Romans 3 by Paul Washer

it's open up our Bibles to Romans chapter 3 before we look at our text I would like to say that I always enjoy it when I'm able to be in a place and gathered with God's people and also to worship God unhindered when I believe that the young people leading us in worship have done an excellent job of drawing attention to the Lord and not to themselves and it's always a great blessing just to give you a lesson on worship you did you did wonderful but I always say leading worship is like a man walking down the street in New York where the sidewalk is just filled with people imagine that man walking down the sidewalk no one's paying attention to him but all of a sudden he stops he just looks up he keeps looking up what's everyone going to do as they walk down the sidewalk they're going to look at him and then they're going to go like this that's how you lead worship that you are so enthralled with worshiping God that when the congregation looks at you they quickly remove their eyes from you to look at what you're looking at you guys did a good job of that Romans chapter 3 now I've made something of a commitment years ago that no matter where I went in the world I would preach this text that the first thing I would always do whenever I came to a place is preach this text in Romans 3 and I've been consistent preached it in a lot of places because I do believe it is the most important text in all the scripture Romans chapter 3 verse 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith this was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration I say of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just in the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus where then is boasting it is excluded by what kind of law of works no but by a law of faith now we're going to look at this text line by line and draw some truths that are not common in gospel preaching today but if you went back 150 years and farther you would find it on in every sermon in every sermon on the gospel let's begin Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God now that means so little today doesn't it does it fill your heart with fear and trembling to think that this is speaking about you do you fear sin do you hate it do you see it as something of just abject disgust we walk out in the world today and we tell someone they're a sinner they're liable to laugh at us aren't they not because they don't believe it's true just because they don't care you tell a man he has sinned he really doesn't care our society lives on sin it drinks down iniquity like it was water we use sin in advertising in comedy in entertainment in everything so to tell someone that they are a sinner means very little and why is it that sin is taken so lightly I will explain it this way because people do not know God you do not press upon someone the magnitude of what sin is merely by talking about sin or the damage sin does to the person or society or culture or generational effect of sin that means very little the only way someone is going to understand how horrific sin truly is is to understand the glory of the God against whom it is committed and since so little preaching today has to do with the magnificent and majesty of God since so much preaching today is humanistic and man centered in all about man people do not fear sin because they do not fear God and they do not fear God because they don't know God and they don't know God because most preachers aren't preaching God and most preachers don't preach God because they don't know God and so we see the Train don't we what is the thing that the church most needs to know who God is let me give you an example if you and I are playing American football or rugby or soccer and you get a little rough with me and I jokingly say to you hey buddy you do that one more time I'm taking you out of this world okay I can say that to you and we can laugh about it but if I say that to President Barack Obama I'm going to go to jail no really you don't make statements like that about the president you don't why because of his authority because of his position as president it's not treated the same way and it should not be treated the same way now taking that example let's think about the person of God sin is horrific because of the glory of the one against whom it is committed the Puritans used to say this when you sin you've not sinned against some small mayor of a tiny village but you have sinned against the Lord of glory all of Heaven declares that you rightfully ought to die for the most minor infraction against God yet we don't see that because in our world man is so big he's the measure of all things he's the center of all things and God is so small so the only way we're going to be able to regain our idea of the sinfulness of sin is to first regain the glory of God God rebukes Israel in the Book of Psalms and says this you committed all these things you committed all these sins because you thought I was like you do you know that Sunday morning is the greatest hour of idolatry in the Western world it is do you know why I say that because if you were to go into most churches and ask people to describe the God they're worshiping you would discover it's not the God of the Bible as a matter of fact I've had pastors come to me and say I'd like you to do a week-long conference in our church on the attributes of God and I say that's a little dangerous don't you think and they go how would you say that I say pastor if I start teaching not my personal view of God but if I taught in your church the classical historical view of the attributes of God when I got to the sovereignty justice and righteousness and wrath of God you would have some of your church members stand up and say that's not my god I could never love a god like that most people have almost no sense whatsoever of who God is no biblical sense and so what do they do they create a God in their own image and then they worship the God they've made a God like us but he's not like us all have sinned I like to put it this way imagine that on the day of creation God tells stars to put themselves in certain parcels in space and they all bow down they worship Him he tells planets to move in certain orbits and not to leave their rhythm and they all cry out amen he tells mountains to be lifted up and valleys to be cast down and they obey Him he tells the sea you will come to this point and you will come no further and the sea worships and then he looks at you and says come and you go no that's why on the day of judgment all of creation will praise God for his condemnation of you if you are outside of Christ and they will raise their hands and testify that the God of all the earth has judged you rightly we have no idea how small and pathetic we are and how great and magnificent he is all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God you study the history of Bible interpretation on this passage right here on that phrase fall short of the glory of God you will be absolutely astounded why it has become so man centered the idea today is you've fallen short of the glory of God God had a wonderful plan for your life and you you're missing it that's why you're not self fulfilled and self realized and self everything else that's not what the text means this is not about you when it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God the proper interpretation the historical interpretation the one in the context of Romans itself is this what it's saying is this although you knew God you did not honor him as God or give thanks that God made you for his glory not your self fulfillment God made you for his glory and you are not serving that purpose you have sinned do you see that's what the text is about man is dislocated