Ron Dunn Podcast - How To Get Right With God

Episode Date: February 12, 2020

From the sermon series on Romans

Romans chapter 3 and follow along as I read verses 20 through 24. Romans chapter 3 verses 20 through 24. Now in this passage preceding, Paul has, as we preached last Sunday morning, has been giving to us the divine verdict for the human race. He has concluded that all are under sin. He says when you stand in God's presence as you do every moment of your life, the judgment is not something that is merely future. It is something that is always imminent, something that is always present. You are always standing, living in the presence of God. And the apostle has said that when any man and every man,

every woman and every boy and girl, as they stand in the presence of God, that every mouth must be stopped. There can be no defense and no excuse. And all the world is guilty before God. All the world guilty before God. And so he says in verse 20, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? If you were brought into the presence of an earthly court and that court found you guilty

and sentenced you to death, do you think that you could be justified by saying, Judge, if you'll let me go, I promise that from here on out I'll always obey the law. Judge, if you will just commute my sentence and pardon me, I promise you from this day forward I'll never speed, I'll never steal, I'll never even litter the highways. I promise you I will keep the law. You know, that would be ridiculous. No flesh, no man can be justified in the presence of an earthly court by keeping the law, and no

man can be justified in the presence of a heavenly court by keeping the law. I don't know why we understand that on the human level, but on the divine level, we think it's different. We think that God is going to justify us and that everything is going to be all right if we'll keep a few laws. Therefore, by the deed to the flesh, there shall no flesh, by the deed to the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. We would know what sin was if there weren't laws. But now, I want you to underscore those two words. But now, they're the two most important words in the Bible. But now, the righteousness of God, being right with God, without the law, is manifested.

Being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference, 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. Now let's read verses 27 and 28 also. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Man has flunked every school grade that God has put him through. He has failed every test that God has ever imposed upon him.

In the kindergarten of the human race, when God placed man in the Garden of Eden, and man was in a state of innocence, he had never sinned, he had never known sin, he was not righteous, he was innocent. Innocent. He had never sinned. He had never known sin. He was not righteous. He was innocent. Innocent. He had never sinned. He had never seen sin. He lived there in a perfect environment. And God gave him only one command to obey. And man flunked the kindergarten of the human race. In that place of innocence, in that place of perfect environment with just one law to obey, he broke that one law.

And he failed. Then in the great school of human conscience, he failed that also. Because you see, what man received through sin was a conscience. He received the conscience. That certain something inside him that makes him feel bad when he does wrong. A lot of people say today, well, if you just live by your conscience, live by your heart, whatever your heart tells you to do, whatever your conscience tells you to do whatever your conscience tells you to do

live by it no sir no sir because man flops out in the school of conscience so man went against his conscience went against what he knew was right

sinned against that conscience the Bible says he seared his conscience with a hot iron. And so in Genesis chapter 6, God said that man made such a mess of living by his conscience that he had to destroy the world with a flood of waters. Every imagination of man's thoughts were evil continually. And God said, I'm sorry I made men. And so then he came to the high school of law. After God destroyed the world with a flood of waters

and the human race began to replenish the earth, God gave them the most ethical, the most moral law that the world has ever seen. You know what the people said? They said, Lord, you tell us what to do and we'll do it. I still hear people saying that today. I still hear Christians saying that today. Lord, you you tell us what to do and we'll do it. I still hear people saying that today. I still hear Christians saying that today. Lord, you just tell me what to do and I'll do it.

I'll obey you. I'm going to be better. I'm going to do better. You tell us what to do and we'll do it. So God gave them his commandments and they broke every single one of them. Even before the writing was dry on the tablets, they had broken every single one of them. Man flunked out in the highest school of the law. The most ethical and the highest morality that the world has ever known

was the law that God gave to his people, but they broke it. And James chapter 2 says, if you offend in one point, you're guilty of all. Then we come to the university, the graduate school of the incarnation. All these other things fail. Perfect environment wouldn't make man what he ought to be. Conscience wouldn't make man what he ought to be. That high moral ethical law couldn't make man what he ought to be. And so God says, I'll send my son. I myself in the person of my son, I'll come down and I'll be with them. I'll reveal myself to them. I'll love them. I'll weep over them. I'll heal them. So the Bible says that God was incarnate in Christ.

