Sinners Saved by Grace

Scripture Reading: Romans 3:21-26

Today we're going to the next verses. We're going to Romans 3 and we're going to begin in verse 21. The title of today's message is sinners saved by grace. And this passage here in Romans 3 in many respects it all connects from Romans 1 all the way to here. And it's kind of like Paul starting to close out that discussion. We're going to go to Romans 3. I do invite anybody that would like to stand with me in honor of the reading of the word of God.

Romans chapter 3, beginning in verse 21. And if you are looking in your Bible, you go to the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Then you after John, you'll see Acts. And then after Acts, you'll see the book of Romans. Romans was a book penned by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of God.

Romans 3 beginning in verse 21, the word of God says, "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. Because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

God, thank you for your word and Holy Spirit come into this place and into our hearts. Penetrate us as we continue to worship you and as we open up your word. I pray you pierce our hearts as we're pouring and digging into your word to mold us, God, as believers and to shape us, God, to be better witnesses and better servants for you. And I also pray that as we read this passage, we're reminded that we can be sinners saved by grace. That if there's somebody that's never given their life to you, today would be the day. They trust in you, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I pray it all in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

Go ahead and be seated.

All Have Sinned and Fall Short

You know, in this passage, I love that famous verse, Romans 3 23. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Amen. We're certainly reminded we are all sinners. Does everybody know that? Would everybody agree that you are a sinner? Amen. Yes. I believe if people are being honest, whether they have made the decision to trust in Jesus or whether they haven't, I believe most people that have lived any life would all agree they've messed up. They've all done things that even they weren't proud of. And that's because according to the authority of the word of God, and we also know it just from living life, we are all sinners. Every one of us.

I did meet a guy one time. He was a really nice guy. He helped me a lot when I was building our home, ordering a lot of lumber, and I had seen him a lot of times. And I remember one time he was talking about his wife. And it was pretty amazing what he said. He said, "She's never messed up once in her life. She's perfect. She No, she's not sinned ever." I said, "What?" And he he's a Christian. She's a Christian. And I said, "I bet if you asked her, she sounds amazing, but I bet if you asked her, she would know she's messed up before." See, the Bible makes it clear. Every single one of us, no matter how good we are in humans eyes, we have all messed up. We are all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God.

In Romans 3:10, we didn't read that verse, but if you back up just a little bit to verse 10 of Romans 3, it says, "There is none righteous. No, not one." There is none of us that are righteous in God's eyes, in our own strength, and in our own efforts. Because everyone, none of us is perfect. God is perfect. God is without sin, but we are not. There is none righteous. No, not one.

We've all done things I believe that we're not proud of. Have you done things you aren't proud of? Every one of us. Every single one of us have done things we aren't proud of. I got a call Friday. There's about 15 different companies. God's just blessed me with an open door at war ministry for chaplancy. And a guy called me who I've never met. And I won't go into detail what he was saying, but basically he had messed up pretty bad. And it had all kinds of consequences, a lot of consequences. And he went on to tell me how he's definitely a believer and he and he's he doesn't know why he did what he did and he's ashamed.

And hey, this is the reality as believers. We've all messed up, too. I mean, I believe every one of us. Now, that's not to say I'm saying we should stay messing up. No, we're to live for Jesus, but we the flesh and the spirit war against each other. We got to feed the spirit of God inside of us and starve the flesh. But he had shared how he had just messed up and he was ashamed. And truly just listening to him, he sounded like a guy that was saying, "I'm never again. I'm repenting." And he just wanted prayer. So he prayed. But this is the reality. Every one of us have done things. We're all sinners. Every one of us have done things we're not ashamed of.

Romans 3:12. There's so many good verses here. It says, "There is none who does good. No, not one." Now, you hear that and you're like, "But no, none who does good." That that's not saying that there's nobody that does some good things. What it's referring to is none of us are good enough to be righteous enough to get to heaven. We need God's righteousness. You understand? None of us can be good enough to get to heaven. I am not that good. You are not that good because we are all sinners.

Know what I'm saying? We are all sinners. Sometimes a person will think they can be really good and get to heaven. Our goodness will not get us to heaven. You know, but in this passage that we read, Paul, he was bringing this section all the way from Romans 1, kind of starting to wrap it up. And remember, he had talked to the Gentiles in chapter 1 and the Jews in chapter 2. And he's saying to the Jews, "Hey, even you Jewish people who are God's people, you are a sinner, too. Just like the Gentiles are sinners, you are a sinner, too. And there's somebody you need to be made right, to be justified in God's eyes."