and disfigured seeking to be something he was never created to be to the ruin of his own life to the jeopardy of his own peace all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God you and I are only whole when we see God above ourselves and we worship and serve God rather than our own puny purposes all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God this presents the greatest problem as a matter of fact man only has one problem it's sin and why is sin a problem not because of sin itself actually sin is a problem because of God as a matter of fact met man's greatest problem is God himself you see sin would not be a problem at all if God was like us sin would not be a problem at all if God were not righteous or holy but he is righteous and holy and therefore sin presents a great problem I was to teach at a university for a night to a conference of basically atheistic agnostic a large crowd of people who were contrary to the gospel and as I'm behind the curtain waiting to be introduced I'm sitting there going Lord what do I do I mean I don't mind going out there and be booed and heckled and everything else but I desperately want to make these people see the reality of the gospel now as I was walking it towards the microphone just something all of a sudden just came into my head and so I said it I said tonight before I get started I would like to warn most of you that for some of you at least the faint of heart you may want to just simply leave now because what I am going to do is tell you the most terrifying truth for the thinking man the most terrifying truth in Scripture if you want to know the most frightful thing a man can conceive I'm going to share it with you tonight and therefore I forewarn you that you may want to leave I had their attention and so they're leaning forward waiting what is this horrific thing that the preacher is going to tell us and so I said here it is for the thinking man the most horrific terrifying truth is this God is good I could see them kind of sit there and then I saw them smirk and then one of the students goes what's the problem with that and I said you're not good so now what does a good God do with someone like you and that is the great problem do you realize in the book of Revelation when it talks about the Last Judgement the Last Judgement the final judgment comes before the ushering in of the new creation do you know why God must rid creation of some of you before he can create a new creation because you would defile it you must be cast out of to a place where there is no place found for you because if you even touched the new creation you would bring it in to disagree disarray just like the first he must ruin you in order to save the new creation what is a good God to do with violators twisted perverted souls who love evil and hate good what is a God to do this was common food in preaching just a hundred years ago it's hardly mentioned today you see here's the thing you need to understand God is righteous and because he is righteous he must judge you must understand also God is love and because God is love he must hate a woman one time objected to one of my sermons and she stood up and she said God can't hate because he's love and I said no God is love therefore he must hate what do you mean do you love Jews yes well then you cannot be dispassionate or neutral about the Holocaust you must hate the Holocaust do you love african-americans yes then you must hate slavery you see if you are truly truly righteous and if you truly love all that is good all that is pure all that is beauty all that is life then you must hate certain things and it's amazing that we reserve that right for ourselves but we refuse to say God has that right let me give an example if you were to open up the newspaper tomorrow and read about a little boy that when he was five years old he was kidnapped and carried away to a dark basement of a vile man where for ten years he was tortured and the very day that they found him the authorities was the day he died having suffered years and years of torment at the hands of that vile man when you read that and I said how do you feel about that if you said to me well you know it's no big deal I mean people need to have the freedom that they you know freedom to do what they feel like they need to do what about that boy well you know if you said something like that I'd realize that you were just as vile as the man who tortured him if you could be neutral and without passion in the face of such evil you are vile if the Holocaust in Auschwitz does not bother you you are an immoral person do you understand me the right response to that is what righteous indignation where your reason has to literally subject your zeal for what is right are you going to go out and murder that man for what he has done we have a righteous indignation if we being evil can burn when we hear about the injustice 'as in this world how much more a perfectly holy God many of you have heard the statement God loves the sinner and hates the sin well I'm sorry to inform you that that's not a biblical statement it's not God hates the sinner turn to Psalms chapter 5 hold your place in Romans Psalms chapter 5 verse 5 the boastful shall not stand before your eyes you hate all who do iniquity look what it says does it say that God hates the iniquity what does it say it says God hates all those who do iniquity it is not sin that God will one day cast into hell it is the sinner that God will one day cast into hell now when you read that you say well what about what about John 3:16 for God so loved the world he gave His only begotten Son and the world is full of sinners so what about John 3:16 john 3:16 is in the Bible and it's true but so is psalms 5 do you see that so is psalms 5 and the question with regard to good doctrine in theology is how do we balance out the two ideas without ignoring one of them and isn't it always amazing how we don't ignore the passages on love but we always ignore the passages on judgment it clearly teaches throughout the scriptures in various places that God's hatred is kindled against the wicked that's what it says now before I go into explain that let me take a step back I was preaching many many years ago and I'll never forget this I had preached that night on the holiness of God and when I came down from the pulpit I went towards the back three ministers were waiting for me there and they were very angry and this is what they said they said we had a real problem with you brother washer and I said well what is it they said you're imbalanced I said in what way said you preached tonight on the holiness of God and not once did you mention the love of God I said that's true that's true and I said were you here last night and they said yes I said last night I preached the entire night on the love of God and not once did I mention his holiness and none of you three men had a problem with that I think your imbalance I think you've got a problem you see isn't always amazing that the preacher is never never rebuked for preaching too much about love but if he even mentions doctrines that are clearly laid out in Scripture but forgotten and no longer taught yet a part of historical Christianity and more important biblical Christianity if he does that people think he's he's some sort of a vaild to some sort of a vile rogue yes John 3:16 is in the Bible God loves the world yes Psalms 5 5 is in the Bible and God hates all those who do iniquity I think the NIV has it God hates all those who do wrong what are you going to do with that well the greatest theologians down through the ages who've wrestled with this I think I would agree with this scenario when God sees the evil of men outside of Christ when God sees that evil his hatred his wrath his