. I should give them all of these advantages rather than being the person, well, it doesn't really matter, or I turned out fine. Well, you might be an exception, but let's be honest, I don't necessarily want to raise my children exactly how I was raised. I would like to give them more advantages and specifically spiritual advantages when it comes to Christianity, to the truth, to having read the Bible, to learning how to go soul winning, everything. And a lot of the men in the Bible, if you kind of study them that were used by God, a lot of them had a specific upbringing. I mean, you have people like Timothy. Timothy was raised to be used of God at a very young age. And even the apostle Paul, while his upbringing, albeit, was not necessarily on the right track, it was still capable of being used for God. He still learned all the same Bible, and he had a very strict upbringing, and he had a lot of fear of God, and so that was easily transferable into the service of God. You know, the apostle Paul wasn't this, like, drug dealing, gang banger turned Christian. No, he lived a really strict life and studied the scripture, and that was a lot more convertible into Christianity and serving God. And so we want our children to be raised with a particular upbringing where they can be greatly used by God and have a lot of advantages when they get the age where they're going to decide their whole life. I'd rather them have all the advantages they could possibly have rather than saying, wow, I have to overcome a lot of obstacles of my past, or my life's a lot more difficult than it could have been or should have been. It's better for them to have a good path. It says in verse number three, for what if some did not believe, shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? So the question is, okay, God committed the word of God and the prophets unto the Jews, but a lot of Jews didn't believe. So does that just make, does that mean, like, God's not powerful, or the Bible's not true? Because if it's true, wouldn't everybody believe? And this is just kind of a, if you understand what's happening in chapter three, the apostle Paul is basically bringing up every question that an atheist or a gainsayer would say. He's just kind of like, he's almost having a debate with himself. He's just, he's basically proposing every bad question that could be propositioned towards him, and then he's disputing them and basically defeating them. That's why a lot of people like Romans, is because it's kind of more of an apologetic style, or it's more of a systematic theology, where it's just really dialing in and basically just shutting down every possible obstacle, every possible accusation, every gainsaying attempt is just defeated by the apostle Paul, and one of them would be, okay, if Christianity's true, then why doesn't everybody believe in it, or, you know, what about all these people that were raised in it and kind of rejected it? Well, it says, 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. He takes it to an extreme and says, you know what, I don't care if every single Jew rejected the Bible, they're all liars and God's still true. He's saying, it doesn't matter how man responds to the truth, because the truth's the truth, and it doesn't matter what their response is, because every man could possibly be a liar, but you know what, God's right, and God's always going to be justified in every single thing that he's ever said, and if every single Jew rejected the Bible, well, you know what, they're all wrong. Now, of course, that never happened in history. There's always been a remnant. There's always been people that believed in the word of God, and there was always Jews that had trusted in Christ and were still used of God. Even at the time of Christ and all the way through back, you can always find those who still believed, and of course, God used those men to do great things through the Scripture. But it would be no different today than to say, okay, what about Christians that are raised in a Christian home, raised in a Baptist home, and then they reject Christianity. They reject the Baptist faith. They reject Jesus. Does that mean that Christianity doesn't have power? No, it just means that person's a liar. No, it just means that person has free will, folks, and we all have free will. And of course, we want to give our children the best chance to believe in Jesus Christ and to choose to put their faith in him, but we can't force anyone to do anything. Not only do we want our children to get saved, though, we want our children to actually follow in his footsteps and actually live the Christian life. That's even more difficult as a parent because salvation was a free gift, a one-time decision, whereas your child deciding to live for God for the rest of his life is a lot more challenging. But you know what? Even if my children, God forbid, even if my children decided not to follow in my footsteps, you know what? God's still true, the Bible's still true, and I should still follow the Word of God. It doesn't matter what other people do. It doesn't matter if my parents don't follow the Bible. It doesn't matter if my spouse doesn't follow the Bible. It doesn't matter who's not following the Word of God. I'm not following the Word of God. The Word of God is still true, and I'm still supposed to follow it no matter what. Let God be true, and let every man be a liar, okay? Now, he brings this up in verse five kind of in another way. 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? He's kind of careful with some of the things he says, because you have to understand that Paul is bringing up blasphemous questions, okay? So him just even bringing up these blasphemous type questions, he's kind of nervous about it, right? Because you don't want to charge God foolishly or make these statements that are blasphemous. But he's trying to say, if we're wicked and God's righteous, then is that somehow by us sinning or by us doing wrong, he says if our unrighteousness is commending the righteousness of God, then is it fair for God to then end up taking vengeance on us? So the question's kind of framed in the idea of, well, by me not being that great and me falling short, it kind of shows how great God is. Like, we see the glory of God by our imperfections, by our not being good, by our sinning. It's like, wow, God's so much better than us. So the argument is kind of being presented here as if, well, by me failing, it just keeps showing how good he is, then how is it fair that I keep showing how good he is and then I get judged for it? But you know what, God doesn't need me to fail to prove that he's good. That's where the logic is failing. It's not like, you know what, I'm just going to sin today to make God look good. Right? That's kind of a dumb attitude when you present it that way, isn't it? Of course, people, when they present these arguments, they don't want to present it that way. They want to say, you know what, I'm just going to be lazy and steal today just to make God look good. They'll say, well, if our unrighteousness come in the righteousness of God. They're trying to word it in a fancy way. But ultimately what they're saying is like, man, if me sinning is making God look so good, then