Let's open our Bibles together to the book of Romans, chapter number three. Romans, chapter number three. Let's stand as we read Romans, chapter three. We'll start in verse number 23. Romans, chapter three, verse number 23. The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. Father, I pray and thank you so much for Jesus Christ, our Savior. Lord, as those ladies just saying, I'm thankful that Jesus died for us, that Jesus Christ rose again and that Jesus Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us. Lord, you know the burden of my heart that this is so deep and so wonderful. Lord, I don't even know how to scratch the surface. So I humbly ask that you'd give me the words to say, that you'd set my flesh and carnality aside. And Lord, that you'd use your word to exalt Jesus Christ. And Lord, draw all men to yourself. Lord, we love you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. You may be seated. Imagine for a moment that the only way that you can go to heaven is if you could touch the planet Mars. If I were to say to you, if you can touch the planet Mars, you could go to heaven. Is there anybody here that has that ability to stand here on Earth and reach up and touch Mars? Perhaps you could stand on your tippy toes. Perhaps you could stretch your arm out as high as you possibly can. You would realize that there's no way that we could stretch ourselves or move ourselves or lift ourselves to be able to not fall short of touching Mars. Say, for instance, somebody says, oh, Pastor, I got it. I got it. You went in the back, and you got a three-foot step ladder. And you opened it up, and you went on the first step, second step. Matter of fact, even the top step that says, not a step, you get on there precariously. And you begin to reach up and go, OK, I'm almost there. Are you almost there? You're not even close. In chapter number three, verse 23, the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That nobody even comes close. You see, what the religion is, religion's a three-foot stool. I mean, religion is, well, we'll get you a little bit closer, but you in proximity to how far Mars is, that three-foot ladder means absolutely nothing. And we talk about the holiness of God, and the glory of God, and the righteousness of God. Our works are nothing but a three-foot step stool that's not getting us any closer to salvation whatsoever. As a matter of fact, there's nothing that we can do up to get to God. Salvation had to be God coming down to get us. Because then again, that salvation is God reaching down for us, finding us in our sin, and doing something about it. The question has always been, how can a man be just with God? Since Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God gave a clue of how we could be just. But throughout all the Bible, in all history, man has tried to strive, how can I be just? They're looking for a three-foot step ladder, is really what they're looking for. What can I do to be just with God? We read that question in Job 9, verse 2. I know it so of a truth, but how should a man be just before God? In Luke 18, verse 18, a certain ruler asked him, asked Jesus, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? How can I be just? What can I do? How can I go to heaven? Acts 16, verse 30, that Philippian jailer brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What can I do to be right with God? What can I do to have eternal life? In John 14, Jesus was talking to his disciples, and Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Lord, we don't know what to do. We don't know where to go. We know that we're all sinners. We know that we all fall short. We don't even know how to get there. There's no way. How can we do this? And that's when Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now this plan of salvation is God reaching down to us, and it is God's plan. It is God's plan to save mankind. It's God's way, not our way. Verse number 25 of chapter 3 gives us an indication of this. Verse 25. to be a propitiation through faith. God sets something forth. It is God's plan to save man. It's not man's coming up with a plan, coming up with a stepladder. It's God's plan of salvation. And there's only one way. There's only one way to truly be saved. Well, what's this plan? Keep your finger on Romans chapter three. Go back to 1 Peter chapter number one for a moment. 1 Peter chapter one. Let's look at this plan for a moment. 