Praise the Lord, it is wonderful to be here with everyone. It sure was nice to have some time to fellowship today with Brother Kolp and his wife. I enjoyed the thought of his message this morning. I believe he painted a very good picture that we can all learn from.
There are many people today looking for stability because it turns out they had been building on sinking sand. But there is stability in faith in Christ. There is something we can trust in, that when everything else falls away, there is still a solid rock, a solid foundation we can rest on. Integrity is something God is looking for, and there is a question in front of a lot of people: Are they going to act with integrity? Are they going to be honest? Or are they going to deny the truth and embrace a lie? People are making their choices today.
I am so thankful for brothers like Brother Kolp. There are many ministers and saints, even of the older generation, who open up and are telling the truth about the things that went on. Lord willing, we will share a few of their testimonies before much longer.
So let me greet everyone who has come out to be with us this evening, and I also greet all our listeners and friends online all around the world. I had a chance to speak with a brother over in Ghana again this week, and a few other brothers overseas. God is blessing and moving among many people. Let us just make sure we keep them all in our prayers. The truth of what has gone on can be very disturbing to people, and we understand that. It was very disturbing to us.
We want people to know that we still have hope in Jesus. It was Jesus who saved us. It was Jesus who has kept us. It is Jesus we are following today, and it is Jesus who is coming back one day to take us to glory. One man asked me a question; he said, “Who are you following now?” And we said, “We are following Jesus.” That is something that they just can’t believe is even possible. It’s not even something that enters into their mind as a possibility. But Jesus is alive and well. If you want, you can follow Jesus. If you want to be around some people who are also following Jesus, then you can come join us here—you are welcome. That is exactly what many people are doing, and I thank God for it.
We are not waiting on seven thunders that are never going to come. That was a hoax. But we are waiting on Jesus.
This evening I am picking back up in the book of Romans chapter 3, if you would like to turn there with me. I am going to pick up reading at verse 19, and read on down to verse 28.
Romans 3, King James Version:
19 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.
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.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 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:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 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;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Let us pray:
Lord God, we thank you for another day you have given us. We thank you for the blessings you have bestowed on us. We thank you for the Holy Spirit you have placed in our lives. And as we approach the Bible tonight, and take some time to read what is written in it, I pray that you will help us to clearly understand what is written in it. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Introduction:
Well, there is so much here in these verses I have read, that I’m not going to cover every aspect of it in this message. But I want to begin tackling these verses tonight. Paul is beginning to open up and talk about the essential truths of the gospel, the essential doctrines of our Christian faith. Up until this point, Paul has been explaining to his readers that the problem facing mankind is sin. He has explained how vast and insurmountable the problem is for us on our own, and how we need a savior to rescue us, redeem us, and reconcile us to God.
But here Paul is turning to explain the solution to the problem of sin. Sin is the problem. Sin is the root of all of man’s problems—all the pain, all the suffering, all the horrors, everything that is wrong in the world flow from sin in the hearts of fallen men and women. And God has provided a way of escape, a way for us to escape sin and all the turmoil it causes. And Jesus is the way of escape. Our escape from sin begins with us escaping from its penalty. The penalty of sin is separation from God and death—not just physical death, but spiritual death.
To be set free from the penalty for sin, we have to be justified. Our account has to be settled with God. The sin which we committed has to be punished. God is a just God, and He will punish sin. We have two options we can choose from.
Jesus came, He hung on a cross, and God punished Him for the sins of the world. He bore the punishment. He didn’t die for just some sins; the Bible tells us He died for the sins of the whole world. Whatever sin you may have ever committed, when Jesus died on the cross, when He bore that punishment, He paid for all your sins. There is not a single one of your sins that Jesus did not pay for. He didn’t make a partial payment for your sins—He paid for them all: past, present, and future. The beauty of the gospel is that truth. Jesus died and was punished for your sins, and for that to be true, all you have to do is believe in Him for that.
Do you believe that? Do you truly believe that Jesus paid it all? Are you convinced of that in your heart? Because if you do, and if you are, then it is true. That faith in Christ and what He did—that is enough to be justified. That is all it takes. I believe Jesus died and took the punishment for my sins. And I am justified by that. I am not justified by what I did, but I am justified by what Jesus did on the cross.
That is our first choice.