what's the problem with me sinning, huh? What's the problem with all my unrighteousness? And notice how he says, I speak as a man. He's like, this is what an unsaved, unregenerate, not Holy Spirit-filled person would say or think. Is it fair that I'm getting judged because I'm just not perfect? But it says, God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world? So he's saying, no, God has to judge us by some standard. Otherwise he couldn't judge us, right? He has to have some kind of a moral law. He has to say, thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And it's not so that he can prove that he's so much better than us. It's so that he can actually judge us. That was the whole point. It's not rocket science here. He's just creating law and giving us a punishment so that, notice what, that he can judge the world and judge them in righteousness. Because you have to understand something about God. God is a lot of complex characteristics. He's true, he's holy, he's merciful, he's loving. He's other attributes, too. He's merciful. Not only is he wrathful, he's righteous. What is righteous? Righteous means that he always does what's right. And the Bible couples this with judgment. God is a judge. So God is always gonna judge correctly, judge appropriately. So if someone does something wicked, and then God never gives that person a righteous judgment, then he wouldn't be a righteous judge. Just like if someone steals from you and you go to the judge and say, here's all the evidence, here's all the proof, here's how they stole from me, and the judge is like, too bad, not gonna do anything. You'd be like, well, this is a bad judge, wouldn't you? Right? You say, hey, this guy killed my spouse. Here's all the evidence, here's them on video. The glove doesn't fit, but, you know, we all know who did it, okay? And he's like, you know what, I'm just gonna, if the glove doesn't fit, then it quit, you know? And you're like, dude, you're a bad judge, right? And so the same would be with God if we look at all the injustices of this world, we look at all the evil of this world, and then God just says, you know what, I just let him do all those wicked things to show how great I am. You'd be like, this is weird. No, God gave us law and gave us a righteous judgment so that he could actually righteously judge the world. And those who sin will get a righteous judgment eventually. Everything will be judged appropriately. Everything will be judged righteously. Now, it may not happen when you want it. Okay, we have to understand that, yes, God is long suffering and God is merciful and gives people a long time to get saved and to escape the wrath that they truly deserve, but you know what, God truly gave everyone a righteous judgment. Verse seven, for if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? So again, it's the same point that he's making. Well, if when I lie, it just shows how much more truthful God is than I am, then why in the world would I be judged for that lie? But again, this is foolish, verse eight, 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. So this verse really helps you understand what we've been talking about and what I've been articulating. This bad idea of doing evil that somehow good is a result of that evil. I lied, but you know what, that gives glory to God. Well, I stole, but that gives glory to God. And all of the parenthetical statements here, Paul keeps trying to remind you, like, this is not my thought, okay? This is unsaved man's thought, okay? Also, he says, as we be slanderously reported and some affirm that we say. So he's combating an issue here where people are accusing the Apostle Paul of doing evil and claiming that good would come of that. And you say, what does that mean? Okay, well, it's because the Apostle Paul is no longer exercising all of the Old Testament law. The Apostle Paul is no longer under the Old Testament because he's in the New Testament. Not only is he in the New Testament, he's preaching the New Testament. Not only is he preaching the New Testament, he's trying to convince others to not follow the Old Testament laws, but rather to follow the New Testament laws. Now, there was a huge change of the law, wasn't there? They're no longer offering the sacrifices. They're no longer doing all the same purifications. Here's another thing they're doing. They are eating meat that they would have not eaten under the Old Testament law. They're eating bacon, okay? Now, I'm not saying Paul did specifically because I don't know 100%, but I hope he did, okay, for his sake, all right? Now, of course, we get to eat bacon, but from a Jewish perspective, what would they be thinking? Oh, okay, you're doing evil and then claiming that good's gonna come as a result of that, okay? That's one aspect of what they're saying. Here's another thing, and this actually, we get accused of all the time, kind of a modern parallel to this statement. Oh, so you teach that people can just believe on Jesus and then just live however they want and they're still gonna go to heaven? And you're like, yep. And then this is what they interpreted it as. Oh, they're going around telling people to kill people. I get calls like that. Apartment managers or people, someone came to my door and said that you can kill people and go to heaven. That's wicked. And it's like, yes, that would be wicked telling people, hey, your ticket into heaven is to kill someone. But you know what? I know that no one from our church said that, okay? I know what they were trying to say and I know what they probably said and I know that you misheard it or that you're slanderously reporting us as saying, yeah, we're going out saying just live however you want and go to heaven. No, no, we're saying hypothetically you could technically go out and live however you want and go to heaven, but right now, you're living however you want so really, the only difference in this algebraic equation is we're replacing heaven with hell. But currently, you're already living however you want. It's real evident, okay? We're trying to get you to realize heaven, not hell, okay? It's crazy. Plus, you know, I don't really feel like when I run into people out soul winning and I look at them, then I'm thinking, man, this guy looks way more righteous than my church members. You know, this person really looks like they're following the commandments. Man, I wish my church members would be like this guy. I wish my church members were like this guy that's half naked playing video games on a Sunday afternoon. Yeah, I mean, holding a beer in his hand, telling me how righteous he is, living with his girlfriend. I mean, you catch people doing all kinds of crazy sin when you're out soul winning and it's funny, you'll catch people committing like egregious sin and then they tell you to go to heaven and be a good person. I'm like, what are you talking about? You're telling me you're committing adultery right now. Or you're telling me that you're committing fornication or you're committing some kind of evil sin. I run into people and I'm like, hey, do you know what a sin is? They're like, yeah, that's what I'm doing right now, drinking this beer. And you're just like, but you still think it's being good that it's going