1 Peter chapter number one. In verse number 15, if you're visiting this morning, I'm glad that you're here. You're going to find that our purpose is to glorify God and to magnify his word. And so we're going to be in the Bible a lot. 1 Peter 1, verse number 15. The Bible says this in 1 Peter 1. Verse number 15, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation. Conversation is our actions, our deeds, our behavior. Verse 16, because it is written, be holy, for I am holy. Now let me ask you this question. God commands you to be holy. Jesus said in John 15, be perfect as he is perfect. Is there anybody here who's holy? Is there anybody here who's perfect? Does anybody wanna raise their hand and tell us that you're perfect? Anybody here at all? Anybody's spouse perfect? You married somebody who's perfect? Absolutely not. So we have a problem. We all fall short of that standard, of that command. It's a command, be holy for I am holy. Listen, heaven's a holy city. God's a holy God sitting on a holy throne. And no sinner's gonna enter into that city. If you are not righteous, if you are not holy, you're not going through those pearly gates, as it were. You're not going to make it. He says, be holy for I am holy, and we all fall short. Look at this in verse number 17 of 1 Peter 1. And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Verse 18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, listen, here's the plan, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Well, how long did God have this plan? Verse 20, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. who by him do believe in God, who that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Listen, God's plan from the beginning, the God's plan before the laying of the foundation. He knew man would sin, he knew man would disobey, so here was the plan, that he would send the son to die for the sinner. That was the plan. Revelation chapter 13, he was the lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. That was the plan. But the plan had to do three things. There are three things that had to be accomplished with the plan of salvation. And let me show you what those three things were. Go back to Romans chapter number three. In God's plan of salvation, number one, sinners are justified. Sinners have to be justified. Chapter number three, verse number 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If that's you, would you say amen? Amen. Verse number 24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God's plan had to justify the sinner that we find in verse number 23. How to justify the sinner. Justified is to pardon, to clear from guilt, to render just or innocent, to be declared righteous. Now we find out that a man's not declared righteous by his wealth. Is that right? We're not redeemed with silver or gold or corruptible things. We're not justified because we're Americans. We're not justified because we're Baptists. We're not justified by our wealth. We're not justified by our works. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. We're not gonna be justified by what we do, by our works. Look at chapter number three in verse number 29. Is he the God of the Jews only? I'm sorry, verse number 27. Where is boasting then? It is excluded by what law? Of works? No. We're not saved by our works. Your baptism doesn't save you. Your knowledge of the Bible doesn't save you. Your church attendance doesn't save you. Your not eating certain meats on Friday doesn't save you. Going to the priest doesn't save you. None of that justifies you. None of those things can make God put a stamp on your life, on your soul, and say, this person is righteous. No. Our deeds don't justify us. Our deeds condemn us. But listen to this, I have good news. God's plan justifies the sinner and he does it freely. In verse number 24, being justified freely. I love that, freely. That means we could not earn it. Right? It's free. We didn't somehow cause God to give it to us. It is His love and benevolence. It is His grace. It is His mercy. And He freely gives us justification. Well, how can that be? How can God give us something we couldn't earn on our own, but he freely gives it to us? Yeah, the Bible says he does it by his grace. We are justified freely, and we didn't earn it, by his grace. That word grace means unmerited, undeserved favor. That anyone who's going to heaven does not deserve it. Nobody earned it, nobody was good enough. Well, Mother Teresa, no, not Mother Teresa. Well, Pastor Sparks, certainly not him. Nobody. None of us earned it, it was freely given. It is, the Bible says, it's a gift. Ephesians chapter two, verse eight. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. It's freely given by his grace. Like that, you know, I like that because we couldn't earn it to get it. So we just gave it to us I'll give it to you because I'm gracious. I will give you justification. I will give you and declare you righteous That's an amazing thing. You might be sitting here going, well, Pastor, you don't know how bad I was. You don't know what I've done. I mean, I am a sinner. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but I've committed this sin, and I've done this, and I'm guilty of this, and I'm, listen to me. In chapter number five, we'll get there, but he says, where sin abounded, God's grace did much more abound. There's nothing that you have done that you can boast about, and there's nothing that you've done that I've done bad that God can't forgive you for. He'll forgive you. You see, you say, well, I'm not, listen, you might be here, and you might be righteous, or you might be a church goer, you might have the Bible memorized, and you might be in your place and your spot, and you might, that's great, but you know what that is? That's a three foot step ladder. You're three rungs above the murderer and the harlot, but compared to heaven and the glory of God, you fall significantly short. So the plan had to be God justifying us, and God had to justify us freely because we could not earn it. That's the plan. So number one. The first part of the plan is sinners are justified. Number two, part of this plan, not only could sinners need to be justified, but number two, God needs to be satisfied. So in God's plan, sinners are justified, they're declared righteous, but number two, God is satisfied. Now, you might not think that that's a problem, but having both of those things happen at the same time is a problem. Why is that a problem? It's a problem because God's a holy and righteous God. And God cannot look down on his sinner and go, you know what? I declare you justified. No, that's not right. We have a problem in our court systems today. We have a lot of unjust judges. We have a serious problem. Now, I think probably the biggest part of the problem is this, is that when somebody commits murder, God is very clear, from Genesis 9, Romans 13, that God is for capital punishment. That if you take innocent life and God requires that person's life to be taken, Now the purpose of that, or the basis of that, of capital punishment is this fact, is that man is created in the image of God. And once man walks away from God and realizes or thinks he's not created in God's image, that's when we lose the sanctity of life. When we forget that we were created by God and created in God's likeness, that's when we don't protect unborn babies, and that's when we don't practice capital punishment. We all right? Now. So, in our society today, a man will commit murder, multiple people, and they will stand before certain judges, and there are certain judges that will look at the man, is that man guilty or is he innocent? What is he? He's guilty, right? He's guilty. Now remember where we're at, that all the worlds, everyone's mouth is stopped, and the whole world is guilty before God. So this judge will look at this man that's committed murder, multiple murders, it's proven, he's committed multiple murders, and the judge takes his gavel, he is going to declare his sentence, and he says, I find you guilty. And your sentence is, now according to the Bible, it should be, he should say, the next thing he should say is, death. No, in our society, today it seems, you'll hit that gavel. Instead of saying death, he says life in prison without parole. Wait, that's the exact opposite of what you were supposed to say. See, Pastor, that seems kind of harsh. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. And you look back at that judge and go, well, wait a minute. That's not right. That's not just. That's not proper. That judge is an unjust judge. Somebody who's guilty, there is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The law is supposed to act. In Romans, or should be Deuteronomy chapter 25, we looked at that, that if the person is wicked, then he's to be found guilty. Right? Now listen, so the Lord, the plan, you have to be justified in order to go to heaven. You have to be declared righteous, you have to be pardoned in order to go to heaven. But God cannot just look at a sinner and go, I pardon you. No, that's unjust. Do we understand this? He can't just look at somebody who's guilty. The Bible says in Numbers, by no means clearing the guilty. God cannot look at you as a sinner and go, well, I know you're a sinner, I know you're guilty, but I'm a God of love, so I'm just gonna let you in heaven. then God would not be just. Do you understand that? So he has a problem. This is the problem. The problem is, man's a sinner. God wants to justify man. God wants to make man right. But he can't just declare it. He can't just, enter thou into the joy of the Lord. No, God can't do that. He's holy and he's just. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? So how does he do it? Well, his plan number one has to take the sinner and justify him, but God's holiness needs to be satisfied. Is that right? Look at verse number 25. The Bible says, whom God has set forth to be a what? Propitiation. On the count of three, would you say that word with me? Propitiation, one, two, three, propitiation. Now we don't hardly ever use that word hardly. You probably didn't wake up this morning and say, I'm thankful for the propitiation of Christ. You probably didn't say that word. And there's a lot of verses that are taking that word out. But I'm here to tell you, that's an important word. And instead of taking words out, I think we should define words. Because words mean things. Propitiation means, I mean, you want to know this word. Propitiation is the act of appeasing wrath and reconciling the favor of an offended person. In theology, it's the atonement. It's taking, God looks down to the sinner and says, all right, I want to justify you, but I am holy, and I'm angry at sin, and sin needs to be paid for. Someone needs to make this atonement. Somebody has to pay for the sin. Somebody has to make this thing right. Someone needs to be in a propitiation. Somebody, literally, somebody has to satisfy my holiness and my wrath. Someone is going to pay for this sin, because I can't just let you go into heaven without that sin being paid for. Does this make sense? So God says, listen, the sinner needs to be justified, but God needs to be satisfied. Look at Romans chapter five, verse number eight. Romans five and verse number eight. Romans 5, verse number eight, but God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified, I love this, by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Oh, so because Jesus died on the cross, He took the wrath of God, He took the penalty of my sin, so that I could be right with God, so that I could be justified by God. Look at verse number 9. Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the what? The atonement. Atonement. That is two parties that are in disagreement. God's holy, we are not. Atonement is bringing us together. at one mint, bringing two opposing parties together. That's what Jesus did on the cross. God says, I want to justify the sinner, but I can't just say you're justified. I just can't say you're not guilty when you are. So that sin had to be paid for. I'm going to tell you who paid for your sin. Jesus Christ paid for your sin on the cross of Calvary. The Bible says that He became sin for us who knew no sin. That's to say Jesus never sinned. Can I park there for a minute? Jesus never sinned. He was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. There's a guy that I worked with for a little while and he was in a cult and he followed a guy who lived in the town I lived in. His name was Brother Julius and he claimed to be Jesus. And I won't get into it, but the man was a wicked man. He was wicked. That's about all I'll say publicly. He was wicked. And I worked with a guy who was a follower of his. We were up there on scaffolding. We were laying block. And he says, well, you know what the difference is between your Jesus and my Jesus? I said, what? He said, your Jesus was a sinner. I was thinking, if I throw you off the scaffolding, will your Jesus catch you? I said, you know, the Bible says that he became sin for us who knew no sin. He was the lamb of God without spot and without blemish. He was tempted at all points as we are yet without sin. Now, why is that so important? Because when Jesus died on the cross, he was not dying for his own sins. He was dying for our sins. He became sin for us. That is what satisfied the holiness and the wrath of God was his death on the cross. When Jesus was on that cross, he cried out, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God the Father forsook the Son because the Son became a curse for us. He became sin for us. He turned His back on His own Son so He wouldn't have to turn His back on you. So he wouldn't have to turn his back on me. Satisfied him. This was the plan. This was the plan. Isaiah chapter 53, verse 5. You know this. Isaiah 53, 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was where? Laid on him. By his stripes were healed. He died for us. But Isaiah 53, verse 10 says this. Yet, listen, yet it pleased. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. It pleased the Father to say, I want to justify the sinner. I want to make the sinner right, but my holiness needs to be satisfied. That sin needs to be paid for. And I am OK with this plan, that the Son is willing to die for the sins of the world. That's why Jesus died. That's why he died. That's why he became a curse for us. Go to 1 John, keep your finger there in Romans. 1 John chapter number two. 1 John chapter number two, look with me at verse number one. 1 John chapter two, verse number one. 1 John two, verse number one. I love hearing those pages turning. First John, chapter two, verse one. Say amen if you're there. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. How can you as a sinner be right before the Lord? Well, we have an advocate, Christ the righteous, verse two. And he is the what? Propitiation. He's the one that we have the atonement through. He's the one that satisfies the holiness and wrath of God. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of most of the world. The whole world. Listen, Jesus died for everyone. He's a ransom for all. He's a propitiation. He is the way the whole world can be right with God. Now, I know you didn't do this. When you're witnessing to somebody, say, listen, I just want you to know that Jesus Christ is your propitiation. Do you use that word? Probably not, probably not. I just want you to know that you need a propitiation. Go home and look it up in the 1828 dictionary, and you'll find out what you need. We don't use that word, but I'm telling you, it's pretty important. It's the only way for a sinner to be saved. It's the only way for a sinner to be justified. It's the only way. Because God's not just gonna look over your sin. He's not gonna pass it by. He's not gonna say, well, I'm loving. No, he's holy. His love sent Jesus to die to satisfy his holiness. Well, John chapter number four, 1 John 4. 1 John 4, look with me at verse number 10. 