anger against them is kindled and ready to be poured out and it's like this but mercy intercedes and with one hand mercy holds back the wrath and hatred of God against the sinner and with the other hand God's mercy beckons the sinner to come but make no mistake about it and if you deny this doctrine you are not Christian one day one day for everyman mercy will withdraw its offer and mercy will withdraw its hand and no longer restrain God's hatred and at that moment for you sir outside of Christ the only thing that will be left for you is the holy hatred of God in his wrath being poured out upon you throughout all of eternity that is biblical doctrine so this is what we say that it is the mercies and the kindnesses of God to all men that restrain his wrath and beckon for all men to come and yet there will be a point in each individual life and in the macrocosm of human history there will be a point where God's hand of mercy withdraws the offer it's all throughout the book of Revelation withdraws the offer and God's hand of mercy no longer restrains his wrath and there's nothing left for the sinner but the perfect holy hatred of God against evil so when I walk up to a pedophile who has destroyed the lives of countless children I do not say God loves you just as you are what do I say I say sir the mercies of God have been revealed to you and that you still draw breath and while you draw breath there is hope of salvation for there is a lamb who has died for your vile crimes but if you continue rejecting that know this sir you will suffer eternal punishment in hell for every crime you've ever committed you know sometimes we must always use biblical language but sometimes preachers must go in some sense beyond biblical language you say what do you mean if I walk up to most people on the street and say you are a sinner many of them won't take me serious will they they even laugh won't they well what if I change the word and I said sir you're evil because that's what it means as a matter of fact to say someone as a sinner is far beyond saying they are evil it is evil in the grossest degree we can't understand this I know because we're so far away from a biblical understanding of God let me put it to you bluntly if you're outside of Christ on the day of judgement when you take your first step into hell the last thing you will hear is all of creation standing to its feet and praising God because he has rid the earth of you have you ever wondered this is often brought up well how a mother's and father's take it on that day when they see their their grown children judged and thrown into hell how will they bear that would you like the answer here's something you need to understand men are radically depraved men are totally depraved let me put it this way do you think that Hitler was an anomaly a phenomenon no every one of us here would make Hitler look like a choirboy except for the restraining grace of God that restrains our evil and the reason why God restrains the evil of evil men even those outside Christ is so that human civilization might continue to exist so that he might do a work of redemption for his son because if God were to simply remove the restraints from all men on this planet we would consume ourselves in a matter of a couple of days and there would be no work of redemption to behold and that child you need to understand this everything you love about that teenager that grown son that's outside of Christ everything you see that you appreciate that you hold dear is simply a manifestation of the common grace of God restraining the evil of that person but on the day of judgment there will be no restraining grace and your children will stand before you exactly as they are apart from the grace of God and what you will see are monsters who would slay you where you stand that is why even on the day of judgment parents will lift their hands to heaven and swear that the God of all the earth has done right and the judgment of their own children what do you think this gospel thing is what do you think this Christianity thing is it's some little toy some little patch some little silly idea that gives some sort of consolation to brutish people when the Bible says we're sinners do you think that just means that we're misunderstood when we see crimes that are committed that are unspeakable you think they're beyond you you need to understand what we are and when you understand what we are you will marvel at the fact that God would send his son to die for the likes of us that is why oftentimes you'll see the greatest zeal for Christ in life of the ex murderer the life of the ex prostitute or drug addict why they've seen something of what they are all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all all would stand condemned apart from God's work of grace in Jesus Christ let me go on to say this I was listening to the radio the other day at home and was talking about marriage same-sex marriage and the Constitution of the United States and said the founding fathers could never have and these were secular people would of course never even imagined that such a thing could have even possibly exist they would have never imagined it but here is the language that was used but we now today in the 21st century have other sensibilities and I was immediately taken to Ephesians 4 where it talks about us as a human as a society losing all sensibility and becoming calloused or when the Bible thinks about speaks about not even be able to mention because it's unspeakable the things that they do do you think that Western culture is going to be judged because of all of its sin do you believe that well you're wrong what do I mean you need to read Romans 1 correctly when you see all the sins that are in Romans 1 even to the end of the chapter and you say ah those sins now are found in our society that means that God's going to judge our society one day because these sins are so prevalent now no that's not what the text is saying the text is saying this if you look at a society and you see those sins are prevalent it means that God's already judged your society and how he has he judged it he's judged it in this although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks therefore in judgment he turned them over to do the evil in their own heart and these sins are committed so if these sins are already prevalent in your society it's not because God is going to judge you he already has it's already the Bell has already told the society of the West is doomed God will still convert people God will still save people out he will still have is remnant but what you have witnessed in what I have witnessed in my life now is the death of the West by God's hand all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God when you read that now you'll think about it in a different way won't you you'll see this is not a game this is not a game now in verse 24 speaking about the Christian he says being justified talking about those in Christ he now changes the course of what he's saying and here we get to the good news being justified now what does that mean what does that mean get it down that the word here is a legal or forensic term you must understand it in this way or its consequences are preposterous it is a legal or forensic term now what do I mean by that the moment a person places their faith in God in Christ God legally declares that person to be right with him do you understand me justification does not mean that the moment a person believes in Jesus they become a perfectly righteous being or that they're infused with grace so that they never sin again that is not what it's teaching it is a legal term it is this idea the moment you believe God God declares you to be right with him now many of you have heard that over