to get you to heaven, right? Yep. I remember running into a guy, he told me, I said, what do you have to do to go to heaven? He says, go to church. And I said, oh, okay, well, do you go to church? And I was like, but you're still sure you're going to heaven? He just laughed and closed the door. And I'm just like, dude, your own theology is pretty flawed here. You know, you think you're going to heaven, it's only by going to church and you don't go to church. Something's not adding up here, right? And yet this is what an accusation is hurled at people who believe in eternal security. That because you believe that salvation's a free gift, because you can believe that you'll never lose it for any reason, that somehow we're advocating please be a wicked sinner. You know, I forgot the last time I preached that. I forgot the last time I got up and I said, you know what, please just live however you want, guys. Stop going to church, stop reading your Bible, just be wicked, steal, no consumm- I've never said that. Isn't that funny? And isn't it so funny that the churches who teach you you can lose your salvation are the most permissive? They're the ones that excuse the most sin, and they'll say come as you are, and leave as you are, but you can lose your salvation. Whereas we're saying like, you're probably not even welcome. Okay, no I'm just kidding. We live some of the most strict lives, and of course people are so offended by the standards that we preach, yet we understand that salvation was a free gift, don't we? Now there is a group of people, and it's crazy to think this, there is a group of people that believe exactly what we just read. They believe that by doing evil, good will come. They're called Calvinists. And there is a group of Calvinists out there that you ask them, so you think when a man forces a woman that that's giving glory to God. And they'll be like, well what you have to understand about the sovereignty of God is that he makes all the decisions, and he ordains everything for his glory. You know what he said? Yes. But he just didn't want to say yes, because in contrast to that question it just sounds really bad. But you know what? They really believe it. They really believe all the evil, all the suffering. Look, I am not joking. I read quotes today, and they are saying the abuse of a child gives glory to God. How sick and perverted of a mind do you have to have to think that that is giving the glory to God? And notice what the Bible says about this individual. Let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just. Hey, you have that mentality, you have that thought process, your damnation is just, because what a wicked thought. What a wicked attitude to excuse sin and claim that somehow that's going to give glory to God? That's perverted. And that is not what the Scripture teaches. That's why Calvinism is so wicked. Keep your finger here and go a couple of places. I want you to go to 1 Corinthians, chapter number 14. 1 Corinthians, chapter number 14. Just because God is all powerful, and just because God can do whatever he wants, does not mean that everything that happens on this earth is exactly what God wants to happen. It also does not mean that God has created or is the author of everything. What does the Bible say in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 33? For God is not the author of confusion. So if there is confusion in this world, did it come from God? The answer is no. And you say, well, how does that work with Calvinism? It doesn't because Calvinism is a lie. Well, how does that work? It's called free will. It's called the God of the universe literally gave us opportunity to be confused. And when people succumb to the devil's will and are minions of the devil, they bring a lot of confusion into this world. Boy, confusion like in this state or in this country over what a woman is. That is not of God. And you know what? That's not giving any glory to God either. You're a weirdo if you think that what Joe Biden did at the White House by bringing in a bunch of perverts and celebrating pride at the White House is somehow giving glory to God. No, it's spitting in God's face. And by them parading around the rainbow all of this month and basically the whole year, that is just spitting in the face of God. It's mocking God. It's ridiculing God. And it's not according to God's will. God does not want that to happen. Let me prove this further. Go to Acts, chapter 7. Go back over to Acts, chapter 7. And you can prove this from a lot of places in Scripture. But I think it's important to realize that while God is in charge, God's in control, and His ultimate will is going to be accomplished in the immediate future and, of course, in the course of events, many things that happen are not God's will. So you have to think about it from a big picture. Of course, everything that God wants to happen or to be accomplished, it's going to be accomplished. But God also allows for a lot of other things to happen. He allows for there to be rebellion. He allows for there to be sin. He allows for people to do evil things. And that's because He truly wanted to have free will. God didn't want a bunch of people in heaven to be forced to worship Him or forced to love Him or forced to choose Him. You know, salvation was a choice because He wanted those that actually wanted to believe in Jesus Christ to go to heaven. And those who don't want to believe in Jesus to go to hell. He gave us that opportunity. He gave us that choice. The Jews, many of them, did not want to believe in Jesus. They didn't want to believe the promises of God. And they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. They crucified Him. And yet, God didn't want those Jews to do this. God didn't want the Jews to reject Jesus and to die and go to hell. And He often tried to persuade them through the methods of the Holy Ghost. But look what the Bible says in Acts 7, verse 51. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised and hardened ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do ye. This is an important statement because it's not just talking about them. It's talking about everybody. God was always trying to draw everyone with the Holy Ghost. God was always trying to win everyone over with the Holy Ghost. God always wanted everyone to be saved through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was there to try and witness to everyone and to put on their hearts the grievousness of sin and to try to get them to understand that they need a Savior. But you know what? They just always resisted. Boy, it doesn't sound like irresistible grace, does it? It kind of sounds like always resisting grace. You know, and look, it's not that God didn't want to win them over. What kind of a futile effort is God doing here by trying and failing the entire time? I mean, this is kind of showing that God, through the Holy Ghost, trying to get these people failed every single time. They always resisted, and yet, what happens? Well, they die and go to hell. Not because God didn't elect them, not because God didn't want them to be saved, but it's because they resisted. It's because they never believed on Jesus Christ, they never accepted the Gospel, and this just further illustrates