God wrapped himself up in human flesh. He became a man. He lived among us Jesus said he that has seen me has seen the Father and manual God with us revealing to us everything that God was and everything that man ought to be and they rose up they hated him because he convicted them of being less than what they ought to be, and they crucified him. Man has failed every test, every examination that God has ever given. That's why Paul says then that the whole world is guilty before God. That's why God says in verse 19 to shut up. He said, I don't want to hear anything you have to say. I gave you a chance in perfect environment.

I gave you the chance with a conscience. I gave you the chance with a conscience. I gave you the chance with the law. I even gave you the chance with my son, Jesus Christ, showing you what you ought to do. And you still fail. You have nothing to say to me. I don't want to hear any defense. You're guilty.

You're guilty. And the sentence is death and hell. I'm glad the Bible doesn't leave us there. That's why the word gospel means good news the gospel means good news there is good news and the good news is this that there is a way to be saved from that

there is a way to be right with God if perfect environment won't make me right with God if living by my conscience won't make me right with God if living by the law will not make me right with God, if living by my conscience won't make me right with God, if living by the law will not make me right with God, if even Jesus coming into the world will make me right with God. Is there any way to be right with God? Yes, there is a way. Thank God there is a way, but there's only one way. There's only one way, not two ways, not three ways. There's only one way to be right with God. And this is what Paul is talking about in these verses that I read to you. And I want to say three things about this, three things about this, how to be right with God. And this is what Paul is talking about in these verses that I read

to you. And I want to say three things about this. Three things about this. How to be right with God. The most important, the most important thing you can ever think about is how in the world can I be made right with God? How can I stand right now in the presence of a holy God and know that he looks upon me as right. First of all, the way to be right with God is without human merit or effort. You cannot be made right with God by anything that you do. Notice what the apostle says in verse 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. Now, does that mean that God set aside his law and doesn't expect us any longer to obey his law? No, sir. No, sir. God still says thou shall not steal. God still says thou shall

not bear false witness. God still says thou shall not commit adultery. God still says thou shall honor your father and mother. God still says thou shall have no adultery God still says thou shall honor your father and mother thou God still says thou shall have no other gods before me this doesn't mean that God has abandoned his law but he says that there is a way for you and me to be right with God without keeping the law perfectly because we can't keep it perfect nobody has ever done it except one person and that's Jesus Christ that's the genius of the gospel. That's why you must have Jesus in your life if you're going to be saved. Because, listen, God cannot fellowship with sin.

God can have absolutely nothing to do with anything that breaks his law. I have broken his law, therefore God cannot have anything to do with me. But when Jesus Christ came to this earth, he kept the law perfectly. Who did he keep the law perfectly for? Himself? No, he didn't need to be saved. Who did he keep the law for? Me. He kept the law perfectly on my behalf, for my sake. I can't keep the law. Jesus says, don't worry about it. You just rest in me. You turn it over to me. I know you can't keep the law. And if you keep on going like you are and you stand before my father in your condition, you'll be damned forever. Listen, don't worry about it. You let me do it. I'll come.

I'll obey every precept. There'll never be an evil thought passed through my mind. I will never sin. I will walk perfectly in the ways of the Lord all the days of my life. I'll keep the Lord for you. That's like my bank account being overdrawn and a millionaire saying, listen, don't worry about it. I will put, I'll put all the money you need in your account. It's my money, but I won't put it in my account. I'll put it in your account and they'll charge it up to your account so you'll be solvent. And that's exactly what Jesus did when he came to this earth.