and over and over but I want to add a term I want to add a phrase that if you don't understand this you can't understand Calvary and that's why we're laboring this point so much the moment a person believes saving faith in God God declares them right with him and he treats that person as right with him he treats that person that word treat keep that in the back of your mind he treats that person as right with him and that is such good news for the Christian you will never be more righteous before God legally than you are right now your position before God in Christ is that of absolute righteousness you are right with God you see with God remember he is impeccable he is without sin he is pure you can't be a little bit right with God or a little bit wrong with God you've either got to be perfectly right with God or you're completely wrong with God but the moment you place your faith in Christ God legally declares you to be right with him and then he treats you as right with him so that even when he disciplines his children he does so as a father and not as a judge judicially you've moved into a completely different realm and that's what it Romans 5 and 6 is about you've moved now into a completely different realm before you were in Adam which was sin law condemnation and death now you are in Christ justification righteousness and life okay now look what it says it says for being justified as a gift by His grace now I want you to think about this Paul seems to be rather redundant here it's almost as though he's saying you were justified as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift now the word here as are the phrase as a gift is translated from the Greek word Dorian that word is used somewhere else specifically when it's talking about the Messiah in the book of John and it says they hated him without a cause they hated me without a cause Dorian they hated me without a cause now when you take that and look at Romans 2324 what is it saying being justified without a cause and what does that mean you never gave God a call or reason to justify you do you see that you and I only gave God a reason or a cause to condemn us he justified us and he did so in a way that was alien to us he did so in a way that had nothing to do with you he did not justify you because of you he justified you in spite of you it's grace and that comes down to this if you ever take a contemporary religion class with me it's really easy I know you knows multitudes and hundreds and thousands of religions in the world no there's not it's really not there's only two really there's only two religions in the whole world and what are they there's Christianity which is a religion of grace and there's all the other religions of the world can be rolled up under this category religions of works every one of them every one that's what's unique to Christianity and was so surprising and so manifest the evil of men that they would hate with the utmost hatred the one religion that is free that is a gift they hate it why because it exalts God and abases man but if I were to stand up here and I was a reporter and I had an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim and a real Christian I mean a real one and I and as the report or a secular man I said to the the Muslim I said sir if you died right now where would you go and let's say he said I would go to paradise and I go well why would you go to paradise he says well the five pillars I've completed I've given alms to the poor I've made the pilgrimage as I say the daily prayers I am a righteous man well there's a secular reporter thinking logically I go well that makes sense he's going to heaven because he earned it I mean God owes him he did it he's a good man I go to the Orthodox Jew and I say if he died right now where would you go well I would go into the go to paradise why because I love the Torah I love the law of God i i love god's righteousness his law his word as a secular man i look at that as logical he earned it God owes him I go to the Christian the real Christians and I say if you died right now where would you go and he said I'd go to heaven why and he says this I was born in sin and in sin did my mother conceive me I have broken every law of my god and I deserve judgment and condemnation and as a reporter I look at that and go serve this is rather awkward the other two I understand but you're telling me that you're there going to heaven because well they earned it you tell me you're going to heaven even though you deserve the very opposite sir how are you going to heaven and the Christian says I'm going to heaven based upon the virtue and the merit of another Jesus Christ my lord that's why the Christian is the only person who can actually say he's going to heaven and not be boasting we can say he's going to heaven and at the same time humble himself because it is not by his own merit of virtue now I am NOT teaching as I will later demonstrate especially tomorrow that the true Christian lives like the devil and goes to heaven because the same God who justifies also regenerates the doctrine of regeneration you see man only has two problems the condemnation of sin and the power of sin through justification god puts away the condemnation of sin and through regeneration he puts away the power of sin so that those who have truly been justified have been regenerated and are able to walk in newness of life bearing fruit and demonstrating that their confession is true but is still salvation by grace nonetheless now let's go on being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus I wish I had the quote there was one old Puritan who would say this but there are some words that should not be mentioned except with the trembling lip redemption is one of those words redemption what does it mean it's to purchase something purchase a slave a captive prisoner by the making of a payment now that in itself is amazing but really what adds the amazement to this is the price that was paid the blood of God's own son the blood of God's own son there's a video out there and it's kind of growing in popularity and it's well done but it's bad theology you see this prisoner represents the sinner and he's chained to a wall and you see as the narrator speaking you see this shadow come toward him and all you can see is the shadow has its arm raised up and has a whip and it looks like he's about to beat the prisoner to death but then in this video all of a sudden the Son of God are what is supposed the son of God intercedes and puts himself in the middle and takes the lash of the whip in the place of the sinner and in the film in the document or whatever it is the little film it is the devil that's holding the whip that's about to beat the sinner and it is the devil who lays the whip across Christ back to save the sinner from the devil Origen had a similar problem with his theology that Christ was a payment paid to the devil to save us from the imprisonment of the devil make no mistake Christ's death saves his people from enslavement to the devil but not in that way at all and if you think so you are in the realm of heresy it wasn't Satan that had the whip it was God it was God sometimes people I asked people what did God save you from well God saved me from sin sin wasn't after you let me put it to you this way God saved you from himself by himself and for himself it was God in His righteousness and his holiness that was coming after and when Christ interposed when he stood between you and that judgment he was standing between you the sinner and the judgment of Almighty God on the cross of Calvary the payment was made to the offended Justice of God and we'll talk about that later and in satisfying God's judgment justice and in appeasing God's wrath had put an end to the