the fact that God's will is in contrast to man's will, often in the Bible. What God is wanting them to do through the Holy Ghost, they're resisting and not succumbing to. This shows the difference of wills. Go to Jeremiah 32. Go to Jeremiah 32. And then when it comes to evil, there is some evil that's so bad, according to Scripture, that God doesn't even want to think about it. That's how bad it is. And I'll tell you, I feel the same way. You know, sometimes you have to be careful because our world is getting so bad and so evil, and people share all kinds of images online, that if you go looking for evil, you'll find things that you never wanted to see, things that you never wanted to hear about, things you didn't even want to know. And really, we're supposed to be simple concerning evil. We don't necessarily need to know everything that happens, all the details, every horrible thought, every single imagination. And you know what? Hollywood loves to do that. There's a lot of films out there where they're trying to go really gruesome and really evil. And you know, we should protect our children and ourselves from going into the depravity of sin and the devil. But look what the Bible says in Jeremiah 32 verse 35. This is just another point here. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Enom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire in a molech, which I commanded them not. Neither came it into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to descend. So he's saying, I never told them to do this. In fact, it never even entered my mind that someone would even do something like this. And really, that's the kind of world I feel like we live in, where people are doing things that you're like, I would have never even thought someone could even think this up or dream this up. You know, it just keeps getting weirder and weirder. And evil just keeps getting more wicked. And you're just kind of like blown away. How could you then reconcile that with the idea that God is saying, let us do evil, that good may come. No, no, no, that's an evil thought. That's a blasphemous thought. And the Apostle Paul is refuting that. So go back if you went to Romans chapter number three. Romans chapter number three. The Apostle Paul is addressing these things because it kind of helps put into place every accusation or every foolish thought in contrast to what he's trying to explain about the Gospel specifically. So we understand that the evil in this world is not a result of God, but it's a rather result of man. And it's a result of man's free will. And while, yes, technically speaking, we can see how much better God is through that, that is not the purpose. The purpose that God has for sin is to judge us. The purpose of righteous judgment is to judge. And so we are not to look at this as we should sin, there's glory in sin, there's a benefit in sin, there's nothing good about sin itself. And in verse number nine it says, what then? Are we better than they? This is also kind of an interesting verse because you have a we and a they. And I think I've explained this one time before, but just to kind of reiterate, as I believe he's trying to explain here, the we is the Jews. And the Apostle Paul is a Jew. And the they here is the Gentiles. Now, of course, I get this point because he's been contrasting the Jews and the Gentiles through chapter two and chapter number three. And in verse one he's kind of talking about Jews. Are Jews just, you know, what advantage do you have Jews, right? Well, they have every advantage. OK. And it's like, well, what if some of them didn't believe? OK, well, God's still true. And then it's like, yeah, but if we're, you know, these sinners, why is it why are we getting judged? And it's like, well, that's how God's going to judge us. OK. And then we get to verse nine. OK. Well, then are we better than the Gentiles? This is if you think about it, it's based on verse one. Hey, well, why? What's our advantage? Everything. I mean, just like just name it. Better family, better house, better country, better laws, better everything. And it's like, OK, so then are we better than they? Are we better than the Gentiles? That's the question that's being asked. No. And no whys. Why? Because God's not a respecter of persons. OK. For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. Now, again, just even further illustrate that the we and the they as the Jews and Gentiles, notice it's telling you both Jews and Gentiles in the same verse. OK, so we're getting these contrasting elements and it's just like, are we better? And you know what we should tell? You know, Netanyahu, are you better than me? No. And no whys. You know, I don't care what kind of, you know, Stein or Berg or Green or whatever's out there, Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL. You're not better than me. And no whys. And in fact, since you're not saved, you're way worse. But that's a different conversation. You know, there's a lot of Christians, a lot of Christian teachers today that pretend like being a Jew is something special. Well, are they better than us? No. And no whys. There is nothing better. We're both just sinners. Isn't that what it says in verse 9? We're all under sin. Now, it says in verse 10, 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. I want you to understand, and I'm not against you for doing this, but I believe that verse 10 has to be understood in the context that we're talking about Gentiles. Number one, because he's contrasting. Are we better than they? No, we're not better. You know, you're not better than the Jews or the Gentiles. And he's saying that they are all under sin. Who's the they? Gentiles. If you keep consistent on your pronouns, which we should be consistent on pronouns, folks, okay? All right? I don't like this swaparoo, okay? The they there is Gentiles, so then what's the next they? That Gentiles are all under sin. Why? As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Now, of course, where is this being quoted from? Keep your finger and go to Psalm 14 for a moment. Just go to Psalm 14 for a second, okay? And I'm going a little slow here, but hopefully you're kind of still following along. Go to Psalm 14, and let's just look at verse one for a second. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Now, this is a specific person, is it not? This isn't necessarily everybody. Look at verse three. They are all, or they are all gone aside. They are altogether become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. This is going to start sounding familiar when we're reading Romans chapter three, right? Now, look at verse four. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord? So it's showing a difference in Psalm 14 between the people that are not God's people and the people that are God's people, okay? So go back to Romans chapter three. When you're actually getting the quotes, what was the Old Testament context? A contrast between not God's people and God's people. When we're here in Romans chapter number three, what are we contrasting? Jews and Gentiles. What were the Jews typically referred to as? God's people. What were the Gentiles generally referred to as? Not God's people, okay? So it's not a giant leap to then understand that the context of Romans 3.10 is actually just kind of talking about Gentiles. So we're just saying, of all the Gentiles, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Now, does this verse also just apply to every person, period? Yes, it does, okay? Of course, we all understand that. But if we were going to be technically honest with ourselves, this verse is not talking about every single person. It is kind of talking about the Gentiles, and that's my personal opinion. I'm going to continue to prove that through this chapter. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. Think about it in this context. When we have the Jewish nation and we have the Gentile nations, who of the Gentile nations were trying to seek after God? None of them. But is that really fair to say that of the Jews, no one was seeking after God? No, that's not really their testimony, okay? Look at verse number 12. What's the first word? They. So are we talking about we, or are we talking about they? They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. 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 ass 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 is that really fair to take this entire description and just apply it to the Jews? Is that really David's testimony? Is that really Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel's testimony? Is that really Abraham's testimony? No, that's not describing the Jews at all, especially the faithful ones that we've read about in the Bible. It's talking about the heathen at large. The heathen at large, what were they like? Well, destruction and misery were in their ways. And the way of peace have they not known, meaning they didn't know anything about the God of the Bible or salvation or any of these type of things. As just them as a people. They had no fear of God. Now, you can find places in the Old Testament where the Jewish nation and prophets would go out and they would preach the gospel. And they were supposed to be a light to lighten the Gentiles. And they were supposed to go out. And of course we see Gentiles getting saved in the Old Testament. Don't hear me wrong on this point. But we're talking about broadly, we're talking about generally speaking, the Gentiles as a whole did not have the truth, did not seek after God, were not having any kind of peace. They didn't have any fear of God at all. Because the ones that have the fear of God usually came and lived like Ruth. Ruth actually feared God and so she ends up joining the nation and coming and being part of the nation. And so you kind of see that. Whereas the rest of the people outside, they just don't have any fear of God whatsoever. That's what's basically contrasting. And it's making it clear like, okay, yeah, you Jews are screwed up. But it's not like the Gentiles are good. They're super bad. They're really wicked if we want to look at what they're like. Now, verse 19 then shows a contrast. Now we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. So we just talked about one group of people that are not under the law. They don't even know the way of peace. They don't even have the truth. They have no fear of God. And then we have the group that's under the law. And then you have this concluding statement. That every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. So you have those that don't have the law, they're guilty. The ones that have the law, they're guilty. And then the whole world is just guilty. The whole world is just sinners. The whole world's guilty. 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. So this is an important point. He's saying, look, people that didn't have the law were really screwed up. Because, you know, what the law would do is the law would kind of get you back on track a little bit. You know, and it's like you didn't know the rules and then you were just really rebellious. And then when you started learning the rules you kind of got a little bit better. But he's saying, you know what the law did? It didn't actually make you perfect. It didn't make you truly righteous. It just made you realize you're still a sinner. And yet, what did the Jews think? The Jews thought, well, we're a little bit better than the Gentiles, so therefore we're right with God. But sorry, being a little bit better doesn't make you right with God. All it did was just confirm the fact that you're a sinner. And that's the whole point that's being made here. He's making a big thesis about the fact that it doesn't matter who you are, Jew and Gentile, everyone's a sinner. And having the law did not make you righteous. It didn't give you any kind of righteousness. All it did, what does the law do? For by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's what the law does. It just tells you this was wrong. It just tells you this is not right. It doesn't actually give you righteousness. It just tells you what's wrong. Now, then you get, you know, another statement here, verse 21. But now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. This is a key phrase, verse 21, the righteousness of God. Keep your finger here and just flip the pages of chapter 1 again. And notice in verse 17. So Romans chapter 1, verse 17, for there it is, the righteousness of God revealed. So notice in Romans chapter 1, it says the righteousness of God is revealed. And Romans chapter number 3, it brings up in verse number 21, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. What is manifested? Made obvious, or here's another word, revealed. So we're talking about the same thing, where we're talking about the righteousness of God being revealed. How was it revealed in Romans chapter 1? From faith to faith. Was there any mention of the law? No. And what is he saying in chapter 3 here, again, in verse 21? Without the law. Meaning that you can be righteous with God without the law. In fact, that's the only way to be righteous with God, is without the law. So the Gentiles, did the Gentiles have to learn all of the law before they get saved? No, they didn't have to know any of the law. They didn't have to sit down, all right, we're going to read Genesis to Deuteronomy before I can preach you the gospel. Nope, they didn't even have to. In fact, how many of you never even use anything from the first five books of the Bible when you go sowing it? I never use any of it. You don't need any of it. Why? Because the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. Because we're not going around saying, hey, we're not Ray Comfort going to the Ten Commandments, trying to show people out there a pin of their sins to get righteous, are we? No, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. And notice, I love this, how it's worded. Being witnessed by the law. He's saying, hey, you know what makes it obvious that salvation is without the law? The law itself. And not just the law itself, and the prophets. Saying the whole Old Testament also taught the exact same thing, that it wasn't the law that was going to get you saved. Because the whole Bible testifies of what? The gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything is about Jesus, and it's about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, of course, after the events having