Let's open our Bibles to the book of Romans chapter number 3. Romans chapter number 3 this morning. And if you're able, would you stand with me as we read Romans chapter 3? We'll start reading in verse 1. Our text is verse 1 down to verse number 8. Romans chapter 3, verse number 1. What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar. As it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy saying, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall I say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid. For then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously reported, as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just. Father, I pray that you'd help as we open up the Word of God here this morning. Lord, I know that this is a very difficult passage, and I pray that you would, Lord, give me the words to say that I'd be an encouragement, Lord, to your people, Lord, conviction for those that are walking astray, Lord, for those that need to be saved or those that need to be made right. that today you draw them close to you. We are so thankful, Lord, that you are so good to us. Lord, the half has not been told about how wonderful you are, how wonderful you have been. And I pray that you'd be exalted this morning as the word of God goes forth. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Maybe seated. Many times pastors will get together and we'll talk about preaching and what are you preaching on or where are you at in the scriptures. And I told some men that I was preaching through the book of Romans and this past week a pastor asked me, where are you at this coming Sunday? I said, I'm in Romans chapter three, verses one through eight. And he got out his phone and began to look at the text. And he said, well, good luck. He said, I'll be watching. I'll get some popcorn. I'm going to watch you preach that text. So if he's watching, I hope you enjoy this. And the reason that is is because this is a very difficult text to be able to rightly divide. And I want to do my best. And it's going to be a little bit technical. And I'm going to try to make it as practical as possible. But suffice it to say in chapter number one and chapter number two, Paul has declared that all men are sinners. In chapter one, he talks about the pagan. He talks about the one that says there is no God, the one that violates sexual purity, those that are committing fornication, those that are committing idolatry, those that are committing murder and disobedience to parents. All of those people in chapter number one, God says and Paul says they are under condemnation and God will judge them and they are worthy of death. And then in chapter number two it begins to talk about those that are religious. For chapter one it's they. They're bad, they're bad, they're condemned, they're condemned. Chapter number two is thou. So now he's pointing directly to us, to those that are religious. Now are you religious? You're in church on Sunday morning so you might be included in this group. The ones that are good, the ones that looked at chapter 1 people and say, well, you are pagans, you're without God, you are disobedient, you are violating God's Word, you're perverts, you're idolaters. Well, we can point our finger at them. But then he says, but what about you? He said, you might be religious, you might have some form of religion, you might have some morality, you might be a conservative, you might be a traditionalist, but you are still in need of a Savior. You are still under condemnation. And then in chapter 3 he talks specifically to the Jews. He started in chapter number 2, in the middle of chapter number 2, he's talking to the Jews. He's saying to the Jews, you too are under condemnation. Now I understand, I can see the perspective of the average Jewish believer. We know God. We have the Word of God. We have our religion. We've been circumcised. There's food we won't eat. There's days we won't celebrate. There's days we do celebrate. We are so particular about our worship of God. And he says, you know what? All of that religion is in vain. That you still need Jesus Christ as your Savior. And as Paul writes the book of Romans, as he writes to the pagan, as he writes to the religionists, and now as he writes to the Jews, him himself being a Jew, and in his dealing with the Jewish people, he knows what their objectives are. Maybe you're married, and as a husband, you want to convince your wife of something. And you've been married long enough to know that when you present this plan, when you present this purchase, when you present this idea, you know, pre-advanced, you know what her objectives are going to be. Is that right? So you go into that conversation knowing, I'm going to say this, and she's going to say this. And I'm going to say this, but she's going to say this. And I'm going to say this, and she's going to say this. And you better have your argument sealed up tight, or you're never going to be able to buy it. I mean, ever win that argument. Paul knows what their objections are gonna be because he's Jewish and because he's dealt with them on the missionary journeys. As he traveled around the world, everywhere he went on the three