Our second choice is this: We can refuse to believe that Jesus died for all our sins and that we are justified by what He did. Instead, we can come up with something else. We can seek to be justified through our own works or good deeds. But Paul has already spent two chapters explaining to us how that will never work. He repeated it again right there in verse 20, which we read tonight. If we do not accept that Jesus died and was punished for all of our sins, then when the end of our life comes, we are going to be punished for our sins. If we do not accept that Jesus was punished to pay for our sins, then at the end of our life, we are going to be punished for our sins.
So, the question of justification is not whether or not we are guilty. The question is who is going to pay the penalty. If you will believe it, Jesus paid the penalty. But if you don’t believe it, then you will pay the penalty.
Now, what I am explaining is what Paul says there in verse 25. Let me read that verse:
“25 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.”
He says that Jesus was the propitiation, through faith in His blood. Propitiation means the one who paid the penalty. Jesus is the one who paid the penalty for sin. But He is only the payment for the penalty if we have faith that He did. So, if I don’t believe that Jesus paid it all, then the truth is, He didn’t pay it all for me, and I am going to have to pay for it. But if through faith in His blood, I believe that Jesus paid it all, I believe He was the propitiation, then He was. If I do believe He paid it all, then He did, and His payment covers my penalty. It comes back to our faith. Do we believe this or not? It’s only true for us if we believe it.
“25 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.”
Paul is saying that very succinctly there. But Paul is not pulling this idea out of thin air. Jesus told us this was how it would work when He was here. And before Jesus, the prophets of the Old Testament told us the same thing. I have preached several times from Isaiah 53 over the past two years, and that is exactly what Isaiah is talking about. Isaiah 53 is about Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior, dying to pay for all of our sins so that we don’t have to. He was punished for sin so that we don’t have to be punished for sin.
God is a just and fair God. He does not double punish sin. He did not punish Jesus for your sin, and now He is going to punish you for it too. The Bible tells us that God will not double punish sin. If that were true, it would actually be against His own word. Jesus was punished for our sins, and now we won’t be punished for them. He was our propitiation.
This payment for our sins is very important for our justification.
Here in these verses I have read tonight, this is the first time Paul has mentioned the words “justified” or “justification” in the book of Romans. This is a word he is going to use many times, and it is very important that we understand what this word means.
Justification is one of the principal doctrines of Christianity, and it is a doctrine that is clearly spelled out to us in Scripture. It requires, honestly, no interpretation whatsoever. We can just read it off the page. Read Isaiah 53. Go through the prophecies pointing to the atonement. Read the book of Romans. Read what Peter said on this subject. Read what John said on this subject. Read the words of Jesus Himself. This doctrine of justification is probably the clearest, most thoroughly explained doctrine of the entire Bible. And it is made so clear in the Bible because it is so important. It is one of the main points of the gospel.
When we understand basic doctrines like this, we can compare them to other things we hear. We can ask ourselves, “Does what these people over here are telling me line up with the most plain and clear doctrine in the whole Bible? Is what they are saying compatible with the idea that Jesus died and paid the penalty for all my sins and that He was punished in my place?” That’s a good question people should ask themselves.
To help make this clear, I want to spend a little time defining these words: “justified” and “justification.” Those are two words I want to make sure everyone gets a clear explanation of.
What is justification, in a general sense? Justification is my excuse or my acceptable answer to the situation. Someone may ask you a question, “Why did you do that?” They may be upset or unhappy that you did a certain thing, and so you’re going to offer them a justification—an explanation as to why you did that thing. The justification that you offer explains why you were within your right or why what you did was okay.
If your justification is valid, if it’s actually a valid, good justification, then you are justified. But if your justification is no good, then you’re not justified. But if you have a good justification, then you are justified. Whether or not you are actually justified depends on how good your justification is.
Let me use a simple example. Let’s say you were driving down the road and a police officer pulls you over, and he says, “Show me the registration for this vehicle.” You show it to him, and he says, “This car does not belong to you. Why are you driving it?” You are going to have to give him a justification to explain why you are driving a car that does not belong to you. Now, you could give a good justification. You could say, “Well, I borrowed this car from my friend, and he said I could use it.” The police officer would say, “Well, that is a good justification; you are justified in what you have done.” But maybe you have a bad justification. You could say, “Well, maybe you borrowed that car without permission,” which is called stealing. If the police runs the tags and finds out your justification is no good, then you are in big trouble. Because if your justification is bad, then you are not justified. You are going to jail.
So, our justification matters. A good justification will justify you, but a bad justification will not justify you. A good justification will let you avoid a penalty, but a bad justification means you are still going to have to pay the penalty. You could say it like this: If you have a good justification, then you are excused, but if you have a bad justification, you are liable.