You know, earlier in Romans 2, chapter 2, go back and read through these chapters. There's so many good things. But earlier in Romans 2, Paul talks about the law. The law was something the Jewish people strived to follow. The law was something to set order for Israel. But he reminded the Jews who were judging the Gentiles for their sin that not one of them follows the law perfectly. And understand this, Paul, he called himself often in the Bible, you read about, he said, "I lived a Jew. I lived a Pharisee. I was a Jew of Jews." Paul was Paul grew up Jewish. He knew the Old Testament scriptures inside and out. He was trained by one that probably was considered the greatest Jewish rabbi, scholar, a man by the name of Gamaliel. Paul was a Jew of Jews, but then God saved him on the road to Damascus. He realized he needed Jesus and he gave his life to Jesus.

So Paul's basically can say, "I understand what it means to try to follow the law because you know me. I was a Jew of the Jews. I followed the law or so I tried." Romans 2:25 says, "For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law. But if you're a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision." Romans 3:20 it says, "Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight." The Jewish people by following the law, that would not make them forgiven of sins. That would not make them justified in the sight of God. That would not grant them access to heaven because none of them could follow the law perfectly. And he goes on to say, "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." Paul, in other words, was telling him, you know, one thing the law taught us, it taught us we're all sinners. It taught us none of us can follow the law perfectly. And it's the same for us.

Every one of us are sinners. Whether you're Jew, whether you're Gentile, whether you're black, whether you're white, whether you're Latino, whether you're a boy, whether you're a girl, whether you're a man, whether you're a woman, we are all sinners. Every single one of us. Isaiah 64:6 says, "But we are like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags." I don't know if you've ever struggled with maybe self-righteousness or ever met somebody that thinks, "I'm really righteous. I'm really holy." In all our efforts to be righteous compared to our holy God, we're filthy because we're sinners. He goes on to say in Isaiah 64, "We all fade as a leaf and our iniquities, our sins, like the wind have taken us away." Every one of us have gotten caught up in sin. Like the wind, it's taken us away.

But the Bible, it tells us we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all sinners. And because of our sin, we need a way to be made right in God's eyes. We need a way to be made right in God's eyes. Sometimes I don't know if you've ever thought this or ever talked to somebody that has thought this, but this kind of thinking definitely exists. Sometimes a person might think they're going to heaven because they're really nice. Now, listen, being nice is a very good quality. And as Christians, hopefully niceness flows out of us. But it doesn't always, does it? Sometimes we get in the flesh. And there are really some nice people, but we are not good enough to be nice enough to get to heaven. Does that make sense? No matter how nice we are, how kind we are, that's not enough to get to heaven.

Now, when we've been saved, you know, a fruit of the spirit that hopefully comes out of us is kindness, but that's not what saves us. Sometimes people think that doing a lot of good deeds will get you to heaven. Sometimes a religion might even act like you're going to get to heaven by doing good deeds. Doing good deeds and charitable deeds and helping people out in need is, I think, something we should do as Christians. You know what I mean? Let the spirit guide us. But that's not what saves us. We could do charitable deeds all of our life. We could our morning to evening, we could do charitable deeds and that would be incredible to be a person that does that. But it won't get you to heaven. No amount of charitable deeds will negate the fact that we're sinners. No amount of charitable deeds will make up for the fact that we need forgiveness of sins. No amount of charitable deeds will make us justified in God's eyes.

Sometimes a person might think they're going to heaven because they're Baptist or because they're Catholic. I talked to two people. I believe it was two people in the last week. You know, by the way, when we're talking to people, it's good for us to encourage each other in this to try to find a way to get Jesus with people. You know what I mean? Like when we're talking to people everyday life, try to look for opportunities to find out if a person's ever trusted the Lord and talk about the gospel. But I talked to there were two people that I talked to and I asked them on different occasions, have you ever trusted in the Lord? And on two different occasions, the person said, "Oh, I'm good. I'm Catholic." But it doesn't just happen with Catholic people. I've heard Baptist people say the same thing.