missionary journeys, bringing the gospel in the innermost part of the world, every time he came to the Jewish community, they objected to the gospel. They had problems with the gospel, and he tries to answer their questions. Now, after his third missionary journey, he finally comes back to Jerusalem, and he's in the temple, and the Jews grab him, and they begin to beat him, and they say, this is our problem with your message of grace. This is our problem when you preach Jesus. Well, what is their problem? Well, keep your finger in Romans chapter 3. Turn back to Acts chapter number 21. Now, we studied this a few weeks ago on Wednesday night. Acts chapter number 21, look at verse number 27. Acts 21 and verse number 27. Acts 21, 27. And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews, which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, they saw Paul, they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him, crying out, men of Israel, help. This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere. against the people, against the Jews, and against the law, the God's commands and his promises, and this place, this place that is to worship God, and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. This is what they say. This guy, this gospel he's preaching about Jesus, number one, it's against God's people. Number two, it's against God's promises. And number three, it's against God's person. Everything that we believe this gospel seems to dismantle. And so in Romans chapter number three, as he's writing to the Jews, he answers those three questions. Is he against the Jews? Is he against the promises of God? Is the gospel against the person of God? Where does that all fit in? So he answers those objectives, he answers those arguments. Chapter number three of Romans, we saw the first answer in chapter number three, verse one and two. What advantage then hath the Jew? Are you talking against God's people? Or what profit is there of circumcision? If you say that my Jewishness, my tradition, and my religion doesn't get me to heaven, I'm still under condemnation, then what good is there to be a Jew? Well, he answers that question in verse number two. He says, much every way. You have a lot of advantage being Jewish chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. He says, you think I'm against Jewish people? I am Jewish. I understand what you're going through. As a Jew, you have all the promises of God, the covenants of God, the blessings of God. You have all those things. And he expounds upon that in chapter number nine of the book of Romans. There is an advantage to being a Jew. You have his covenants and his blessings. But chiefly, primarily, you are blessed because you have his word. He said you have the very oracles of God. God gave you his word. He entrusted you with the Holy Scriptures. Listen, I'm so glad that we have God's word. What an advantage it is to have God's pure, perfect, inspired word in our hands. Praise the Lord for that. It is an advantage. But you know they didn't take advantage of it because they broke those commandments. They had the law, but they broke them. Look at chapter number 2 and verse number 23. Chapter 2, verse 23. Thou that makest thy boast of the law, Through breaking the law dishonest thou God. He says you boast that you have the law and you do, but the problem is you've broken the law. So he gave you the advantage as God's people, and he made you promises based upon you keeping the law. And you broke the law. Deuteronomy chapter four, verse 40. Thou shalt keep therefore the statutes, I'm sorry. Deuteronomy four, verse 40. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee this day. that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee forever. He says, listen, God's given you his law, and in his law is attached promises, but you must keep his law in order to have all of those promises fulfilled. Well, are you against God's people? No, you have an advantage, you have God's law. Well, then you're against God's promises, because you're saying if we don't accept Christ, that we've disobeyed God, so now you're saying God's forsaken us? That God's going to condemn us? We're God's people. So now you're saying that God's not going to keep His promise to us. Wow. Think about this for a minute. They had God's law, but they broke it. They had God's promise that Jesus, the Messiah, would come. Think about all the Old Testament, the promises that the average Jew would have in their hands. From Genesis chapter 3, after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that he would send a deliverer, that he would send someone that was born of the seed of a woman, would crush the head of the serpent. Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son. in the book of Isaiah. That this son would live a sinless life. His name would be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. That Jesus would come and that he would live a sinless life. That Jesus would come and he would die on the cross of Calvary. That he literally would die. The Bible says that he would be spit upon. The Bible says that he would be mocked. The Bible says that he would be scourged. Doesn't the Bible say all that? The Bible even said he'd be born in Bethlehem. Over 300 prophecies about Jesus. And Jesus, the anointed one, the promised one, the Christ came, and He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. And because you've rejected Jesus, you are under condemnation. 