Now, with that in mind, Paul is telling us something very important in these verses. He is telling us that what we use for our justification matters.
In verse 20, Paul tells us there that if we use the deeds of the law as our justification, that is not going to work. We cannot actually be justified by the deeds of the law. Let me read it, verse 20:
“20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight:”
This would be like telling the police officer you borrowed the car without permission. This justification is not going to work. If we are going to point to our deeds as our explanation, if this is the story we are sticking with, then we are not going to be justified.
If we use the law as our justification, that’s not going to work out in our favor. If we point to the law, we will not actually be justified. In the prior chapters, Paul has explained what these “deeds of the law” include: anything besides faith in Christ. If we believe our knowledge or revelation will justify us, that falls under the heading of “deeds of the law.” If we believe living a good, clean life will justify us, that falls under the heading of “deeds of the law.” If we believe being part of a special group or having special teachers will justify us, that goes under the heading of “deeds of the law.” Those are all the things Paul has been warning against in the prior chapters. Those things are not good enough. Those things, as our justification, will not work.
The law as our justification will not actually justify us. When the day comes that our lives get pulled over by God, and we stand before His judgment seat, God is only going to accept one justification. The justification that God is going to accept is for us to say, “Jesus paid it all.” No matter how long or how hard we point to the law as justification, we will never be justified by it.
If we have to stand before God and tell Him why we should not go to hell for our sins, what is the answer that will work? What is going to justify us?
Well God, I went to church every Sunday. That won’t work.
Well God, I loved all my neighbors and treated them good. That won’t work.
Well God, I spent hours every day studying the Bible and listening to great teachers, and I know all the mysteries of the Bible. That won’t work.
Well I went to a church, and they had a special prophet, and they told us we were the bride of Christ, and we had miracles and signs and wonders. That won’t work.
None of those things will justify you. The only thing that will justify you is to say, “Jesus paid it all.”
And here is the thing: if you have none of those other things but you still say Jesus paid it all, you are going to make it.
And here is what is really sad. It’s very sad. The places where we come from, if you asked the average person sitting there, “What is your justification? What is going to get you into heaven?” You know, almost no one would say, “Because Jesus paid it all.” I bet you would have a hard time finding even one single person who would say that. I did when I was in there. I remember one time I asked a preacher what makes you part of the bride of Christ. He didn’t even know the answer to the question. I remember another time someone came and asked, “What do I need to do to be saved?” The same preacher told him to give up smoking, and then God might save you.
How in the world can you put your faith in preachers who don’t even know what justification is? Those are preachers who will only lead you to damnation because they themselves may not even be saved, as they don’t even know what justification is. It’s very dangerous. And the people do not know how to answer this question correctly. If they can’t answer it correctly to me, do you think they can answer it correctly to God? What is your justification? Will you give the right answer? Because that is not what their preachers have taught them. So let me ask you this question: If your answer is not “Jesus paid it all,” if that is not your justification, then are you going to make it?
Let me read verse 20:
“20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.”
Unless your justification is that Jesus paid it all, verse 20 is where you find yourself. I don’t want to be under verse 20 because if I am under verse 20, then I am the one who is going to have to pay for my sins.
Sanctification
Now the last thing I want to look at is comparing justification to sanctification. We are not going to talk about sanctification very much here, but I just want to talk about how justification and sanctification are two different things. They are deeply connected, but they are not the same thing.
Justification is the basis of our salvation. When we are justified, it means pardoned by God, our access to God is restored, we are free from guilt, and we are accepted by God. That is wonderful. It immediately makes us right with God. And if you are right with God, you are righteous in His sight.
So with justification, we are positionally righteous. God is looking at us and seeing the finished work. He sees us as perfect in Christ. We have a mark or a stamp put on us: Justified.
But just because we have that stamp or mark put on us, it does not mean our nature has been changed. It does not mean we have been perfected. It does not mean we have a glorified body and are living in heaven with Jesus. One day, we will have a glorified body, and we will be in heaven with Jesus. That is our finished state. And the stamp or mark is a seal on us. We are sealed till the day of redemption. Jesus bought and paid for everything we need to get us to that day when we are finally perfect. And now, once we are saved, once we are justified, we are waiting for that day. We may make some more mistakes before that day gets here, but Jesus died to pay for that too.