He kept the law perfectly for me. Now, if you reject Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and I don't care if you take Buddha and if you believe in Joseph Smith and if you believe in everybody else in the world, but unless you single everything else out and depart from every other hope that you have and realize that your only hope is in the world, but unless you single everything else out and depart from every other

hope that you have and realize that your only hope is in Jesus Christ, you'll be lost forever. But if you'll come this morning to say, I recognize that nothing else can help me, it is Jesus Christ only. It's not Jesus Christ plus something else. It's not Jesus Christ in addition to something else. It is Jesus Christ only and I will let him be my perfection for me. And Jesus, I want you, I want you to deposit your perfection into the account of my life. Jesus kept the law on your behalf. And the only way you can ever escape the damnation of God is to trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and let what he did for you in keeping the law be charged to your account has that ever happened it is without the law it is without the law there's no man can keep the law because of the nature of man

there's no possibility of anybody keeping the law he said well preacher I I want you to know that I've kept the law. You see, the Bible says, Thou shalt not commit adultery. I've never done that. The Bible says, Thou shalt not kill. I've never done that.

The Bible says, Thou shalt not steal. I've never done that. The Bible says, Thou shalt not bear false witness against my neighbor. I've never done that. You know what that 10th commandment is? That's the one that slipped the apostle Paul up. Old Paul could get by on every other commandment. He could live an immaculate life. He could keep all those commandments, but when he got to that last

commandment, that slew him. You know what the last commandment is? Thou shalt not covet. You know what the word covet means? Thou shalt not even want to do those other nine things. That's what it means. God says it's not enough for you not to commit adultery. You better not even ever have the desire. God says it's not enough for you to refrain from killing, you just better not ever want to. God said it's not enough for

you to refrain from stealing, you just better not ever want to steal. You say, I've never done those things, have you ever wanted to? And every one of you had to admit, yes, sir. It is the law that slays us because the law says thou shall not covet. God puts down the nine things. He says, now don't do these things. And he caps it off with the tenth one and says, and you cannot even want to do those things. If there ever came a time when you did not want Jesus Christ to be first place in your life, if you even coveted to have his place in your life, then you're guilty of the law.

And that's what James 2, 10 minute means when it says, if thou shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, you're guilty of all. You're guilty of all. I thank God that there is a way to be right with God without my human effort and without my human merit, without the law. I'm glad it's without the law because I couldn't keep the law in the first place. But Jesus Christ has kept the law for me. All right, the second thing, it is without human effort and it is also by grace. Notice in verse 24, he says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, that's one of the greatest verses in all the New Testament. I hope you all have your

Bibles open this morning because I want us for just a moment to dissect verse 24. Listen, if you can get verse 24 right this morning and you can understand verse 24 correctly this morning, you'll have everything you need to be right with God. All right, first of all, he says being justified. Let's just stop there. That is a description of salvation. Being justified. Being justified. You know what it means to be justified? It means to have the court pronounce upon us, not guilty. Not guilty. Well, I thought God had just said in verse 19

that all the world is guilty. That's right. That's why it's good news. God has just said, I'm guilty. Hopelessly, helplessly, inexcusably, inescapably, I'm guilty. And yet now he just says there is a way for me to be pronounced not guilty there is a way for me to be righteous that's what salvation is salvation is more than forgiveness now i want you to get this Let's suppose that you break the law.

You break the law. You're sentenced to prison. And after a few years, the governor pardons you. Are you justified? No. You were still guilty. You were still guilty, weren't you? You still committed that act of crime.

You still were a sin to the state. You were still guilty. They forgave you and commuted the sentence but when the Bible says God justifies me it means that he makes me not guilty that when God looks at me he declares me to be not guilty he declares me to be absolutely righteous now I'm not saying that I am righteous. I'm saying that God regards me as righteous. God looks upon me as righteous. God declares me to be righteous because holy God cannot fellowship

or have anything to do with unholy man. And God must do more than merely forgive us. Some of us keep coming and saying, I wish God would forgive me. He will, but God has to do more than forgive us if He is going to have fellowship with us. God must do more than forgive us if we're going to be right with Him. Because forgiveness still means that we were guilty.