1 Corinthians chapter number one, verse 22. For the Jews required a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness. 1 Peter chapter two, verse number seven. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, were unto also they were appointed. So the Jews looked at Christ as a stumbling block. Although they had God's word, had the promise of Christ, they rejected him. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. So this is what he says. You had God's word, God gave you his son, you rejected his son, therefore you are under condemnation. And this is what they say. Well, that's not fair! God is being unjust, God's being untrue, because God promised us these things. So if you're right, then God's wrong. Now I want you to think about that thought here for a minute. Can that possibly be true? He says here in chapter number three, verse number four, verse number three, for what if some did not believe? So if we don't believe, Shall our unbelief make the faith of God without effect? So if we don't believe, does that mean that God's unfaithful? That God's untrue? Verse four. God, what? Forbid. God forbid. To forbid is to prohibit, to oppose. Literally means let it not be ever. Let it never, ever not be. Don't let it be. May it never be so. Forbid. He uses this phrase God forbid in the Book of Romans 10 times. So this is their point. Wait, are you against the people of God? No, you have a greater advantage, you have God's word. Well then you're against the promises of God, because you're saying if we don't believe, we won't receive the promises, therefore God is untrue. God forbid. Let every man, let God be true, and let every man be a liar. That God is a true God. That God is true. Listen to this. Deuteronomy 32 verse 4, He is the rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He. Well, how can He condemn us? We're Jews, we're the chosen people. Are you saying He's not going to keep His promise? No, God is true. Isaiah chapter number 25, verse 1. O Lord, Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things, Thy counsels of old are faithful and true. Isaiah chapter 65 verse number 16, that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten, because they are hid from mine eyes. That God is a God of truth. Listen to this, Numbers 23 verse 19, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall not he do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? God's not lying. God said, here's my commandments. Keep them. And you've broken them. So it's not God that's untrue. It's you that's broken the commandments of God. Now, he gives an example. And before we look at his example in chapter number 3, verse 4, let me give you another example. Let me give you one that's really practical. How many of you are parents? How many of you are parents and you give your children commandments to obey? Wow, there should have been more hands up. We give our kids commandments to obey. Say, for instance, you said to your child, your 11-year-old boy, you said, listen, son, I want you to clean your room, and I want you to do all of your chores. And our kids grew up with chore charts, and you had to check them off before they could do anything else. And so I want you to clean your room, and I want you to do all of your chores. And if you do, we'll go out for ice cream. Is that good? It's pretty good. Good deal. They get ice cream, I get ice cream. It's a good deal. Those are my commandments. And then, towards the end of the day, you say, all right, let's go check your room. And you check the room, and the room is clean. Great. Then you look at the chore charts, and their chores are not done. Not a one of them. Well, you didn't do your chores, so I guess I'm going off for ice cream myself. Both of us shouldn't have to suffer. I said, Dad, are we going off? No, we're not going off. But you promised. But you said. You lied then. You lied. What you said wasn't true. No, what did I say? I said, here's my commandments. You keep my commandments, and we'll go for ice cream. You've broken my commandments. Yeah, but I cleaned my room. I did some of it. I was circumcised. I kept the Sabbath. Yeah, but you didn't keep them all. You broke them. So it's not that God's untrue. It's not that God's unfaithful. It's that you've broken God's commandments. Do we see this? Then he uses a great example, chapter number three, verse number four. God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judge. So now Paul reaches back to the Old Testament, and he reaches back, and if you didn't study, you probably missed it. He reaches back in the Old Testament. Now, let's put our thinking caps on here for a minute. If Paul could go back and he could quote to these Jews a Hebrew, another Jew, who they would revere, one who they would respect, one who was known for worshipping God and loving God, and who do you think he'd reach back to? Who do you think he'd go back and quote? How many think they might know who it might be? I'll give you some more clues. Someone who someone who had a desire to build a temple for God that he might worship God how many more? Someone who killed a giant with a smooth stone David David and chapter number four the universe number three verse number four that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and He is talking about what has already been written by King David. And he's quoting Psalm 51, verse number 4, the Psalm that David wrote. Now, David wrote that Psalm after he committed murder and adultery. He's a man after God's own heart? Yeah, he is. But he committed murder and adultery. And this is what David said in Psalm 51, verse number four. Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest. This is what David said. David said, Lord, he could say, Lord, I'm a Jew. I'm the chosen king. I'm a man after your own heart. And I've written scripture. And I want to build you a temple. That's not what he said. He said, Lord, I've sinned, and you are just in condemning me. You are just in judging me. You are right in purging me. You're right, and I'm wrong. So this average Jew that sat there with their robes on and said, we're not like the pagan, and we're not like the religious. Our religion is true. Our religion is right. We're right with God. Wait a minute. You've broken God's law. You've broken God's commandment. You're just as guilty as they are. Well, we're God's chosen people, and God's not right if He's gonna judge us for our sin. Well, let's think about David. David said, you are right in judging me for my sin. Against thee and thee only have I sinned, and you are a good judge to judge me. And boy, did the Lord judge David. Oh boy, did He ever. Did He ever. In chapter number three and verse number five, I'm sorry, verse number four, God forbid you let God be true as it is written that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged. That word overcome is pretty interesting. It means mightest be pure, just. It really is a term used in litigation at a trial or a case, saying that God is the proper judge, that God is the pure judge, that God is right. And as a judge, he's not just going to judge the pagan, the heathens, the ones that are flying the rainbow, those that are committing murder and adultery and incest, not just those people. He's also gonna judge the religionists, the ones that aren't church for an hour every Sunday, and the ones that vote right, and the ones that are faithful to their family, but have never accepted Christ, and have still broken God's commands. And the Jew as well, God is just and pure, and He will overcome even those that are Jewish, those that go beyond in their religion, and their tradition, and their sacrifices, and their restrictions. They too have broken God's law, and broken God's commandments, and God is just. He is right. He is true. He hasn't broken His promise. He hasn't broken His promise at all. He's a good God. In Deuteronomy chapter number seven, verse number nine, know ye therefore the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments. That I'm a faithful and true God. So the first objection that they had with the gospel was, well, you're saying there's no advantage of God's people. You're against God's people. No. You have many advantages. You have God's promises, God's covenants. You have all of those different things. But you have God's word. OK. All right. All right. OK. All right. But you say we have God's promises. But you're saying that we're not going to get those promises. So God is unjust. God is untrue. If we're not gonna get God's promises, because we are Jewish. No, you're not gonna get those promises because you're sinners. Now, can I be clear? When I say those promises, I wanna be very particular and very clear here. God's not done with Israel. There are promises that, despite their sin, they're still going to receive. Can I be clear about that? We'll go on this when we hit chapter number 11. He's got a promise for them, and he's not gonna revert them. They're not conditional. But I'm telling you this, he's saying to them, listen, you're expected to go to heaven because of your Jewishness, because of your traditions, and you're not. You're not. It won't save you. You've broken God's law. You're condemned. And then lastly, Now lastly, I have to set this last point up. Remember their arguments. One, you're against the people of God. No, you're not, you have an advantage. You're against the promise of God. No, God is still just in judging us for our sin. Doesn't mean that he's untrue. Doesn't mean that he's unfaithful. We deserve condemnation. We deserve judgment for our sin. Then they would say this, you're against the person of God. The very person of God. You're against him. Now we find this in chapter number three, verses five through eight. Now, please stay with me. It's a little detailed, but I think we can get this message. He says in verse number five, he says this, but if our righteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. That parenthetical, I speak as a man, he's not saying that he's not being inspired by the Holy Spirit when he writes this. This is what he's saying. I'm