happened, and you no longer... I mean, think about it. You no longer have to preach prophetically about Christ. You can be like, the thing that just happened, that was it. Right? It makes it easier, arguably, to preach about the gospel of Jesus Christ when it's happened, and you can just point to that historical event, let alone then happen to go to Isaiah and talk about the future coming Messiah. It's still the same thing, but we're just saying it's a little bit easier, potentially, and I don't know if this is true or not, it's just my opinion, it's probably a little bit easier to point out the event that already happened than to tell people about an event that's going to happen in the future. Even though we're talking about the same event, we're talking about the same gospel, we're talking about Jesus, and you could argue that it's been manifested, made obvious. Right? Because if I'm explaining something in the Old Testament, I don't know if that's the right interpretation. I don't know if a guy's going to really die on the cross for all my sins. You know, how many people today are going to argue that fact? I mean, even the Catholic will admit that Jesus died on the cross, right? So it's been manifested that Jesus died, it's been manifested that the gospel happened, it's been manifested that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, and it was without the law that we get the righteousness of God. Now, he says in verse 22, even. The word even, I always just think of this word, specifically. Just always, when you see the word even in your mind, just think the word specifically, okay? 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. So he's saying, specifically, what are we talking about? The righteousness of God, isn't that the same phrase we read in the previous verse? The same phrase we read in Romans chapter 1 verse 17? The righteousness of God, how do we get it? Which is by faith of Jesus Christ. So what is the only way to have the righteousness of God? It's by faith of Jesus. That's it. It's not following a specific commandment. It's not going to church. It's not turning over a new leaf. It's not getting baptized. And look, I'm Baptist. I'm all for baptism. I'm not like downplaying baptism. But when it comes to the gospel, when it comes to the righteousness of God, it's by faith of Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible says. And it says, by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, notice this, for there is no difference. Why is he bringing up there's no difference? Because as we've been going slowly, we've realized we've been contrasting the whole time, haven't we? Okay, Jews, and then we brought up the Gentiles, and then we kind of brought it back to the Jews, and then we're realizing, but there's really no difference in the context of salvation. In the context of salvation, no difference. In the context of being sinners, no difference. In the context of having advantages from birth, the Jews went out. Didn't we prove that? The heathen, the Gentiles, were horrible. I mean, they didn't know the way of peace, destruction and misery are their ways. They don't have any fear of God. What would be a family that doesn't have any fear of God? How about an atheist family? Right? So it's saying like, hey, did the atheist, the kid raised atheist, have any disadvantages to the guy raised Christian? Yes. But you know what? They're both sinners, and they're both saved by the faith of Jesus Christ. So it doesn't really matter. In that context, there's no difference. Okay? And throughout history, all those things have always been the same. It doesn't matter how far back we go in time, the Jews are sinners, Gentiles are sinners, and they're both saved by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's it. Just, you know, Rahab the harlot was saved by the gospel, just like Joshua was saved by the gospel. Now, was Joshua's upbringing better than Ruth's? I'm sorry, than Rahab's? Yes. And Ruth's too. But specifically Rahab, right? Rahab the harlot had a way worse upbringing. I guarantee it. But you know what? They both got saved by the same process of believing in Jesus Christ. Okay? And saved by the blood and saved by faith. So that's the point that we've been making. Now look at verse 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, I do believe this verse, it is in the context of everyone. Jesus is everyone. Okay? So again, I'm not mad at you if you say, hey, the Bible says in verse 10, as is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. That's true. And here's another comforting fact. You're almost always preaching the gospel to Gentiles, so it always applies to them. Okay? And it's true regardless. But I think just in understanding this passage and seeing some of these verses when it talks about the differences and the contrasting, it's important to just point out those facts. Okay? For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. I love that word freely. You know, and Romans actually uses the word free a couple different times when talking about the gospel. And I love that word free because it really drives in home what we believe. Salvation is free. Being justified freely. Well, I gave Him my life. You didn't get saved because you're either justified freely or you're not justified. But you didn't give Him anything. You don't have anything to give because then it's no longer free. Free is free. And notice, I was justified freely by His grace, the word grace means no work, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. I didn't get saved by my testimony. I didn't get saved by what I did. I got saved through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Verse 25, whom God has 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. I love Romans 3 because it couldn't make it clearer how salvation is all of Jesus. And first of all, it says a propitiation. Propitiation, if you kind of look this up in a dictionary or online, it's talking about a reconciliation process. Another word that's similar would be like an atonement, an atone. You know, in some ways it's to appease, to satisfy. So in some ways it's saying the debt that we owe to God, or the wages of our sin, has been appeased by God. Or has been atoned for. Reconciliation has been made. Another way is that God is angry with us, in a sense, for our sins, and that anger has been pacified, and we have restored relationship with God the Father through the atonement, through the propitiation of what Jesus Christ has done. And it's all kind of interrelated. Sometimes people will replace this word for payment, and that is, I believe, an aspect of this, but I don't think it's a full definition of propitiation. It's kind of missing out on some of the elements of what it's trying to communicate. You know, atonement's a little bit closer of a word or a definition of this, but again, He has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, and I love this, to declare His righteousness. So the only righteousness needed for salvation was Jesus. I didn't have to have any, and I didn't have any. The only righteousness I have is the faith I have in His righteousness, and then I have His imputed righteousness unto me, and of