accusations and the power of the devil over us and make no mistake about it the price was made paid by God and the price was paid to God and ultimately for the glory of God now let's go on the redemption which is in Christ Jesus I came down from the pulpit one time and a young man came up to me and he said you're right brother Paul Jesus is all we need I said young man that's not what I said what I said is Jesus is all we have apart from Christ you have no part with God everything that you have of any sort of relationship with God is because you are in Christ you are in Christ Christ is the Ark Christ is the Ark do you see that and it is only being in the Ark that you are saved from the flood of God's wrath Christ is that City to which the criminal runs and only inside the walls of that city is the criminal safe do you see that it's in Christ in Christ in Christ an outside of Christ if nothing again our only boast our only most is Christ crucified and raised from the dead on our behalf like a camel cannot go through the eye of a needle you will not go to heaven with one shred of self-righteousness on your back I know many a good Christian who've gone through perilous times of doubting their salvation but even the Christians that have gone through those perilous times of doubting their salvation there is one thing they didn't doubt and that was this that if they were saved it was only in Christ they are utterly convinced of their absolute inability to add anything to the atoning work of Christ if it was 99.9% Christ and point 1 percent you and I we would go to hell but it is all of Christ all of Christ verse 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith whom God displayed martyn lloyd-jones uses the word placarded he placarded him there are many tourist areas in the United States where you can't even see the trees for all the signs that are on the side of the road that you can't you can't miss them God placard his son on a cross in the center of the religious universe to manifest it there his son dying on Calvary God placard it he could have done it some other way in the sense of it could have been something out in the remote areas but no in the very center of the religious world he placards him why he wants to show us something this gospel thing is so much bigger than your and my individual salvation and you must understand that again our culture our societies everything revolves around us we feel but it's so much bigger than us this gospel to whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation I remember one time preaching in Michigan and I was terrified because Vernon Higham was in the audience and I have the greatest respect for him and I was preaching on propitiation and I'll never forget it was the first time I met him only time I've talked to him and after the sermon I said he came toward me I got oh gosh what did I say wrong you know and he had his Bible open and I don't I don't know exactly what translation he was talking about but he goes we got it back in the book we got it back in the book and I said what propitiation we got it back at our book I guess there was some fight over translations or something this word is so important so important I was pretty speaking to a pastor a while back and this is what he said I don't care if my church members can define all these words and things I just want them to live for Jesus I thought you fool I had a much larger word in mind but I thought I'd be a gentleman that day you don't want them to understand the words how can we serve Christ if we don't understand the words how can we believe Christ if we don't understand the words because the only way we can know whether or not we have the true christ is by understanding the words of Christ so I'll film the other day and they wanted to use one of my sermons and we had to turn them down because as I was going through there I thought this young man has got all these experts up on this panel and every one of them have a different definition of Christ and salvation was a hodgepodge of nothing there are countless christ out there today and mark my words young people you are going to live in a time of evangelicalism we're evangelicalism means nothing when Martyn lloyd-jones and others were brown coining that phrase and promoting that phrase it meant something it means nothing most evangelicals today don't have a clue who God is because of this idea we don't need to understand the words yes you do yes you do and one of the most important words if not the most important word in scripture other than the names of God is propitiation it is a sacrifice that satisfies the demands of God's justice and makes it possible for a just God to forgive wicked men while maintaining his justice you must understand this now let me give you what I call the divine dilemma what is the Bible all about I mean from Genesis to the end the law the prophets what's really going on if you had to summarize it in one step one concept it would be this there is a divine dilemma there is a problem which we find it very hard to grasp today because we know nothing about righteousness what is that problem let me put it this way if God is just he cannot forgive you the greatest problem in all the Bible is how can God be just and at the same time justify wicked men that is the greatest problem in the Bible if God condemned all of mankind to hell there would be no need for a theological philosophical explanation it is when God spares the sinner that there's some explaining to do how can God be just and at the same time pardon wicked men that's what the Bible is all about let me show you the problem look look for a moment go back to Exodus look at Exodus 34 here we have probably the greatest revelation of God in the Old Testament other than maybe Isaiah chapter 6 at least most graphic picturesque powerful in in Exodus 34 verse 6 then the Lord passed by in front of him that is Moses and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness and truth who keeps loving-kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity transgression and sin because sort of a Hebrew parallelism parallelism here it's heaping one term upon another to say God forgives all types and kinds of sin but now comes the problem listen to what he says who forgives iniquity transgression and sin yet will by no means leave the guilty unpunished does anyone see a problem there how do you forgive all iniquity transgression and sin you say that who forgives all types and kinds of sin yet will not let the guilty go unpunished how do you do both of those things how do you forgive sinners and yet there's not one sinner who will go unpunished how do you do that look for a moment at proverbs 15 our proverbs 17 verse 15 he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous both of them alike or an abomination to the Lord abomination is probably the strongest word in the Hebrew text it's something that's loathsome disgusting to God and here's the question it says anyone who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the Lord yet over here in Romans 3 we just read that god justifies the wicked so how can every how can it be that if you justify the wicked it's an abomination to God and yet God gets praised out of justifying the wicked do you see the problem there's a problem isn't there now go to Roman's go to Romans for close to the text where we are right now Romans 4 look at verse 7 blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered in our own societies what do we say when a judge covers sin do we praise him for it or do we call him corrupt we call him corrupt how does God just cover sin act like it's not there I thought he was holy how does God do that God says that anyone justifies the wicked is an abomination to him but then he