talking like the average person would talk. I'm speaking like someone that wants to reject God or someone that wants to get away with their sin. I'm talking like them. I speak as a man. Now, this is the final argument that he addresses here, trying to tell these Jews that all men are sinners. You're against the person of God because the gospel seems to be saying this, verse number five, but if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, commend means to produce or present a favorable notice. This is their last argument. The gospel can't be true because what you're saying is this, is that when we are unrighteous, God is gracious to us, and God, when he's gracious to us through Jesus, then God gets glory from our unrighteousness. Let me try to say that again. If I lie and God forgives me for my lying, then God gets glory from his forgiving me of my lying, therefore my lying gives him glory. Wait, what did you just say? Does that make sense? This is what they're saying. They're saying, all right, if the gospel is true, then it would be good for us to be sinners, because God saves sinners. God's grace overcomes all of our sin, and God gets glory when he shows us grace. Therefore, we can sin. And when we sin, therefore, we're giving glory to God. What's he going to say then again? God forbid. Again, verse number five, but if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? Listen, if God gets glory for covering my sin, then God can't condemn me for my sin. He can't judge me for sin, because my sin makes him look gracious. My sin makes him look good. Wow. Wow. See why he says I speak as a man? I speak as a man that wants to get away with my sin. I speak as a man that wants to do what he wants to do. Again, in verse number six, God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world? No, no, that's not true. Your unrighteousness is not something that God appreciates, because God is going to be the judge of all the world. Now, every Jewish person knew that God was the judge of all of the earth. In Genesis 18, verse 25, Abraham looked at God and said, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? You're the judge of all the earth, all of them, the pagan, the religionist, and the Jew. In Psalm 9 verse number 8, he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall administer judgment to the people in uprightness. Psalm 96 verse 10, say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth, the world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved, he shall judge the people righteously. Psalm 96 verse 13, before the Lord, before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth, he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people With his truth psalm 98 verse number 9 Before the Lord he cometh to judge the earth with the righteous and sell he judged the world and the people with Equity that God is going to judge the world and we can't say well, you know I can sin then with if your Gospels right then I can sin and do whatever I want to do and God gets glory for it now the Jewish person is trying to say that's why the Gospels wrong and Well, that gospel's wrong because if your gospel's true, that Jesus, now, if where my sin abounds, if his grace does much more abound, chapter five, we'll get there in a couple years. Well, that kind of God, that kind of grace means that I can just sin and do whatever I want to do. Now, is that the gospel? It's not the gospel, no. Matter of fact, Paul's upset. I believe Paul's upset here. As I read this, I think he's upset. Look at verse number seven. For the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory. Why yet am I also judged as a sinner? Boy, if I lie and God's truth is magnified, then why could I be judged as a sinner? Verse number nine. And not rather, now look at this parenthetical. As we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil, that good may come, whose damnation is just. Paul says this, you know what people are saying? They're misunderstanding the gospel. They're saying that I preach a gospel that if you accept Jesus you can do whatever you want to do. You can live any way you want to live and God will get glory because his grace will cover your sin. Paul says that's not true. That's a slander. It's slanderous. That's not what I'm saying. Now you might think this is far-fetched. You might think this has nothing to do with today. Let me bring a couple things to light here. Years ago, well, a couple years ago, when we were studying 1 Corinthians chapter number five, in the church, there was fornication happening in the church, and it was incest. And Paul calls it out hard, hard calls it out. And he says to them, you're all puffed up. You're letting this go on. And you think that you're more spiritual. Well, you know, we're more spiritual because we're gracious to those that sin and we overlook that sin. That's how good we are. And Paul condemns it. No. Are you is your is your gospel one that you can accept Christ and he'll forgive you for sin. Therefore, you can continue in sin that grace may abound. We're studying the book of Jude. In the book of Jude, Jude writes that small, little, powerful book. We'll be back in it tonight. But he writes that book. He says, wait a minute. Wait a second. He says, these preachers, these ungodly men, have taken the grace of God and turned it into laxiviousness. Oh, you have God's grace? Do whatever you want to do. Hey, listen, you have God's grace? Sleep around. Just do whatever you want to do. Lie, cheat, steal. Lust, be angry. Do whatever you want to do. You have God's grace? Live any way you want to live. Look at Romans chapter number six. Romans six. Romans six, verse number one. Romans six, verse number one. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Boy, where am I? Chapter number five, verse number 20, moreover the law entered, the offense may abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Praise the Lord for that. But he continues in chapter 6, verse 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? What's the next phrase, class? God forbid. May it never be. May it be prohibited by the mighty hand of God. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? God forbid. That's not the gospel. So, wait a minute, Paul, if your gospel's right, then you're against the people of God. You're saying we have no advantage. No, you have many advantages, and the primary one is you have the word of God. All right, well, then you're saying, well, then you're saying that you're against the promise of God because God promised us as his people that we would be right with him, that we could live before him. Yeah, but you've broken God's law. You've broken God's commandments. You're guilty before that God. He is just in your condemnation. All right, well then, if this whole gospel thing is true, then you're against the very person of God, because you're saying that God's unjust and unholy, because He's just letting everybody sin, and He's just showing grace here, grace there, grace here, so God's unholy. No, let me tell you how holy God is. God is so holy that when you and I sinned, He's so holy that He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sin. That's how holy God is. He's so holy that He's not just going to let you into heaven, let you live any way you want to live, and enter down into the joy of the Lord. No. That sin has to be paid for. So because of His love for you and His holiness, it pleased Him to bruise His own son, to die for your sins and die for my sins. And how bad would it be to say, oh, yeah, He died for me, so I can live any way I want to live? God forbid. Now, my wife every now and then cleans a house for some people that are pretty well off. And they gave her a credit card on their account with her name on it. And it's one of them, they're unlimited cards. Unlimited. Imagine that. So I say, hey, hey, honey, it's unlimited. This is great. They give it to you. Your name's on it. This is great. You know, I saw a Ford Raptor down the road a little bit for sale and it's unlimited. Would that be wrong? Would that be taking advantage of their grace and their graciousness? Absolutely. I'm saved. I live any way I want to live. God forbid. Can I tell you this? This is important. Do you know that often he does forbid it? Because of sin, many of you are sick and many of you sleep. There are times when literally God forbids it. No. You accepted my grace? Praise the Lord. You're on your way to heaven, but you're gonna live like the devil continually expecting my grace to abound and praise the Lord It does what you were going to abuse that that everything every listen. I believe this I believe when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary. He died for every sin you have ever committed So we're just to live a life continually driving nails in that cross as it were I Every time we sin, we make light of his love. We make light of his holiness. We make light of his grace. God forbid. It should never, ever happen. Now, I wanna end with this. I think this is important. He answers these questions, and he does it masterfully. I mean, it takes a while to pull it apart. Ask me how I know. I was thinking the other day when I was studying this, I was talking to a pastor friend of mine, and we were talking about church, just church things. And boy, you know, I wish people were more faithful. I say everybody's faithful at my church. I just wish people would do right. I just wish they would say about the Bible. Yeah, we all do. This is what this pastor said to me a few years ago. He said this, he said, listen, he said, don't you wish you could preach? that a person could lose their salvation. The question caught me off guard. I said, what did you, what? My first response is, no, because that's not what the word of God teaches. Well, no, no, no, hear me out, hear me out. If we could preach that you could lose your salvation, wouldn't, wouldn't that make people more faithful? Hey, I don't know if you know this or not, we take attendance. Did you know that? We take attendance. And some of you are not all that faithful, and some of you are often tardy. Boy, if we could preach that, I mean, he would be more faithful. And what people would, they would, they confess their sin quicker. They'd avoid sin. If they thought that they did something, they could lose it. First of all, you can't lose it. It's