We don't get to heaven because of religion. Now, I'll say when I got saved and I got in the word of God, I wanted to find a church that was preaching the word. And no church is perfect. There's not one because we got people. We're sinners. But I wanted to find a church where the word was more what guided the church than man's opinion. You know what I mean? And you know, I know for us, we want to try to look to what does God's word say? We never do it perfect, but we want to try to look to what does God word say? But you're not getting to heaven by being Catholic. You're not getting to heaven by being Baptist. Religion doesn't save. It's not about religion. It's about a relationship with Jesus.

Now, when we given our life to Jesus, a lot of these things like we talked about should come out of our lives. Charitable deeds, kindness, goodness, you know, in the word of God, going to church. Yeah. Church doesn't save, but that doesn't mean you should be in church because according to the Bible, you should. The Bible says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more you see the day approaching. But church isn't what saves us. Jesus saves us. The blood of Jesus, faith in Jesus. But Jesus did say he was he wanted he was going to build his church. So when Jesus said, "I'll build my church," it's pretty important as a believer that we're a part of his church. Amen. But church doesn't save. Being good doesn't save. Following rules doesn't save. Being a certain denomination doesn't save.

The only way we get to heaven, it's not by anything we do or anything we have done. It's by what God did for us. God made a way that you and I can be forgiven and spend eternity in heaven. God made a way that we can be forgiven and spend eternity in heaven. It says there in Romans 3:22, "Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe." I hear that on all who believe. The righteousness of God isn't something we earn. The righteousness of God is from God and he gives it to us through Jesus Christ.

For us to be made righteous in God's eyes, God is the righteous judge. And for us to be made right in his eyes, to be cleansed of our sin, because we're all sinners, it only comes through faith in Jesus Christ. God made a way you and I could be forgiven of sin. Ain't that cool? I think that's amazing. I mean, I don't want to make anybody feel real bad, but like we could easily think about the bad things we've done, something you don't want anybody know. And God made a way he can wipe that slate clean. Ain't that amazing? God made a way that as wretched as we've been, as awful of things as we've done, it can be we can be cleansed of our sin through the blood of Jesus.

Philippians 3:9, I love what it says, "Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Jesus Christ." I don't want my own righteousness. I want righteousness from God. You are you the same? Cuz my righteousness is it's like filthy rags compared to our holy God. I want righteousness from God. Well, God made a way. We can have his righteousness. Romans 3:24, we read this today. Being justified freely by his grace. Isn't it amazing? God's grace. God's grace is amazing. We're going to have invitation a little bit. We're going to have amazing grace playing cuz I just think God's grace is amazing.

Being justified freely. It's nothing we've done. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Y'all ever heard that song, My Redeemer lives? He redeems us. He forgives us. He cleanses us even though we're sinners of our sin. He wipes it away as far as the east is from the west. Not because of anything we did or have done, but because of what he did by sending his son Jesus Christ to die for us when we believe in him. And we understand believing in Jesus isn't the Jesus that we just want to create for ourselves. Okay? There's a lot of false teaching out there and false beliefs out there. Yeah, I believe in Jesus, but when you get here and they believe you can believe in anything. When we believe in Jesus, we're believing Jesus is the son of God. When we believe in Jesus, we're believing Jesus was here in the beginning, just like the Bible tells us at creation. Go to John 1 and read it.

When we believe in Jesus, we're believing God sent his son, Jesus Christ, down from heaven to this earth, born of a virgin. When we believe in Jesus, we're believing that. We're not just believing part of this of the Bible. We're believing in it all. When we believe in Jesus, we believe he was born of a virgin and he grew up and he was a man on this earth but God in the flesh. He was he was fully man, fully God. When we believe in Jesus, we believe that he came with a purpose. He came to suffer for us. When we believe in Jesus, we believe he literally hung on that cross and he was beaten and he was nailed to that cross and he was in human form as God in the flesh and he died on the cross because his sacrifice on that cross was the only perfect sinless sacrifice that could be made for sinful mankind. When we believe in Jesus, we believe he rose from the dead on the third day. And when we believe in Jesus, we understand he is the only way to heaven. There is no other way.