We sing the song, “Jesus Paid It All.” That is justification. Jesus paid it all, and heaven is waiting for us. And nothing can keep us from going there because Jesus paid it all. But then the next line is, “All to Him I owe.” That is where sanctification works. Or like Bro Jesus sang this morning, “I am weak and poor, but Lord, all I have is Yours.” That is where sanctification starts. And that is how sanctification operates.
I love Jesus so much. I want to be like Him. I want to show the world what He is like. I want to be identified with Him. And Paul is going to get to this subject of sanctification later on, and we will look at it in detail later. But when we are justified, God is going to start transforming our lives. The justification is not the transformation of our lives. The sanctification of our lives is what transforms us. Sanctification makes us more like Jesus. And that is not talking about us getting plastic surgery to change our outward appearance to visibly look like Jesus. But when we talk about being like Jesus, that is something on the inside. The Bible tells us about the love of God in Christ Jesus. It was in Jesus. And Jesus said, “By this men will know you are my disciples, because you love one another as I have loved you.” And this love from our heart, and the fruit of the Spirit that grows with it, this is what makes us like Jesus. And that is true holiness. That is sanctification. That is our life being transformed to be like Jesus. And as God works in our life to help us be more and more like Jesus, that is sanctification.
True holiness, that is a good thing. True holiness, sanctification, being like Jesus, that is a good thing when it’s the real thing. You know when being like Jesus becomes a bad thing? Being like Jesus becomes a bad thing when you don’t know who Jesus is. When your Jesus is a mean, hateful Jesus, when your Jesus is a cruel, vindictive Jesus, when your Jesus is not really Jesus at all, when you try to make people like that Jesus and you tell them being like that Jesus is holy, it leaves a bad taste in their mouth.
But we are here today, we are living holy lives. I am seeking to live a holy life like Jesus lived. I believe that’s what we’re all doing. We don’t want fake holiness, but we do want true holiness. And Paul is going to get into this topic more deeply later in this book. But for now, let’s just compare what I have said about sanctification to justification.
Justification happens outside of me (Jesus justified me on the cross at Calvary). Sanctification happens inside of me (The Holy Spirit is changing me).
Justification happens outside of me, but sanctification happens inside of me.
Justification takes away the penalty of sin. Sanctification takes away the effects of sin.
Justification is immediate, and it is once and for all, and it lasts forever. But sanctification is something that is going to last our entire life. From the moment we are saved until we go to meet our Lord, as long as I am on this earth, the Holy Spirit can make me a little more like Jesus every day.
Justification is what saves me. Sanctification is what makes me more like Jesus. They are connected, but they are not the same thing.
Wrapping up
There is so much more about these verses we could say tonight, but I am going to just wrap it up here.
Why am I justified? Because I reformed? Because I changed my ways? Because I understand special mysteries? Because I am part of a special group? Because I heard a special teacher? Why am I justified? I am justified because Jesus paid it all. I am saved because Jesus paid it all.
And again, this is ultimately the root problem with the places that we come from. They do not believe Jesus is enough. They mixed up justification and sanctification, and then a lot of them who are trying to be like Jesus have a wrong idea of who Jesus is. In the end, the result is they do not believe justification by faith in Christ can save a person. They will pay it lip service from time to time, but the main thrust of their beliefs is incompatible with justification by faith in Christ alone. They have added to the formula. They have corrupted the most essential doctrine of the Christian faith. And more so than anything, this is the root of the problem I have with them. But I thank God that He has put a firm grasp on this truth in my heart. I know that Jesus paid it all, and I know what He did is enough to justify me. I am so thankful that He did it for me because I can never do it for myself.
Let me close in prayer:
Lord God, I thank You for being so good to us. I thank You for giving us this short time to study the Scripture together. Let these words spoken today be a help and blessing to the listeners. I pray that You convict each heart that hears them, that they will honestly consider the things that have been said, especially those in the places we have come from. And that by Your Holy Spirit, You will reveal to them the truth of this matter. Help them recognize where their salvation rests. Help them realize they are in systems that have forsaken this truth. Help them realize their hope of salvation in things besides Jesus is actually a vain hope. Help them realize their hope of justification in their deeds and their knowledge is a vain hope. Convict them of their need to come back to You. Convict their hearts for their failure to preach Christ. Convict their hearts that they forsake their false beliefs and their vain hopes. And inspire them to come to rest fully on Jesus Christ. God, I thank You that Jesus paid it all. And Lord, truly all to Him we owe. That is why we stand here today, because You have given us an unction, and we are here to obey what You have given us to do. Bless each soul, and set the captive free, I pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.