1 John 4, verse number 10. First John chapter four, verse number 10. Here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the what? Propitiation for our sins. Wow. Jesus died to give us our atonement. Jesus died to satisfy the holiness and wrath of God. Jesus died and became sin for us so that you and I could be made righteous. So? God's plan, how important is it? Well, God's plan needs to justify the sinner. The sinner needs to be justified. But God needs to be satisfied. There needs to be a propitiation, and that's what Jesus did. Well, how do we get that? How does that happen? Okay, so if I want justification by the Lord, I know it's through Jesus, but how do I activate it? How do I claim it? How do I make sure that that payment was applied to me? How do I make sure that my sins are forgiven? That's a good question, right? How do I make sure that I'm justified? Well, go back to John. If you go back to Romans chapter number three, look at verse number 22. Romans chapter three, verse number 22. We already found out that it's not by works, so how do I get it? Romans chapter three, verse number 22. The Bible says, even the righteousness of God, which is by, what? Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that, what? Believe, believe. Verse number 25, whom God has set forth to be the propitiation through, what? Faith in his blood. Verse number 27, where is the boasting then? It is excluded by what law of works? Nay, but by the law of what? Faith. Verse 28, key. Therefore, we conclude, he concluded that all men are condemned. He says in verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith. See that sign up there? I've been waiting nine months to get to that sign. Finally got there. We are justified by faith. Now, the Bible says, for by grace we are saved through faith. It's what we believe. When Jesus looked at people trying to earn their way to salvation, he says this. He says, this is the work of God. You want to get to heaven? This is the work of God. That you believe in him whom he hath sent. We're saved by our belief. We're saved by our faith in Christ. Now, just so you know this, because this is very important, it is not a mental acknowledgment that there was a man some 2,000 years ago named Jesus. It's not making some mental note or some, you know, I do believe that he died on the cross, and I believe in the resurrection. That's not saving faith. Did you hear that? When we talk about faith, we talk about realizing that we are guilty before God. Knowing our own sin, knowing our own guilt, seeing our need, realizing we cannot save ourselves, and then looking at what Jesus did as the atonement, the propitiation, the death burial. We are saved by His blood. And looking at the cross of Calvary, the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world and say, listen, I know I cannot save myself, but I know that I need to be saved, so I am trusting in the finished work of Calvary to save me from my sin. That is you taking all of your weight, all of your trust, all of your hope in eternal life, and turning it over to the finished work of Calvary. Lord, I'm trusting You. This is what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of, in a church this size, I'm afraid that we know all of this. And this morning we know about the gospel, we know about the death, burial, and resurrection. This morning you just added to your vocabulary the word propitiation. Now I really know, because I have the big words to know it. But never really know it. Never really trust it. I heard years ago that there was a famous rope walker, and thousands of people would show up whenever he'd tight walk, walk this rope over buildings and stuff. He said he was gonna do it over Niagara Falls. So they stretched a rope across Niagara Falls, and he said, how many think I can do this? And they were like, yeah. Thousands of people, yeah, you can do it, you can do it. How many believe I can do it? Yeah, you can do it. And so he walked across, came back. He said, how many of you believe that I can do this with a wheelbarrow, not this big pole? Wheelbarrow. Oh, we believe you can do that. We believe it. So he walked across with a wheelbarrow, and he walked back. Yeah. How many of you believe I can walk across with a wheelbarrow and somebody inside the wheelbarrow? Yeah, we believe it. Yeah, we believe it. Who will get in the wheelbarrow? Oh, okay, knowledge that he can do it. Salvation is you trusting him in the wheelbarrow. It's you realizing that your stepladder falls short. That you need Christ. Sinners are justified. God is satisfied. It's activated by faith. were justified by faith. Philippians chapter three, verse number nine, and being found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. They were saved by our faith in Christ, the finished work of Christ. Look at Romans chapter number 10. We'll get there, Lord willing. Romans 10, look at verse number nine. You know these verses, right? Romans 10, verse number nine. Romans 10, verse number nine. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Salvation and righteousness comes by our belief and confession of Christ. I don't know your background. I don't know if you've ever stood before a judge. I don't know if you've ever found guilty. I was in a speech at a men's conference, and I said, how many of you are liars? Would you raise your hand? And everybody raised their hand. And I said, all right. How many of you are thieves? And people raised their hand. I said, how many of you are murderers? And this guy right in the front row raised his hand. I mean, just in front of everybody, raised his hand. And the guy sitting next to him kind of moved over a little bit, like, wait, what? What? You might be thinking, well, I mean, I'm not that bad. Not that bad. You might just stand before a judge, and you've committed a crime, and he pronounces you not guilty, and you go free. The greatest illustration of this in the Bible is that of Barabbas, right? Barabbas. Bar, first part of his name, means son of. Barnabas, son of consolation, Barabbas, son of. Abbas, father. Barabbas' name means son of my father. How many of you are a child of your father? Would you raise your hand, please? Yeah, kids, raise your hand, please. Everybody is. Matter of fact, if we go back far enough, we are all sons of our father, Adam. And Barabbas was guilty. He was a thief. The penalty of thievery was crucifixion, death. He was a murderer, the Bible says. Penalty for murder, death. He was supposed to die on a cross, crucified. That's what he deserved. But do you know he went free? Do you know that? Do you know why he went free? Because he had a substitute. You know who that was? Jesus. Our substitute, our appreciation. Have you ever been saved? I would say that if you stood before a judge and you were guilty, and he let you go free, he pronounced you innocent, and you go free, you're not going to forget that day. You would always remember that day. You might not remember the date, but you will always remember the day your belly chains and leg irons fell off, you got out of that orange jumpsuit, and you walked out a free man. You'll remember that day. Do you remember the day when you were born again? Do you remember the day when God declared you to be justified because you put your faith in Christ? Do you remember that day? And I'm just here to tell you if you don't, if you're foggy about it or you're trusting some other thing, you're looking at step ladders thinking that somehow that's going to get you to heaven, you need to be saved. You need to be saved today. Freely. It's free. It's a free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Lastly, and I'm done. So if you're with me, through faith in his blood, sinners are justified, God is satisfied, listen, and Christ is glorified. Look at verse number 27. Where is the boasting then? Did you see that? Roman chapter three, verse 27, where is boasting then? What's boasting? Boasting is vaunting. It is literally to have glory in, to rejoice in. Boasting. Most men will proclaim their own goodness, boasting. If I can keep the law, I'm like, look how good I am. Isn't that the problem that the Pharisees had? Look how good we are. We'll tell you how good we are. We'll show you how good we are. They're boasting in their own works and their own righteousness. Yet Jesus said, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, you will not inherit eternal life. Boasting. So if I'm only saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and I was given salvation freely by my faith in Jesus Christ, then what can I boast about? What can I brag about? What can I talk about how good I am? That's what the Bible says, for by grace you save through faith and not out of yourselves, is the gift of God freely, that what? That no man should boast. Look how righteous I, no. My righteousness came from Christ. There's no bragging, there's no boasting. Listen, I didn't deserve it, and he gave it to me anyway. Where my sin abounded, his grace did much more abound. I'm just thankful to be saved. I know I'm unworthy, but he loved me and died for me anyway. I got to thinking about this. Psalm 44 verse number eight, and God we boast all the day long and praise thy holy name forever. What's heaven gonna be about? What about boasting and praising God for the lamb that took away the sons of the world? That's what that's gonna be about. But you know what I got to thinking about today, or a couple days ago, and I can't get it off my mind, and I'll share this with you and then we can go, but I got to thinking, I think that we view witnessing to the lost wrong. I really do. I think when we tell someone about their need for the Savior, they have to recognize that they're a sinner, right? For all who have sinned and come short of the glory of God, there's none righteous, no, not one. Recognize that all their righteousness are as filthy rags. Them trying to go to church or religion is nothing but a step stool that still falls short of the glory of God. Your mouth needs to be stopped and you are guilty before the God that's gonna judge you. And he's gonna say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. They have to know that first, right? Then we introduce the atonement of Christ. Listen, that's the bad news. The good news is Jesus died for you and did what you couldn't do for yourself. He became your propitiation. You might not use that word. But he became your propitiation. He became the atonement. He can justify you. And at the same time, he can satisfy the Heavenly Father. Right? He does both at the same time. Now, I need to just so you know how this all works. Look at Romans chapter 3. because it's subtle but it's very important. Romans chapter three, look with me at verse number 26. To declare I say at this time his righteousness, listen to this, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Salvation had to come with God still being just and still being able to justify. If the sin wasn't paid for and he lets us be just, then he's not just. Do you understand that? Back to witnessing. Jesus loves you, died for you, because you're a sinner, he can save you. That is witnessing to them so that they can be saved. Let me give you a different perspective and we'll go. Shouldn't witnessing be more about God than that individual? Shouldn't a big part of our witnessing be not just telling this person to believe in Christ, but listen to me, boasting in what God has done for us? Shouldn't it be about, listen, I just want you to know this, I'm a sinner, couldn't work my way to heaven. I went to a church to preach the Bible, but I was still lost. I grew up in church, my father was an uncle, whatever. But I realized I couldn't save myself. But let me tell you, let me boast, let me tell you how good God is. He's holy and he's just, but he's loving and kind, and he freely gives salvation, that he was willing from the beginning to give his son to die for you. What a great God we have. So no matter what happens, if that person receives Christ or not, in that conversation, God still got all the glory. We're boasting in what he did. We're boasting in who he is. How he didn't violate his holiness to save us. He satisfied that holiness to the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That's how much he loved us. Do we see the difference? Listen, if you're here today and you're not saved, you need to be saved. We're not asking you to join a church, we're asking you to come to Christ. And if you are saved, our job is to go and tell the lost and dying world how bad it is, how bad their sin is, that hell is real, but Jesus died so they wouldn't have to go there. If you're here, I don't care how long you've been coming to this church, if you're not sure, I would love to talk to you after the service. If you're a woman, you don't wanna talk to me, you wanna talk to another woman, we have plenty of women that can open up the Bible and show you for sure how heaven is your home. What you do with Christ can affect all of eternity. You need to be saved. Father, thank you so much for the propitiation that Jesus Christ was for our sins and the sins of the world. Thank you that you offer that salvation freely by grace. All that's required is our faith in Christ, not our works, not our deeds that couldn't save us. They're just step ladders that get us one or two feet off the ground, but we still fall so miserably short of your glory. Lord, I can't help but think that there are a few in this room right now in a group this size that if they were to die today, they've never truly been saved. And some have a head knowledge and some have made mental, given a mental nod to the gospel, but never truly have trusted Christ as their Savior. Lord, may they be saved today. For those of us that are saved, may we not boast in how good we are now, but how bad we were and how good you always are. We boast in the finished work of Calvary. May we boast in the way that you saved us and did not have to cease from being just or holy, but you saved us with the great sacrifice of your Son that became sin for us. And Lord, may Jesus Christ be exalted. That we're not boasting in ourselves, but we're boasting in the finished work of Christ. That we're boasting in your grace and your mercy, and we're exalting you for what you've done for us. Lord, we love you. Lord God, I pray that you'd bless this time of invitation. I pray for those that are lost, and I pray for those that are saved, that we could just thank you this morning and boast in your goodness. Every head bowed, every eye closed, let me ask you this. Who here this morning will say, you know what, pastor, I'm not sure of my salvation. I'm just being honest. I don't know for sure if heaven's my home when I die. I believe in Jesus, but I'm not sure I'm saved. If you're not sure of your salvation, would you just humbly slip up your hand right now that I might pray for you? I won't embarrass you, I promise I won't call you out, but I will pray for you. Pastor, here's my hand, please pray for me. I'm not sure of my salvation. All right, Christian, where's your boasting? You've been saved for a long time. Do you still boast in the goodness of God? Do you still thank Him for such a tremendous plan of salvation? I sure hope you do. Let's thank Him this morning. Would you stand on your feet, every head bowed, every eye closed, and ask the piano to play? Give you a chance to come and thank the Lord.