And sometimes a person will say that's close-minded. I don't think so. It's God. God had one way for us to be born. And our mothers will kind of make sense to me. God would have one way for us to be reborn. Their faith in Jesus. But it says there, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God sent forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. It says he was a propitiation by his blood. When you look that word up from a biblical perspective, it means the turning away of God's righteous wrath. God is the judge and he's a righteous judge. The turning away of God's righteous wrath against sin through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ who acts as the atoning sacrifice. It signifies that Christ's blood satisfied divine justice, removing the barrier between God and humanity and reconciling believers to him.

Second Corinthians 5:21 says, "For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God in him." Ain't that amazing? Isn't that amazing that God made a way that every one of us could be forgiven of sin? You know that reminder about the fact that we are all sinners. Isaiah 53:5, watch what it says about what Jesus did for us. Isaiah prophesied this probably close to 800 years before Jesus hung on the cross. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes, we are healed. By what Jesus did for us, being suffering and died for us. That's how we can be healed.

And I love what it says in verse 6. It reminds us we're all sinners. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. When he hung on that cross, he was taken on our sin so that we could be forgiven when we believe in him. In Isaiah 53:7, he was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth.

God made a way that I could be forgiven, that you could be forgiven, that all of us could be forgiven of our sins and spend eternity in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. So, just to close today, have you called on Jesus as Lord and Savior? Have you fully trusted in Jesus? I heard a lot about Jesus growing up and I grew up in church, but I had never made my own decision. Not my mom. It can't be our mom's decision. It can't be our dad's decision. Another thing you'll hear people say, "Well, yeah, if you ask him a Christian, well, yeah, my dad's a pastor. My dad's a deacon." It's got to be your decision. You can't get to heaven by because your mom or dad are Christian. You got to make the decision.

Have you ever made that decision to trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior? I made that decision when I was 27. And all I can explain, even though I heard a lot about Jesus, I knew that God was calling me to salvation. I just felt God tugging on my heart for years. And I kept putting it off, putting it off for various reasons. But finally, 3 days after my dad died, I said, "All right, I'm yours. I believe fully in you, Jesus, as Lord and Savior. I know I'm a sinner. I know I need to be forgiven." And when we believe in Jesus, that's what we're saying. We're saying we know he can forgive us of our sins and we're asking him to and we're trusting him as Lord and Savior and yeah, we're saying we want to live for Jesus. We're saying I don't want to live in sin anymore. Now, that's not to say any of us have ever done it perfect, but we are saying I want to follow Jesus. We're saying I want to follow Jesus with his help strive to follow him and live for him.

Sometimes a person will say that there's that's close-minded. There's all kinds of way. But you know what I say? That's grace. That's grace that God made a way for someone as sinful as me, someone as sinful as you to be forgiven. That's amazing grace. Because honestly, none of us deserve heaven. Not one of us, not one of us deserve heaven. But God loves us so much. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loves us so much that he made a way. God is so full of grace. God is so full of mercy.

And I want to tell you as I'm closing, I'm so glad for the people like my wife, like her mom, like preachers that I kept hearing the gospel from and they kept sharing it even when I got mad cuz I got mad. I thought, I don't need to hear that. I'm so glad there were people that kept sharing Jesus with me. So, keep sharing Jesus with people even if they're not responding. Keep sharing Jesus with the world. But I'm so glad because faith comes through hearing, hearing, and through the word of God. And I finally gave my life to Jesus at age 27. I am a sinner, but I'm a sinner saved by grace. Amen.

Are you a sinner? Yeah, you are. But the question is, are you a sinner saved by grace? Have you been saved? Have you been made right in God's eyes by calling on Jesus? And just before we close, if you are a sinner, saved by grace. If you've called on Jesus and he and he's graciously made imputed his righteousness on you and forgiven you, live for Jesus. If we've been forgiven and we're a sinner saved by grace, we ought to live for Jesus. We ought to strive to grow closer to Jesus every single day, draw closer to him. We ought to be in church, not because it saves, but because that's part of what the word of God says to. We ought to want to worship him. We ought to want to give back to God. We ought to want to tithe because that's in the word of God. We ought to want to serve the Lord. We ought to want to crucify the flesh, not live in sin, and live for Jesus. And we ought to be telling this world about Jesus.

If you're a sinner saved by grace, follow and live for Jesus with his help. We're all sinners. We're all flawed. But God made a way we can be forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ. And the Bible says, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." It doesn't matter how sinful you think you've been, when you're ready to repent and trust in Jesus, it says, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." And it goes on to say that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.