course, His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. Of course, the forbearance, again, is just alluding to the fact that God was not necessarily punishing sin immediately, but He's allowing there to be a time gap between sin and the punishment for Jesus to come in the middle, and then for you to believe in Him, so then you don't actually get that punishment. Because if the punishment was immediate, well then there's no gap for Jesus to come in, and there's no gap for us to actually have faith in Him. So praise God that He gives us so much forbearance. And think about it, how much forbearance do the many people get? 70 years, 80 years. George Soros, I mean, how many years has that guy gotten? Way too many, right? But think about it, that's a lot of time to one time decide to trust in Christ. You can't say that God's not merciful, He's not long-suffering, that He's not gracious when He's given people just so, year after year after year, just so much opportunity to accept His grace and to believe on Him, and yet they decided not to. Now it says in verse 26, To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness. So again, it doubles down. It's not my testimony, it's His testimony. It's not my righteousness, it's His righteousness. And so it's so foolish when you have false preachers like Ray Comfort getting up and saying, when are you going to repent of your sins? Well, it doesn't have anything to do with me getting saved, because it was His righteousness. It's not my righteousness, it's not me turning over, it's not me doing something different, it was me putting faith in His righteousness that gets me saved. Right. And the only thing I'm going to declare right now, I like how he says this, to declare I say, at this time. Okay, so it's like, in this conversation, the only thing that matters is His righteousness. Now does that mean that after you get saved, you shouldn't still try to have righteousness and do right? No, no, no, of course we could. But in the context of what we're talking about now, hey, right now, we're only talking about His righteousness. To declare at this time His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus. So the only one that's just is Jesus. The only one that was good was Jesus. The only one that's righteous is Jesus. And notice He's the justifier. He's the justifier of who? Those who repented of their sins. Nope. The justifier of the Jews. Nope. The justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus. The only way to be justified in front of God is to have believed in Jesus Christ. Verse 27, where is boasting then? That's the logical question. Well then how am I gonna brag about what I did? How am I gonna tell people about all the sins I changed over? How am I gonna get up and brag about, you know, me giving up this lifestyle and whatever? Where am I gonna do that? It is excluded. So if someone came up to me saying, hey pastor, will you share your testimony? I'll be like, sure, you ready? Jesus. And they're like, what about yours? It's excluded. Well what about what you did? It's excluded. What about what sins you turned from? It is excluded. It's not, at this time, it's about His righteousness. I don't have anything to talk about. Well it says like this, by what law? Of works. Nay, but by the law of faith. So he's saying, you know, there is no boasting. It's completely excluded. And of course, what gets us to salvation? Is it of works? No, it was by faith. Verse 28. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Great statement. I point this out a lot of times in somebody, not every time, but it's just such a powerful verse. It says, hey, we've already finished it. We've already, we've gone through three chapters and we've finally concluded, what's our full conclusion? What's the conclusion of the Bible? Therefore, a man, you know, is not justified by works, right? Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That's an important phrase. Go back to where it says in verse number 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. Without the law is manifested. Without the law is manifested. What does it say in 28? Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Because it's talking about the same thing. Without, what is the deeds of the law? Thou shalt not let adultery. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not steal. That's the deeds of the law. Also doing the good things of the Bible. You know, honoring my father and my mother. That's not necessarily a negative command. That's a positive command. But that's the deeds of the law. But therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. So it has nothing to do with it. We're going to take all of that and just throw it in the trash can of our algebraic equation. The only thing necessary is faith. And some people say, Oh, you're saying that faith, well, let's do this. Faith that works is dead. And I'm like, well, that's what saves me. Because you know what? In our equation, it was faith, and then we put all of the works in the trash can and so we had faith alone. Even if you want to call it dead, that's what saved me. You know what? You can have a dead faith in that sense and still be saved. But of course, that isn't going to profit anybody else. And we get that's the whole point of James chapter 2. But at the same time, you know what? Salvation is truly a free gift. And it's his righteousness. And it has nothing to do with what we've done. It's completely excluded what we've done. It's just by faith. Verse 29. Verse 29. Is he the God of the Jews only? Now again, why is that an important question? Because we've been contrasting the Jews and Gentiles throughout this chapter. And we've been noticing that salvation is by faith of Jesus and Jesus, you know, some people say this, Jesus was a Jew. It's like, okay, sure. He was of the tribe of Judah. He's the lion of the tribe of Judah. He's of the son of David. So does that mean that salvation's only for the Jews since it's through Jesus? Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. And then notice this. Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Notice that the gospel plan is the same for both parties. You know, those in Israel that don't believe in Jesus are going to hell. It doesn't matter if you're, even if they are physically Jews. I don't care if they're the most Jewish person by ethnicity on the planet, if they don't believe in Jesus, they're going to hell. And the most Gentile person, whatever that is, okay, maybe Ben, it's not. He's really, he's more Semitic than all of us, okay, combined. All right. But the most Gentile person in this room, he is going to, that believes in Jesus is going to heaven because it's not about that. And it's the same God. There's only one God, okay. And he says in verse 31, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. So that's our last verse. I want to make one point. I've heard some people try to claim in verse 30 that there's a difference between the circumcision being by faith and the uncircumcision being through faith. These are dumb people like ruckmanites and you should just ignore them. When people want to make arguments like that, don't come to me like, hey Pastor Shelley, how do I prove this? Don't talk to those people. That's the