turns around and justifies the wicked God says he forgives all types and kinds of sin yet anyone who commits sin they're gonna they're going to be punished God covers sin and the great question of all the scripture is this how can God truly be just and cover sin how can God truly be just all the while justifying wicked men who rightfully ought to be condemned that's what this passage is about how did he do it he did it in his son all men must die and suffer eternally the wrath of God God becomes a man lives a perfect life that no man could live and then he goes to a tree and on that tree God imputes the sin of his people upon his son and every sin of God's people that day on Calvary was punished every sin of mine was punished punished as Christ was abandoned of God and crushed under the wrath of his own father I'm gonna talk about this a lot more in the conference that's to come the banner truth conference the way the gospel is preached today in most places I would have to say this if I was just a neutral listener and didn't know anything about the Bible I would say that somehow because the Romans beat up Jesus our sins were paid for that's the conclusion I would come to I have heard preachers Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane and he cries out let this cup pass from me let this cup pass from me let this cup pass from me I've heard preachers say in his omniscience Christ look forward and saw the cat of nine tails coming down upon his back the crown of thorns on his head the nails in his hands in his feet the way the Romans would beat him and the Jews would mock him and he trembled at the thought of it preposterous sick is it to say something like that listen after the Ascension of Christ for the next three centuries countless Christians died on crosses some of them crucified upside down a crude form of kerosene doused upon them and they were set on fire suffered untold miseries and yet they went to those crosses doing what singing hymns praising God and counting it joy to suffer like their master to at least some degree and yet the captain of their salvation is hiding in Gethsemane crying out let this cup pass from me do you really think that is your view solo of Christ so I don't know Catholic where he's some sort of martyr when he went into that garden all hell was loosed upon him the old Puritans used to say this that in the wilderness Satan appeared to him in somewhat of an attractive form to tempt him but now now in the garden he appears to him as he is monster of iniquity all of Hell gathered together to leap up on him like ravenous wolves already he's beginning to feel the abandonment of his father Spurgeon said it this way now I know he had a gift of embellishment at times Spurgeon said this Satan walked up to him and said you see those disciples you have failed God has abandoned you and you see your little tiny flock over there they're mine now and not only that you had a task to carry out that you did not complete not only will I take them I will empty heaven and cast it into hell because you have failed everything came upon him at that moment but of all the things that came upon him every aspect of the curse began to fall upon him spiritual physical everything you could imagine began to fall upon him there in the garden the weight of our sin the abandonment of God but of all of it the worst was this he was the son God didn't create the world because he had some need God created the world out of the overflow of his super abundance of the relationship between himself and the son the father always delighted in the Son and the son always delighted in the father there was no need of anything else and yet at that moment that was going to be broken he was going to be on that tree and of God God's favorable presence removed from him and then all the wrath of Almighty God was going to be hurled upon him and crush him to pieces a Roman whip was part of our Redemption it had to be a bloody sacrifice he had to suffer all the things of the curse and physical suffering was part of that would never think it was the end of it it wasn't even the beginning of it the pain of the tree is that his own father crushed him have you never read in isaiah 53:10 it pleased yahweh to crush him under the full force of his wrath all of god's holy hatred against your evil fell upon his son my God my God why have you forsaken me you should be forsaken I should be forsaken but someone had to die forsaken in our place you and I should drink the cup remember one time I was so astounded I was teaching at this school it was a very classical education reformed education schools marvelous school and I told I was there to address the chapel and so I got there and I said well who's going to be in the chapel and they said well our kindergarten through twelfth grade and I said well that makes it a little difficult I'll be teaching on propitiation and the headmaster she looked at me and she said brother washer it will be no problem here and so I I gave it to him seminary level boom and I got to the part of gethsemane and I said what was in the cup and this little nine year old girl on there forget eight or nine years old she went like this raised her hand I said yes dear and in true fashion she stood at the side of her desk put her little hand on her desk like that and she looked at me and she said sir the wrath of Almighty God was in the cup most preachers today don't understand that do you see what happened there on that tree his father crushed him that is the pain of Calvary all the wrath and holy hatred of God against your evil my evil fell on him that's the cross that's what happened there that's why it's so amazing do you realize I could just out of research from just the Puritans and the Reformers Spurgeon up to Martyn lloyd-jones we could have a conference of probably two or three months just on gas M&E and we would not even begin to touch the sufferings of our Lord you see this is what captivates the heart this is what controls a man or woman this is what causes them to be martyred it is this controlling love of God manifested in the cross of Jesus Christ you must understand this you must see it you must labor all your life in the scriptures to understand more and more of what God has done for you in Christ and it was with his death his death the great dilemma was solved how can God be just and the justifier of wicked men look in verse 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith now look this was to demonstrate his righteousness now why would God need to demonstrate that he's righteous now why would he need to publicly give us a public demonstration on Calvary that he's really and truly righteous why would he have to do that it says because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed now what does that mean well I don't want to be dramatic here but let's just to put it in perspective let's look at it this way let's just imagine for a moment the great accuser Satan just imagine you see what you need to understand is that when Satan fell and we do not know a lot about his fall we don't know half as much as we right but we do know he's fallen he's a personal angelic demonic being and he hates God let me just stop here for a little side note little children always asked me the wisest questions and they say brother Paul I said yeah Satan is pretty smart isn't he yeah he's pretty smart well he he knows a lot about God yeah he knows a lot about God well he knows he's gonna lose doesn't he he knows he's got to know that there's no chance of winning and why doesn't he just stop it's a good question it's not childish at all but it reveals something amazing he knows he's going to lose he knows he's going to hell forever so why doesn't he repent for the same reason some of you don't