God has to do something more than really forgive us. He has to declare us not guilty as though we had never sinned. Someone has taken the word justified and said it this way, to be justified means to be just as though I had never sinned. That's what salvation is. It's just as though I had never sinned. That's why, and I say it, not trying to be critical to another faith, that's why the Roman Catholic system of salvation is not scriptural.

Penance, confession, doing these things, recognizes that I am guilty and I am somehow by my efforts and by my human efforts, I am trying somehow to atone for my guilt. God says I cannot accept that. I must be able to look upon you

just as though you had never sinned. Religion is the greatest con game that the devil has ever fostered upon us. Religion is man trying to do something to please an offended God. And every time you try to please God, you are recognizing the fact that you're a sinner. Therefore, that means immediately that God cannot fellowship with you.

You can try and you can try to please God by going through all this religious bunk and it will not matter one iota that you're standing with God. You're still condemned. There must come that moment when God declares you to be just as though you had never sinned. And only then can God have fellowship with me. Only then can I call him my father. Only then can I call him my Lord. Only then can I be his son. When God looks at me just as though I had never sinned, that's why I must have Jesus Christ, because God will look at me through his son Jesus, you see. God will look at me through Jesus, and Jesus kept the law perfectly. So when God looks at me this morning, he doesn't see me,

he sees the Jesus that is in me, and that Jesus is perfect. Being justified. Now notice, freely by his grace. Freely by his grace. Freely means that I don't pay a cent for it. Grace means that God pays the whole bill. Freely. I don't have to pay anything for it. Well, somebody has to pay for it.

Who pays for it? Really? From my side it's free. But somebody's got to pay for it. Who pays for it? By His grace. That means God pays for it all. God pays for it all.

Now notice that next expression, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The only way anybody can be right with God is by grace. Recognizing there's not anything I humanly can do to make myself right with God, so God has to do it all. That's what grace is. God doing it all. That's the best definition of grace I can think of. God doing it all for me. God's saving activity.

God doing for me everything that I need to have done. God providing everything he demands. If God demands of me righteousness, and he does, then, well, Lord, I can't provide that righteousness. God says, that's all right, I can provide it. That's what grace is. And so I can say this morning, Lord, demand anything you want to from me because I know that whatever you demand, you'll provide. That's grace. That's grace.

And so God demands of every person here this morning perfection. Some of you think you don't need to be saved. Some of you think it's well, it's all right. One man's meat, another man's poison. And it's all right for a few people. But after all, I don't need it. I don't need it. You're not perfect, are you? Anyone here want to stand up and say, I'm perfect? Everything about me is right. Everything about me is as it ought to be.

I'm perfect. I'm perfect. If you're not, then you're lost. Then you're condemned in the presence of God. And the only way that you can ever be right with God, the only way you can ever be right with God is by his grace. You let God do it all for you. You must come to that place where you are willing to allow God

to do anything and everything he wants to in your life through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. When Jesus died upon that cross, he was purchasing me. He was freeing me from slavery by his blood. His blood was the silver and gold by which he bought me out of sin's bondage

and sin's rebellion. That's why I love that song we sing sometimes. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest spring, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. When he shall come with trumpet sound

and says, oh, may I then in him be found. I don't like that. I change that. When he shall come with trumpet sound, I will in him then be found. Dressed in his righteousness alone, thoughtless, thoughtless to stand before his throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand. Now there's one other thing. How can a man be right with God? It is without human effort. It is by the grace of God and you receive it through faith. You receive it through faith. You receive it through faith. Now I want you to know you're not saved by faith.

I wish we could get away from that unscriptural teaching that we're saved by faith. Some people believe that they just believe hard enough and they'll be saved. You're not saved by faith. You're saved by grace through faith. Faith is merely the door that opens up into the grace of God. Faith is merely allowing Jesus to do what he wants to do. Faith doesn't save me. It just allows Jesus to save me.

Notice in verse 22, This righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. It is by faith. You have to come by faith. You say, I don't understand what faith is. All right, there are three elements in saving faith. Three elements in saving faith. First of all, it means a knowledge of the truth. No use having faith in something that isn't true. That's what's wrong with some of you this morning. You've got faith in something that isn't true.

You haven't been able to understand why your religion hasn't worked with you. You believe in your church. You believe in your religion. You believe with all of your heart, and yet you've not found peace. You've not found salvation because you've been believing something that wasn't true. You've been believing that if you joined the church or if you tried hard enough or if you were sincere and if you kept the laws of the land that that was enough. You're believing something that's not true.

The first element of saving faith is knowledge of the truth and the truth is that the only way you can be right with God is without anything you can do and only by the grace of God, only by Jesus Christ. Secondly, there must be not only a knowledge of the truth, there must be an assent to the truth, an acceptance of the truth. Say, I believe that. I've heard it. I've heard the truth. I've received the knowledge of the truth, and I put my stamp of approval upon it. I believe it. I accept that to be the truth. And that's as far as some people ever go. And that's not enough. You can know the truth and you can accept that to be true. You can give a mental assent to the facts and doctrines and

truths of this Bible and still be lost forever. There must be, there has to be that third element of saving faith. There must be a trust, a surrender to the truth. You must act upon that truth, you see. You must act upon that truth. The simplest way I know to describe that is George Washington was the first president of the United States. I have a knowledge of the truth. I believe George Washington was the president of the United States

because my teacher said he was. The books say he was. So I have done the second thing. I have accepted that truth thing I have accepted that truth I have given my assent to that truth but I'm not about to surrender to George Washington or trust him I'm not trusting George Washington for anything

I have never come and said George Washington I believe that you're the president of the United States and I accept that and right now I surrender my life to, George Washington, I believe that you're the president of the United States and I accept that. And right now I surrender my life to you, George Washington. And I trust you to be for me everything that I need to be. I've never done that. I've done that with Jesus. You see, some of you have believed in Jesus just like you believe in George Washington. You've had the knowledge of the truth and you've had the acceptance of the truth, but you have never turned your life over to Jesus

in an act, a decisive act of faith and surrender to him. You have never acted upon that truth. You say, I believe, but you don't. You've got to believe it enough to do something about it. It's saying, I've heard the truth. I believe it to be true. I accept that truth. And now, since that is the truth and truth I believe it to be true

I accept that truth and now since that is the truth and since I know it to be the truth I as an act of my faith without any feeling or anything I'm just I say Lord Jesus I give you my life

I trust you I trust you I turn my life over to you right now that's saving faith and unless you have those three elements in your faith, then it is not saving faith. It is not saving faith.

Saving faith is surrendering faith. It is submissive faith. It is trusting faith. It is acting faith. You must act upon what you know to be true. I'm glad I'm right with God. Man, I heard that choir this morning singing, the king is coming, the king is coming.

They sang that so good, I started looking up. I want you to know, I wouldn't have been a bit surprised if he had come right then. As a matter of fact, I was a little bit disappointed that he didn't. I was certain that he was coming. I just knew he was going to come. Boy, then I thought about that song, Christ the solid rock,

and when he shall come with trumpet sound, I will in him be found. I won't be afraid when he comes. Dressed in his righteousness alone, thoughtless, thoughtless, stand before his throne. He is coming. Now I understand what John meant when he said,

On that isle of Patmos, even so, come, Lord Jesus. Boy, if you can't pray that prayer honestly this morning, come, Lord Jesus. I wish you'd come right now. I wouldn't have anything to fear. I wouldn't be ashamed to meet you because I know with me and my heart, everything is right with God. There's nothing between my soul and the Savior. There's nothing between my soul and the Savior. Nothing, nothing between my soul and the Savior.

So Lord Jesus, come right now. I wouldn't be ashamed to meet you. If you can't say that, you're not right with God. Faultless, faultless. Stand before His throne. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church.

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