nothing that you did. It's everything that he did. You're sealed in the day of redemption. The word sealed is secured unto the day of redemption. Praise the Lord for that. Listen to me. I understand the sentiment of which he said it. Boy, if we could say that to people, boy, they'd, oh, I better be in church, I better do right, I better live right, I better confess sin, I better be right with God because I don't wanna lose my salvation. But the truth of the matter is this. If the grace and goodness of God does not inspire us, provoke us, constrain us to serve Christ, to be faithful, to confess sin, then nothing else ever will. Listen, why do I want to be right with God? Because He forgave me of all my sin. Why do I want to make sure that if I do something wrong, I hit my knees and say, Lord, please forgive me of my sin. I don't want to abuse your grace and take advantage of your mercy. Lord, here I am again. I'm asking you to forgive me because you are so good and gracious. I want to be faithful to you. That Jesus died on the cross for my sins, that I want to be faithful in the house of God. I want to read God's word. I want to tell others about him. I'm not motivated because I might lose my salvation. I'm motivated because he gave me salvation. Listen, maybe some of you are continuing sin, maybe some of you are, maybe you're not right with Him right now. Maybe you're trusting in your religion. Can I say that if the Orthodox Jew could not trust their religion to get them to heaven, then there's no religion that's gonna get you to heaven. You've broken God's law, you've broken God's commandment, you must be born again. If you are saved, you've partaked of God's grace and His mercy, His salvation, then we should henceforth live for him. Not continuing sin that grace may abound, not abusing his goodness, but serving him because of his goodness. Father God, thank you so much for the word of God. Lord, I understand, Lord, that this is quite the portion of scripture. We thank you, Lord, for the message that it contains. Lord, in front of me is a large assembly of brothers and sisters in Christ that I love dearly. And not just because I'm their pastor, Lord, they're my friends, they're my fellow believers. And Lord, sometimes I think that we just, we know the scripture and we know that we're saved and we think we're okay. But Lord, would you examine our hearts and our lives? Would you help us to make sure that any unfaithfulness, any ungodliness in our lives would come to the surface that we might confess it and make it right. Lord, may the love of Christ constrain us to serve you. Lord, may we realize the tremendous blessing that salvation is when we look around and see it's not just the ungodly pagans that are lost. It's not just the religious that are lost. It's not just the Jews that are lost, that we as individuals without Christ were lost. But in due time, in due season, Christ died for the ungodly. Thank you for our tremendous salvation. May we live a life pleasing to you because of all that you've done for us. With every head bowed, every eye closed, let me ask you this. There's someone here this morning that said, you know what, pastor, I'm not sure if I'm saved. If I were to die today, I don't know for sure that heaven's my home. I'd like to pray for you. If you're not sure of your salvation, would you just humbly slip up your hand right now that I might pray for you? Pastor, I'm not sure. that I'm on my way to heaven, please pray for me. We'll just thank you for your honesty, thank you, man. Anybody else, please include me in this prayer, I'm just not sure. All right, in a moment I'm gonna pray for you. My prayer won't save you, can't save you. but somebody this morning can guide you in the Bible. In five minutes, they can show you from the word of God how you can make sure that heaven's your home. And then from a child that has known the Holy Scriptures, which is able to make you wise unto salvation, somebody can open up the Scriptures and show you what the Bible says you have to do to have eternal life. Would you let them do that this morning? Christian, let me ask you this. I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but are you convicted of your unfaithfulness to God this morning? Compared to his goodness, his graciousness, his love, his mercy, In light of that, do you see yourself being unfaithful? Do you see some sin in areas in your life where he's not pleased with? And are you willing to make that right today? He is worthy. Father God, I pray that you'd bless this time of invitation. I pray for this one and others, perhaps, that don't know Christ as their Savior. Lord, would you give them the humility to have someone open up the word of God that they might know for sure that heaven is their home. I do pray for us that are saved. I pray that we live a life that's pleasing to you in light of all that you've done for us and in light of who you are. We pray these things in Jesus' name. If you stand on your feet and ask the piano to play, maybe you want to come and thank God for his mercy that you did not deserve. If you want to come and confess some unfaithfulness or some sin in your heart and in your life, would you come?