repent he hates God so much he would rather rot in hell than bow his knee to God imagine a political prisoner he's there in jail and the kind king comes down and throws open the prison door and says you can come free and go back to your family everything else you just have to bow the knee and acknowledge my sovereignty and the prisoner walks over and slams the prison door and says I'd rather rot in hell than bow my knee to you don't think that in hell you've got a bunch of people repenting and praying for their release you've got a bunch of people suffering untold misery but would rather rot in hell than to acknowledge the sovereignty of God I don't agree with much of what CS Lewis said at times there's one thing he said that I will agree with it the door to hell's lock from the inside that's how much men hate God and that's how much you and I would hate God if he had not interposed and regenerated us by the power of the Holy Spirit don't even glory in your faith because your faith is a gift but let's imagine for a moment Satan fell perfect justice perfect justice he's condemned was no hope of salvation realize this angels are a lot more splendid than you and I they all fell God did not send them a saviour he didn't have to send you one either we take too much for granted we think we're so special I even heard one theologian say if God had not sent His Son I would be an atheist as though God owed us something Tozer was right when he said if the Sun if all men went blind tomorrow it would not diminish the glory of the Sun or the moon of the stars and if all men were unbelievers and went straight to hell it would not diminish the glory of God it's not dependent upon man's opinion nor did he have to send you a saviour or Mia Saviour nor did he have to work in any shape form or fashion to bring the gospel to you He is God and you deserve hell and so do i and the fact that he's done anything for us is an infinite act of mercy now you say I'm saying things in a hard way I am I need to bring the point across because there's so many others saying different things today another thing some of you are hearing things you've never heard before but if you just read old books you'd find out every evangelistic sermon that was ever preached a hundred years ago contained the same message that's why I say I believe Spurgeon is one of the greatest preachers who ever lived he ought to be because the only preached one sermon every time he preached he got up and preached on the cross and this was his center point in everything Adam and Eve fall can you imagine the accuser on that day god where's your justice this'n poll of dirt rebels against you this worm crawling on the ground no Seraphin here dirt I rebelled against you i disobeyed you and you cast me out you give these a promise genesis 3:15 the protoevangelium the first promise of the gospel you give them a promise one born of a woman that will crush my head they deserve to die where's your justice in the flooding of the world you say oh there was justice no God's got some explaining to do why because Noah should have died too and Noah's family they all should have died they were all sinners imagine the devil and Noah Noah how can you spare him justice demands his death your justice demands his death oh and Abraham Abraham your friend you call him friend he believed you he did not many times he doubted he believed the wife of it isn't the voice of his wife over you oh and David you call David your he's a murderer and an adulterer oh and Israel your people they worshipped Moloch in the desert they worshipped me they deserved to die how can you do this God how can you do this 2,000 years ago God answered his question Satan come forth do you want to know how I can give a promise to the fallen parents of the human race do you want to know how I can save Noah from the flood you want to know how I can call Abraham my friend you want to know how I can call David my son you want to know how I can gather a multitude of people from this sinful race and call them mine look now to Calvary because there is your answer my son the lamb dies for them all do you see that everyone who's ever gone to heaven has gone to heaven because of the death of the Lamb and the resurrection of the lamb your faith would do you no good because your faith cannot atone for sin your faith must be in an atonement and that atonement is the person of Christ he died he died one time I was teaching at Murray State University to a group Christian group but there are a lot of secular people in the audience and I was teaching on this and this one young man stood up and to this day I owe him a great debt he stood up and he goes I got a question for you I said okay how can one man one man die for a multitude of people and how can he suffer for a few short hours on Calvary and yet Ridhima people from eternal suffering in hell I said Oh young man thank you here's your answer because that one man hanging on the cross is worth more than all of them put together see when theologians talk about the perfections of Christ they're not just talking about his sinlessness they're talking about and get this down in your book the infinite value of Christ you take everything that is mountains and mole hills stars and planets crickets and clowns and everything that is in this world and you put it on a scale and you put Jesus on the other side and have value of that one man outweighs them all if David's head was worth more than so many in Israel how much more the Son of David who is also the Son of God it is the value of his sacrifice the value of it and he died he died you see holiness Springs from this dedication and devotion Springs from this Paul said it himself one man died we all died we no longer live for ourselves but we live for him who died for us he died but not only did he die he rose again from the dead on the third day you have not preached the gospel if you have not preached the resurrection as a matter of fact the book of Acts is a tremendous rebuke even to those of us who take the gospel quite seriously the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ is a priority in that book this one who died rose again from the dead and if you look at Romans 4 and you go over to verse 25 he who was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification it is a very difficult text to interpret it's a very difficult text to translate from the original but the meaning according to almost all Orthodox commentaries and that I the meaning that I would put to this he was delivered over because of our justification and was raised because his death obtained our justification he was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because that death that he died it truly paid the resurrection is proof that God accepted the death of Jesus Christ as total payment for our sin now believer listen to me this is so important most people don't get this remember what I said the moment you believe in Jesus God legally declares you to be right with him and treats you as right with him on the cross of Calvary God legally declared his son to be guilty and treated him as guilty and poured out the full force of his wrath upon him but right before he died Christ cried out it is finished it's paid in full there's nothing else to pay now in the United States when a very important person is about to leave office whether it be a governor president at times they will pardon a criminal many of those criminals who are pardoned lived the rest of their life in misery do you know why they're still guilty the crime is still outstanding they're guilty they are guilty and I have heard preachers use that you know that pardoning of criminals by a governor or president as an illustration of what God has done that's not true when the