answer, okay. When someone wants to get that technical on by, because you know what happens when you look up the word by in a dictionary? It'll say through. And then when you look up through in a dictionary, it'll say by because they mean the same thing. That's like the difference between believing in Jesus and believing on Jesus. I've heard people try to make a difference between that. And you're like, no. There's no difference, okay. So it's just the King James translators freshening it up a little bit and putting two different words that mean the same thing in there just to make it sound good, okay. It's the same thing. We're saved by it. That was the point. The whole point was that it was the same. And then they're trying to make it different somehow, okay. Then here's the last question that we're asked. Okay, Pastor Shelley, if then being a Jew or a Gentile didn't really matter, we're both sinners, and if for salvation it's the same plan, then does that mean the law is meaningless? Does that mean the law, like what's the point of the law? Or do we just discard the law? We make void the law? Like what's the point of this law thing? And what's the question? Do we do it? God forbid, okay. So do we just render the law meaningless and useless at this point since salvation is without the law? No, God forbid, okay. What does it say? Yea, we establish the law. What does it mean to establish something? Well, there's a lot of ways you could look at this. One definition of establish is show to be true. And, you know, we show the law to be true by believing the gospel because we recognize the fact that if we didn't believe the gospel, what would happen? We would be judged by that law and we'd go to hell for breaking the commandments of that law. So in one aspect, we're establishing the law by saying we need to believe in Jesus so we're not judged by that law. That's one really important way that we're establishing the law and establishing the power of the law and establishing the righteousness of that law and establishing the curse of that law by recognizing the truthfulness of the law of God. That's one aspect of this. Another way to define establish is to accept and recognize. So, again, that's kind of in the same context or the same vein as what I'm saying. We're accepting the law as true. We're recognizing the power of the law. But one other aspect of this, and I think this is what it's really trying to say, is, okay, then do I need to not follow the laws of God? And the answer is obviously no. Now, Hebrews more elaborately describes how there was a change of that law and so some aspects of the law of God have changed and they're not necessarily performed in the New Testament. But things that weren't changed, even though we're saved by faith, doesn't mean we just stop following those commandments. No, we should do everything in the law. And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I want to go to one verse in Romans, chapter 8, just to kind of look at this. Something that you have to understand is the people that actually follow the law the best, according to the Bible, are the people that were saved by faith without the law. And the Bible tells us in Romans, chapter number 8, look what it says in verse 4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That's an important verse, but what the Bible is trying to say, and emphasize in Romans, chapter 8, and again I'm not trying to get too far ahead of myself, is the fact that when you're saved, now you have the Holy Spirit and you actually have an opportunity to walk in that Spirit and to actually obey God's commandments. Whereas before, when you weren't saved, you were going to be an utter failure at following God's commandments. Because the people who are the best at following the law are the ones that actually got saved. And what's so ironic about this is those who believe in work salvation, they suck at keeping the law. And then the people who don't believe it's necessary to get saved are the ones that are the best at keeping the law. And we're not making the law void. We're establishing the law. Whereas the people that believe in work salvation, they're constantly making it void by lessening the definitions of sin to try and make it seem like they can still get into heaven because they're so righteous. And so you'll notice that those who teach work salvation, they're constantly undermining the laws of God. And they're trying to make it permissive. Oh, tattoo's fine. Oh, you can dress however you want and be however you want. And they start actually making void the law. Whereas us, I don't need any law to get saved. But then I still try to follow it the best because I'm walking in the Spirit. So again, that's just kind of a precursor. This verse is kind of a precursor to some of the things we're going to talk about later in the Book of Romans about how we walk in the Spirit and we fulfill the righteousness of the law. But the only opportunity we had to even follow the laws of God was to get saved. Because man is a total mess. It's Jesus that lives in us, it's the Spirit that lives in us that enables us to even have the opportunity to try and follow the law. Of course, none of us are perfect. We'll never do it exactly right. But we do the best of all the people on the planet. And that's why you get great chapters like Matthew 25 and other places in Scripture that basically show you that the righteous is the only ones doing good anyways. And we're the only ones that can do good anyways. And of course, we're not making the law void. We're the ones that are actually establishing the law and preaching the law and following the laws of God and care about the law of God and love the law of God. And those who actually believe in work salvation despise the law of God many times. And so we don't want to get confused. Everything has its proper role and its proper place. We love the law of God, but it doesn't get us saved. And though we reject the law when it comes to salvation, we embrace it for our daily living. And so of course, let us continue to be example Christians and those that do not make void the law of God in our lives, but rather we establish it. Let's go to prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us a free gift of salvation. I pray that every single one of us would make sure that those of our family members and our friends and the lost out there that we preach the clear gospel and that we show them how it's a free gift. And I pray that even though we receive such a free gift, we wouldn't take it for granted, but rather we'd be motivated to establish the law of God and that we would try to walk in holiness and righteousness, not for salvation, but rather just to be pleasing unto you. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, for our final song this evening, please turn to 316. I have decided to follow Jesus. The pastor talked a lot about free will, salvation's a choice, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, following His commandments is too. And so we need to decide to follow Jesus. 316. I have decided to follow Jesus. 316. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. No turning back, no turning back. Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed.