Good to see you if you get a Bible, let’s get right to it. Romans Chapter Four is the text. We’re in the peak of justification of the five peaks going through the book of Romans. We finished condemnation. Now we’re in justification. And the title of this message here this morning is “Justification: Who Qualifies? (Romans 4:5)”. Now this is obviously a rhetorical question. I know you know the answer that if you’ve been here even 10 minutes, say it with me: no one. Right? Let’s pray. Just kidding. It’s basically the message. But the question is not so much, who qualifies, but who knows that they’re qualified. And we’ll kind of get to the understanding of that. Let me read you the text here, and I’m going to start in verse one of Romans, chapter four, and get down to Verse five, where there’s a statement. This is really a message in two parts. Next week we’ll look at David but this morning, we’re going to be looking still at the illustration related to Abraham. Romans 4:1-5, “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.” We covered that last week. Here’s verse five, “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” This is what I want to point out to you. Who is it that God justifies? He justifies the ungodly. It doesn’t say He justifies the godly. It doesn’t say He justifies the moral. It doesn’t say He justifies the religious. It says He justifies the ungodly. Now this is a hard thing for a Jew to hear back in the day. Why? Because who’s he speaking about in this context? Speaking about Abraham, he’s saying that when Abraham was justified, Abraham was ungodly. Now maybe you never thought about it that way, but that’s exactly what it’s talking about within this context. I know, we know Abraham is the father of the faith. We know him as the great patriarch. I got it. But according to Scripture, he was justified, because guess who God justifies? He justifies the ungodly. And that described Abraham. That’s why Abraham had nothing to boast about. That’s why he couldn’t brag. That’s why he couldn’t become arrogant when God did something in saving him. What could he do? He could be grateful, and out of his gratitude, he could love the Lord, he could be obedient.
So when we say “ungodly”, let me just make a clarification here. There’s a difference between ungodliness and unrighteousness. We did this message many, many weeks ago. The difference is this, ungodliness is a root and unrighteousness is a fruit. Let me say it to you this way, ungodliness has to do with your regard or lack of regard toward God. It’s vertical. It’s between you and Almighty God. That is your attitude toward God, being irreverent and not really caring about Him, or being indifferent. That’s called ungodliness. Unrighteousness is the fruit of that. It’s what you do horizontally. In other words, toward people, with people about people, in regard to things that people can see. You can’t see ungodliness. You can only see the fruit of it in unrighteousness. And what God is saying is the root is wrong, the root toward Him. That’s who He justifies. Now that’s a staggering statement when you come down to grips with it because that means there’s no cleaning up your act. There’s no turning over a new leaf. There’s no I’m going to get better at this, and then God’s going to love me and He’s going to justify me. That’s antithetical to the text, that’s actually a false doctrine. That would not be good news. Gospel means good news. That would be incredibly bad news because you’d never know right where you had to be to actually hit the mark. This truth is echoed throughout the peak, which is the end of Romans chapter three, all the way in chapter four and chapter five.
In fact, let me show you this in Romans 5:6-8, Paul writes, “For while we were still weak…” Now, when you see the word “weak”, you can think helpless, because it doesn’t just mean you were, you know, you were dead in your sin, so you were helpless to do anything about it. “…At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” Those with irreverent and even like antithetical attitudes toward God Himself. In fact, angry at God. We heard a testimony from one of the guys who got baptized. I was angry at God. I realized when I was born again in 1986 I had beef with God. That was what the Bible would say. I was enmity against Him. In my carnal mind, I was ungodly. And that’s who He justifies. He goes on. He says, watch this, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die.” Okay, so let me ask you, who is righteous and good? There’s only one answer to the test today, okay? No one. Are you not going to say it? Do I have to give away a gas card to get you to talk to me? No one. Why does it say that? It’s saying good and righteous because of the outward pretense that someone could put on, someone can look good, and some people are outwardly better than others. They’re not doing the worst things they could do. Some people appear and act more righteous but that does not change the fact that they’re not godly. In fact, they’re not even good or righteous. How do we know that? Because we read the whole Bible. The Bible assumes you’re going to read the whole thing. We’ll cover that in a second, Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still (what?) sinners (ungodly sinners), Christ died for us.” There are no righteous. There are no good. And we found that weeks ago in Romans 3:10-12, “As it is written, ‘None (that’s no one) is righteous, no, not even one; (Verse 11, watch the statement), no one understands; no one seeks for God. (Verse 12), All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, (nope) not even one.’” Not even your nana. I don’t know how many people have a nana but everybody always laughs at that or some people do. Why? Because we tend to think that there are some good people and that those are the people that Jesus is really interested in. Like, if He could just get enough good people, Christianity could be turned around, the world would like us, and churches would grow and, you know, children would flourish, and families would stay together, and America would be wonderful again and all this fiction. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus is not searching and saving righteous people. He’s searching for and saving, listen, ungodly, unrighteous people.
I want to prove this to you in the text when we say, “Who qualifies?” Here’s the problem Jesus faced on repeat while in His ministry on earth. Luke 5:30-32, “And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled…” Now, I know that would shock some of you that religious people grumble but if you’re a pastor for five minutes you realize that’s the fact. So here they are, “And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, (why are they grumbling? Here it is) saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” In other words, “Why are you with all the bad people, Jesus? Why are you hanging around with ungodly, unrighteous people? You could be hanging out with us.” See? Look at verse 31, “And Jesus answered them (here it is), ‘Those who are well, have no need of a physician…’” Now let’s take a test, who is well? No one. You’re awesome. Y’all blew first service away but there’s more of you. No one. So, what is Jesus saying? Is He saying there are some who are well, no, He’s saying there are some who think they’re well. “‘…Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick.’” Now, this would be a different answer. But who’s actually sick? Everyone. Everyone is sick. Everyone needs the physician. But when they’re grumbling, what He’s saying to them is this, “I know what you think about yourselves. I know you think you’re not ungodly.” That’s what He’s saying to them in type and shadow in a parable. And then He makes this statement. He says, “‘I have not come to call the righteous…’” Here’s the question, who are the righteous? No one. You didn’t do as good. No one. No one’s righteous. We saw that in Romans chapter three. No one is righteous. But what is He saying? There are those who think they’re righteous, they think they’re good, they think they’re healthy, they think they are godly. He said, “‘I did not come to call the righteous, but I came to call (what?) sinners to (what?) repentance.’” Why would a sinner repent? Why does a sinner repent? Is it because the pastor beats him over the head long enough, or “Just as I am” for the 15th time? Why does a sinner repent? A sinner repents when he realizes that he’s unrighteous, that he’s ungodly, that he needs a physician because he’s sick. In other words, salvation starts with the realization of what? I’m ungodly. That actually begins. That’s it’s really it. It’s as far as what you’re aware of when you come to Christ, when someone comes to Christ, they’re realizing this.
In fact, let me show you a parable that Jesus uses. This is Luke 151:7. Basically the same issue is happening here. It’ll look familiar. “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” Okay? They weren’t repelled by Jesus. They were drawn to Him. “And the Pharisees and the scribes (here they are again), grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’ So (in other words, for that reason, this is a connective to the last statement) so he told them this parable…” The reason why he’s going to tell them, the scribes and the Pharisees, this parable is because they’re high-minded, they think they’re righteous and they think they’re they don’t need a physician. Okay? This is the reason. “So he told them this parable…” Now watch closely because we want to pay attention to what the words actually say. I know you’ve read it before but try to see it with fresh eyes. Childlike faith, not childish, but childlike. He says this, “What man of you (watch this word), having a hundred sheep…” Now, there’s the parable set up. Now He’s talking about a man who has a hundred sheep, not a man who is without sheep and hopes to go find some. This is a man who already has a hundred sheep. He’s calling them sheep. They’re not perspective sheep. They’re not hopefully someday sheep. They’re already called sheep. “…What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lost one of them…” So, he has a hundred sheep and he loses one? What would we call that sheep? A lost sheep. It’s not PhD here guys today. This is low-brow. All the answers that pop into your head, trust me, they’re the right ones. He’s talking about lost sheep. That’s our context. Jesus says a lot about lost sheep. This time He’s saying it to the scribes and Pharisees because of their blindness and their high-mindedness. “What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he’s lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open and go out after the one that is lost, until he (what?) finds it?” “Finds it.” This is a certainty. He goes after a lost sheep, and He’s not hoping He finds it. He finds it. In this parable, He finds it. And verse five, “And when he has found it, he (what?)…”
What do you think Jesus does with lost sheep? In your mind, when someone is going to be apprehended by Jesus, what does Jesus do? Does He “Behold I stand at the door and pitifully knock”? That’s not what that verse is talking about. Does He come up to them and say, “Hey, how about we grab a cup of coffee? How about we reason? And you ask me all your deep theological questions. How about you tell me where I went wrong and I’ll try to see it your way? I’ll try to get you and relate well to you. Help you forgive Me.” Some people say they have to forgive God. That’s ludicrous. No. “And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” This is a picture of what? It’s a picture of salvation, and He’s saying it to guys who can’t be saved in this sense because they believe they’re already godly. They don’t qualify. “He lays it on his shoulders.” It doesn’t sound passive to me. You realize Jesus died for somebody, not for nobody. He knew exactly what He was doing. And then verse six says, “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’” Lost sheep, Jesus finds them. Hear me. I’m going to give something away to you. Listen, a lost sheep before it is found is not called a goat. A lost sheep before it is found by Jesus is called a lost sheep. Y’all are good. Lost sheep. A lost sheep. Let me just tell you what all lost sheep have in common. There’s going to come a moment where they realize they are ungodly, and they’re going to finally come to the place where they despair of making themselves righteous, godly, holy, or sinless. They despair that it’s what they have in common. And that’s what He’s saying here. He takes them and he says this, “My sheep that was lost was found.” So, look at verse seven, “Just so I tell you, (He’s talking to scribes and Pharisees), there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner…” What does this represent? What was that called? That is a lost sheep. He’s explaining the parable. “…Over a lost sinner who repents.” Why do they repent? Because they see their depravity, they see their ungodliness, they see the fruit of the unrighteousness, and they’re turning from it because they now realize who they are. Just as Abraham did, he realized he was ungodly. So Paul’s making the point about. “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons (it’s almost like he could say it like this) righteous persons who need no repentance.” How many “righteous people are there who need no repentance”? No one. No one. Absolutely, no one. What point is he making here? That when Jesus goes to save His sheep, the first thing that they come to realize is what we of their cognition, what they’re actually realizing is that they fall short of the glory of God, that the wages of sin is death, that God is holy and they are not. And that is an immeasurable chasm that they cannot close. Who qualifies? His lost sheep do. Because that’s exactly what he’s going to show them.
Luke 19:10, Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to (what?) save the lost.” What lost? The lost sheep. It doesn’t say He hopes to save them. It doesn’t say He’s going to try His best. It doesn’t say He’s going to give it His all. And oh, if the evangelist just preaches good enough. And oh, if the family member can just model a Christian life good enough. And, oh, if all the arguments can just finally be put to death because they finally go to the right conference or read the right book or whatever. That is nonsense. Jesus goes after a sheep and He does it authoritatively. And it begins when they have something that qualifies them, and it’s what? It’s really not a qualification. It’s kind of a play on words, but it’s this, they realize they’re ungodly, and that is who Jesus justifies. It’s a tremendous help.
Let’s look at another story, another place, where Jesus is dealing with this exact same issue. We’ll start in John 9:39-10:16 let me make a little pre statement here. The chapters in your Bible were put there by human editors as well as the verses by the way. So oftentimes the chapter breaks are at really kind of unfortunate places. Chapter 10 breaks from Chapter nine at an unfortunate place. I just want you to see. So, when you’re reading through chapter nine, you get chapter 10. It’s not a new place. He doesn’t go to a new conversation. It’s the same exact context there. Watch, verse 39, “Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Now, what’s He talking about? He’s talking about heart attitudes. Because who actually sees? No one, no one sees, but they think they see? You get it. In other words, they don’t think they’re ungodly. They don’t think they’re wretched. Here come the smart guys. Verse 40, “Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ‘Are we also blind?’” That’s called an insincere question. Did a whole sermon on it. You can go back and listen to that. Your Bible’s full of insincere questions. I don’t mean rhetorical. I mean insincere because here’s what they’re saying. They’re saying, “You can’t mean us because we do see. We are the doctors and the lawyers.” Theologically, these are the scribes. These men are on the Sanhedrin. “Do you not understand, Jesus? Are You saying we don’t see that we’re blind?” Watch what He says, in Verse 41, “Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have (what?) no guilt…’” Now, He doesn’t mean physical blindness. He means if you realize you’re blind, if you realize you can’t see, if you realize you need a physician, if you realize you’re not righteous, then what? You’d have no guilt. Why? Because that’s who gets justified. The ungodly, not by their ungodliness, but by their sight of it drives them to the Savior. “…‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that (watch this) now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remain.” See? They didn’t see. They couldn’t see. They were spiritually blind. There’s Messiah standing right in front of them, they cannot discern it. They’re so grieving and quenching and blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God that they cannot possibly see. But they say they can. See here’s the thing, and get this message with Christians down the line. When you get into sanctification, you start realizing the more you grow in Christ, the older you get in the Lord, and the more you know His Word, the worse you’ll see about yourself. You think, “Wait, sounds like it gets worse?” No, it’s wonderful because the lower you go, the higher He’ll be exalted in your life, you get a lot of grace when you’re on your face. God gives grace to the humble. He opposes the proud. But these men are saying this because they see this. Jesus is saying this because He sees what they don’t rather. But a real believer what? They see it. That’s how you end up with no guilt. But they say they see, in other words, “I’m not lost.”
Now, same context, same conversation, if you got a Red Letter Bible, right? It’s all red letters, nothing changes. The next thing He says is in chapter 10. Look at verse one, “‘Truly, truly, (so He’s in the same context) I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold (look at that, he goes right to the sheep again) he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door. (Okay? In other words, they get to the sheep some way other than the legitimate way would be to come through the door) but climbs in another way, that man is a thief and a robber.’” You know what thieves and robbers do? They take what doesn’t belong to them, right? Thief and a robber? Who’s He talking about here? He’s not talking about Satan although that’s part of his character too. He’s talking about people who propagate a false gospel or so to speak, of law, of self-righteousness, and of works, people who can say, “Well, I’ve changed my behavior. I’m no longer ungodly. I’m now a very godly person.” He says, “These are thieves and robbers.” He goes on, “‘But he who enters by the door (and He’ll soon tell us, He is the door) He who enters by the door, is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep (watch) hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep (watch this) by name and leads them out.’” Is this a picture of salvation? Absolutely. A picture of salvation. The general call of the gospel of Jesus Christ goes forward and is heralded as a historical fact of what Jesus did and who He was. But when the gospel goes into a heart and the Holy Spirit calls someone that’s Jesus getting that sheep, it is by name. That’s how you can hear teaching, and the Holy Spirit makes it feel like it was aimed at you. I feel like he was talking to me. That’s not the gift of a human being. That’s the Spirit of God. And your life in Christ begins that way, and your life in Christ grows that way. But He says, look! “I call them by name.” He calls them by name and leads them out. He’s still talking in type and shadow. Verse four, “‘When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep (what do they do?) follow him, (why?) because they know his voice.’” In fact, look at verse five, “‘A stranger (now, who’s talking about? Pharisees and scribes) they will not follow, (they absolutely, they can’t, they won’t do it, why?), but they flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.’” You say, “Lost sheep flee from false teachers?” No, no, not, not directly, but once they hear the voice of their shepherd, they won’t follow anybody else. When He gets you, He’s got you. In fact, you’ll see that in this. Now, is He speaking literally, or is it a figure of speech? Look at the next verse, “‘This figure of speech (you had it, you had it easy) this figure of speech Jesus used with them (that’s with the scribes and Pharisees), but they did not understand what he was saying to them.’” Like, I mean, pretty dimwitted. So, watch this. He’s going to make it easier, plainer, not as much of a parable. “So, Jesus again said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.’” It’s Me. If you’re for real, you’ll come to the door of the sheep. You got to come through Me. “‘All who came before Me are thieves and robbers (right?), but the sheep did not listen to them.’” Why? Because they won’t follow the false messiah. They won’t do it. Why? Because they’re sheep. They’re lost sheep. But the false messiah will never point out the depravity. The false messiah will never point out the sin. The false messiah will never call you to issue for your ungodliness. Now, what did I just describe? Most churches. You say, “Oh, Pastor, that’s not very ecumenical. They’re going to kick you out of the local ministerial.” They already did. I’m not lonely at all. Telling people, “Listen, God loves you. He has a wonderful plan for your life. Give your help, give yourself, give your heart to Him, and He’ll fix all of these problems.” There’s a sign on the highway, “Jesus is the answer to every problem.” Really? Every problem? He’s not paying my mortgage, is He? Well, down the line I know He’s the provider. But Jesus, the gospel of Jesus Christ is He will justify the ungodly. That’s the essential good news. But when a church just pumps you full of the things that don’t call you out in your ungodliness, guess what? What hope is there of regeneration? None, none. Because the bad news precedes the good news and makes the good news, in fact, good news. He says, “The sheep didn’t listen to them.”
And then He keeps going. He says, “‘I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be (what?) saved…” See? It’s talking about salvation this whole time. He’s talking about somebody coming to Christ, coming to Christ, being saved, being raised from the dead by grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit, “…‘And we’ll go in and out and find pasture.’” And then there’s verse 10, which gets twisted around a lot of people think it’s about the devil. It’s not. It’s about false teachers. He says this. He says, “‘The thief (looking at those guys) comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’” That “they” is the sheep. He keeps going. “‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’” He’s already calling them sheep even though they’re still lost. Notice that. “‘He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep (notice that), sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.’” And who are those people? They’re the people who say we’re healthy, we see, we’re not blind, and we’re righteous. They don’t care for the sheep, and they’re not being used by the true shepherd. Verse 14, “‘I am the good shepherd. I know (who?) my own and my own know me (still talking in the context of lost sheep), just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.’” Then he makes this statement. This is a striking statement. I don’t know if you’ve ever really taken the time to understand it. Look at verse 16 here. He says, “‘And I have (what?) I have other sheep that are not of this fold…’” Now are they found sheep or they lost sheep at this point? Thank you. They’re lost sheep. Who are they? They’re the Gentiles. Because in Jesus’ ministry, what did He say? I’ve not come to these people like out there. I’ve come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Look it up. Look it up in your Bible. Fact-check it. He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What does that mean? To the Jew first, and then also to the Gentile. But to the Jew first, He came to His own and His own does not receive Him. That’s the order. Okay, so what is He saying? I have Gentile sheep who are not of this fold. He doesn’t say, I’ve got some goats, and I’m going to go find them, and I’m going to treat them in such a way that they will go, “You know what? I want to change my goatness.” He says, “‘I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must (what?) bring them also, and they will listen to my voice…’” He doesn’t say, “I hope they hear it. I’m doing My best. God knows I tried.” Pun. No, He’s saying, “…‘They will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd.’” What is that? That’s Jew and Gentile brought together in one body, the middle wall, the dividing wall, has been torn down. The enmity between Jews and Gentiles has been removed. Everybody gets in one way, and it’s by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s not by the works of the law, and He always saves ungodly. What ungodly? The ones who see it, the ungodly lost sheep, that’s who He’s talking about. Yes, there’s no way to debate that.
Look. Skip down to John 10:24-29. “So the Jews gathered around him and said (watch this question), ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? (These guys are actually quite dumb. If you go back and read what He’s told them), If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ (Here’s Jesus’ response) Jesus answered, ‘I told you, (who are you going to believe? I believe Jesus. Jesus says)…I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me.’” Now, here’s the question, why don’t they believe? Here’s why verse 26, “‘But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.’” You are goats. Goats are stubborn and self-willed. If you’ve owned a goat, I’m sorry. What does He tell them? You don’t believe because you’re not of My sheep. You’re not My sheep. You look at yourself and you say, “What? I have no sin. I am righteous. I don’t need a physician. I’m healthy. I don’t need my eyes healed. I see perfectly well. Thank you very much.” You see those people don’t qualify. See, it’s a qualification. Is a play on words again, but I think you’re seeing what I’m talking about. It’s actually what Paul has in mind. He says this, “God who justifies the ungodly.” He goes on verse 27, “‘My sheep hear my voice, (it’s certain) and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.’” That’s definite security for the person who does what? Looks at their life, their heart before God, and say this, “I am unworthy.” That’s the one who’s right there at the kingdom, not the person who feels like they’re nailing it. That’s how He does it. How does He actually go about it? He sends His Holy Spirit, who deeply convicts and shows them their sin.
Look at John 16:7-8. Jesus is actually speaking to His disciples. He says, “‘Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper (who is that? the Holy Spirit) will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will (what?) He will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.’” Another translation of the word, “convict”, the same word, it’s convince. He will convince who? The lost sheep of what? Of their lostness. And they’ll be called by name, and they’ll be raised from the dead to see their sin and to repent, see their Savior and believe, trust Him and to love Him. And that same Holy Spirit seals them on the day of salvation and keeps them for their entire life, though He disciplined, though He scourged them, though He chastens them that we can share in His holiness, so it will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness. He will not leave us. He will not forsake us. And He who had began a good work in us, He will perform it all the way until the day of Jesus Christ. That’s faithfulness. You say, “He does that for the ungodly?” Yes, He justifies them. It’s to our advantage that He does this.
Let’s take one more example, the Apostle Paul. How about that? Pharisee of Pharisees, probably the smartest guy, was educated under Gamaliel. He was in the top tier, and he was so zealous for Judaism that he was persecuting the church. Here’s his conversion. Note how it happens, Acts 9:1-5, “But Saul still breathing (he was called Saul before his name was changed to Paul, He’s) still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogue at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way (those are Christians), men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem (to put them on trial and put them to death).” That’s an ungodly man but he doesn’t realize it yet. He’s self-righteous. Watch, “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him…” “Hey, Saul, I’d like to talk to you about eternal life. I’ve got a wonderful plan for your life if you’ll follow me and ask me into your heart.” Some of y’all are looking at me like, “Oh, he’s lost his mind.” It’s just so pathetic to think that. What does He say? “‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” “Saul, Saul, why are you doing this ungodly thing, this unrighteous thing that is completely ungodly?” And so, He asked the question. Verse five, “And he said to him, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’” What is He telling him? “Saul, you are ungodly.” This is his conversion. This is him being born again. This is him seeing his sin for what it is. This is him being convicted by the Holy Spirit. And I want you to notice Jesus doesn’t lead him in the sinner’s prayer. Jesus doesn’t ask him to fill out a card or write this date down in front of your Bible. Jesus doesn’t ask him to slip up his hand or walk to the front as we sing “Just as I am”, none of those things are innately wrong, friends. But it’s not how a man is saved. Man is saved when the gospel is proclaimed and the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, their own guilt, of the righteousness of God, and of judgment, the impending doom that they’re going to face. That’s exactly what’s happening here with him.
In fact, he talks of himself. 1 Timothy 1:15, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” He had his eyes opened, didn’t he? Well, it made him blind but he could see. But you can tie that back into the parable, his eyes were blinded but he gained his sight and lost his guilt. Galatians 1:13-16, Paul says of himself, “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born…” Okay? That in the Greek means, before he was born, he was a lost sheep. Do you see it? And what did he need to do? He needed to see his ungodliness. Why? Because that is who God justifies. But when God, “…Who had set me apart before I was born, and called me by his grace (this calling right here, we saw it in Acts chapter nine), when he was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…” Do you see it? The Pharisee of Pharisees needed his eyes opened to what? To the fact that he was ungodly, that he needed a physician, that he could not see that he wasn’t healthy. That’s the way it works even for us now as believers. This is what 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 is referring to, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, (these are all unrighteous deeds, right? Yes), nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” Why are they doing that? Because they’re ungodly. But watch the next statement, “And such were some of you…” And guess what? We know it. We know it. We know it. We know our guilt. We see our ungodliness. We see the unrighteous fruit. It’s not a mark of someone who’s not a believer. It’s a mark of someone who is. Who’s able to say, “I’m not worthy of this.” Yeah, go with that. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were what? Justified, because you saw those things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God, He’s the one who actually did it.
Olivia, I’m going to skip the Titus chapter three, and I’m just going to read, I’m going to read a quote, and then I’m going to read you three verses from a song. Nope, not just too soon. No, it’s my bad. You can just leave it there. They can try to read that verse, and maybe, guess what I was going to say. This is a quote by Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, one of my favorite theologians, a British pastor from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. He says this on this issue. He says you realize that? No, no, I’ll tell you. I’ll go “Olivia now” and then they’ll all know that we are really a tight production. Here’s what he says, “You realize that you are ungodly, that you are guilty before God, that you deserve nothing but punishment in hell, that you have nothing to recommend you, and you can never produce anything to recommend you, but that God, in His infinite love and kindness, sent His Son into the world and. In order to deliver you by His perfect life of obedience, His atoning, sacrificial, substitutionary death upon the cross, when He took our sins, your sins upon Him and received their punishment by His glorious resurrection and the power of His endless life, you realize that you do not have anything that you do and you can say, not give me a moment. Give me time. You realize that if you had a thousand years, it would value you nothing. You can see it now. It is God who does it all, and He does it in spite of our being, what we are. We become Christians immediately because it is this giving to us, this reckoning to us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our iniquities are pardoned, our sins are covered. All this sin will never again be imputed to us. And positively and gloriously, we are clothed with a righteousness divine. And then we are able to and ready to say, with Count Zinzendorf and with John Wesley that close with this, we are ready to face anybody or anything.”
Now Olivia, here’s the hymn. Lyrics to the hymn.
“Jesus, Thy robe of righteousness,
My beauty is, my glorious dress;
‘Midst flaming worlds, in this arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
Bold shall I stand in Thy great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully through Thee absolved I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.
When from the dust of death I rise
To claim my mansion in the skies,
This only then shall be my plea,
Jesus has lived and died for me.”
Seeing the ungodliness is where this begins. Next week, we’ll talk about the joy of it in light of King David.
SPEAKER
Steve LeBlanc
KEYWORDS
Romans, Justification, Ungodly, Weak, Unrighteousness, Abraham, David, Paul, Good, Righteousness, Faith, Lost Sheep, Goat, Sheep, Sin, Repentance, Repent, Salvation, Holy Spirit, Conviction, Shepherd, Flock, Insincere Question, Blind, Sight, Gospel, Church, Jesus, Bible Church, Online Sermon