governor or president pardons a criminal that crime is still outstanding it's not been paid for do you see that and the man still bears the guilt he still has a defiled conscience that is not the Christian Christ paid that is why Paul could have a clean conscience that's why we are freed from guilt we are not just pardon criminals that still have a guilt out state up a debt outstanding that's not been paid it's been paid it's removed from the books it's no longer there were free were free it's gone because of that payment and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof of that he was raised then if we had time we could go on and maybe I'll just address a few more things here not only was he raised he ascended now so many people at times they look at for example John 17 and high priestly prayer in other places where Jesus talks about you know going back to having the glory that he had before and then they look at Philippians chapter 2 and they say well you know he's been raised you know his name above every name at his knee but how really is Christ rewarded if he's going back to the reward he had before what what does all that mean here's something that you need to understand the one who was raised was God it was God in the flesh and we emphasize his deity and rightly so because his deity is usually attacked the mo but here's something we got to be careful of that we don't lose the humanity he was raised the man Christ Jesus God and man and the one who ascended up the one who ascended up and now represents us before God is our own flesh he is flesh of our flesh he is bone of our bone he is Christ Jesus the man there is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus Paul isn't denying his humanity but what Paul is isn't denying his deity but what Paul is doing is emphasizing his humanity the one who now sits upon the very throne of the universe is our elder brother flesh of our flesh bone of our bone man exalted as we see in Hebrews a lot of the ancients and I'm going to go to it just for the sake of maybe representing something of the glory go for a moment to Psalms 24 this is the Ascension Psalm it was used of course in Israel but it was also throughout the history of commentaries and the Puritans and the reformers they took this ascension Psalm also as a reference to Christ Spurgeon as a matter of fact has a wonderful sermon on this text we get to verse 7 and this is what Spurgeon and many of his beloved Puritans said Christ the man has been raised in glory and now 40 days have passed and he ascends up to the gates of heaven and there he stands the man Christ Jesus for us for his people and he cries out to the gates of heaven and says in verse seven lift up your heads o gates and be lifted up old ancient doors that the king of glory may come in but all of heaven is in a rattle angels run to the wall and climb over to look over the parapet because they're all astonished who is this man no one has ever come this far no one has dared laid his hand to the latch of the gates of glory who is this man that now stands here so boldly and commands the gates to be open and in verse 8 the angels cry out who is this King of glory and then Jesus with a mighty voice declares the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle lift up your heads old gates and be lifted up old ancient doors that the king of glory may come in and for the first time in all of time a man the son of man yes God the Son yes the son of God but man the man for us our representative the second Adam the last Adam he walks into heaven by virtue of his own virtue and his own merit and unlike Esther waiting for Xerxes to extend the golden scepter to know whether or not she's accepted this man needs no such waiting he knows he's accepted and by his own right he ascends the steps of the throne of God and sits down at his right hand King of Kings Lord of lords our brother and according to the writer of Hebrews because of the power of his atonement he's not ashamed to call us brethren and know this I know especially for you young Christians and we'll bring this to an end young Christians I know you look at the world and even for me now 54 years old seen so many changes everyone all these Christians running around so scattered saying oh the world's falling apart and in the morality and the persecutions coming in the churches languishing and all these things are going on and it's all just in confusion and disarray it is absolutely not in disarray it is exactly like our masters planning it the world is not falling apart he's directing it in every way for his glory and this Jesus who died and this Jesus who rose again and this Jesus who ascended will one day return and when he returns he will be known to his people but he will be unknown to so many who call themselves evangelical because when they look there they will see nothing but a great king a great king a face full of fire coming in judgment and he will rule over the nation's and know this every knee will bow and every tongue will confess some will bow and some will confess because of grace because of salvation others were bow as are sea sproule said because their kneecaps have been broken by the one who rules the nations with a rod of iron a politically correct Jesus is not returning but the king of kings and Lord of lords I love what Abraham Kuyper said the old Dutch theologian he said when Christ returns he said he'll extend forth his hand and he'll say this mine mine mine mine mine it's all mine and I'm taking you back don't look for this pathetic version of Christ that is portrayed in so many evangelical pulpits look for Christ Victor Christ champion Christ who will save his people and come with unspeakable fury against even the kings and the greatest men of this earth that's why they're admonished in the Book of Psalms 2 now chapter 2 kiss the son while there is still chance of reckon silly ation because his anger flares up quickly I know this if you're here today and you've got just enough religion to kill your conscience you're in a horrid State you're in the most dangerous state if you're raised by godly parents and you think that your ability to memorize Scripture is somehow made you right with God you are in a dangerous state if you think you're saved because one time you pray to prayer and ask Jesus Christ in your heart you are in a dangerous state how many have repeated that useless Creed and are still lost in going to hell you're not saved by repeating a prayer you are saved by repenting of your sins and believing the gospel and the evidence that you have truly repented unto salvation is that you continue repenting and the evidence that you believed at one time under salvation is you are still believing and bearing fruit and growing and being disciplined and being as one of his and if these things aren't found in your life then your faith is useless it is not saving faith repent and believe the gospel throw yourself on Christ throw yourself on Christ and if you're hoping in Christ plus something else you are not Christian you're not but if Christ is your only hope and Christ is your only boast and Christ is the growing love then there's hope make your calling and election sure do you know him more importantly does he know you but he says many will come before me on that day and say Lord Lord and I'll say depart from me I never knew you I never knew you do you know him are you believing him are you rolling upon Christ resting upon Christ let's pray father thank you for your word and for your gospel and I pray that you would help your people Lord help them in Jesus name Amen

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, paul washer

Id: y4QnyKUIT8Q

Length: 91min 11sec (5471 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 15 2019