If you will, please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3. Romans 3. We'll begin reading in verse 23. I want to speak on the subject of justification this morning. There are many that want to be saved. I just read another statistic. I don't know exactly how the question was asked, but it said that 90% of people in America believe in God. I would think if they believe in God, they want to go to heaven again. There was some 90% that said they believed in heaven also. But the problem is many people are trying to get to heaven in a different way than the Bible teaches. There's only one way, and that's the Bible way. And I want to show you as simply as I can out of the Bible what justification is. Simple illustration would be a printer before computers setting type. And again, if you remember those old days, sometime you'd get a flyer or something or look in the newspaper and see it was out of line. Now, if that printer's boss, if the proofreader would see it first, they would say, get it back in line. They'd use the word justify it, justify it. And in simple terms, that's what justification means, to get into line. And I would say again, by way of illustration, that if, newspaper was out of line. If there were areas that were out of line, but they were justified by the time you read it, you wouldn't know there was a problem. And so I want to apply this idea. The Bible talks about justification. I want to look at it. God planned a way to get fallen men back into line to justify them. And Romans 3 beginning with verse 23 says all 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 have set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. 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 the boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith, made right by faith, without the deeds of the law. Again, I would say the average American wants to go to heaven when he dies. But the average American is going the wrong way. He's trying to gain heaven by works. by some church ritual. And I hope you'll listen very closely this morning. As simply as I can, I want to explain justification, but let's pray first. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, I just ask that you would guide my mind, my words, empower the message, Lord, that those that are here that are hungry for the gospel, those that have wrestled with this idea of heaven and hell, And of course, would rather go to heaven. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you'd speak to him this morning as we preach. In your name we pray. Amen. Keep your finger there in Romans chapter 3 and turn to 2 Peter 3. As you're turning, I would say that all men are sinners. We saw that in the passage we just read. All men by nature are alienated from God and depraved. And there's nothing that any man can do to save himself. Any salvation must be performed by God, planned by God, operated by God. And that operation must be within the love of God, but also His justice. God loves the world. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life." And here in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, it says, "...the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." He would have us all repent of our sin and turn to Christ. So in love, God wants us all to reject our sin, look to the bleeding Son of God and accept Him as His Savior. But God in His justice cannot save anybody who rejects His way. He has a way. It's in the Bible. He tells us exactly how we can know that we go to heaven when we die. But we have to go his way. Now, let's look at this plan. The Apostle Paul said Jesus was delivered for our offenses and he was raised again for our justification. Now, we know, I think the average American knows, we're all sinners. And as we look forward to next Sunday, I like to call it Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday. We, I think, have some comprehension that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. But did you ever wonder why he was raised, as the Bible says, for our justification? Let's look at a criminal, a fictitious criminal. Let's say he was guilty of some heinous crime. Murder. He's on death row. He's ready to die. But the governor declares a pardon. He doesn't have to die, he's saved from death, he's released from prison and he goes home. But wait a minute, he still committed the sin, didn't he? He goes home pardoned, but society still says there goes a murderer, correct? There is a murderer. He may be pardoned, but he's not justified. He still committed the sin. He's not made right, even though he were pardoned. Now, in the death of Christ, we were pardoned. In His resurrection, He justified us. If all we were were pardoned, we would not be fit for heaven, praise God. But when we're justified, we are fit to live in heaven for an eternity. The Bible says, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Now I want to make this as simple as possible. This means that in a mysterious way, those of us who have accepted Christ as our Savior were crucified on the cross. As in Adam, all died. But when Christ came out of the tomb that third day, we were also in Christ. He lives, and praise God, because He lives, we live. And I don't mean just humanly. I'm talking about for an eternity. Because we have already paid for our sins in our substitute, Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary. That's how we're justified. By trusting in Christ's death and resurrection, were made as though we've never sinned. Now, you're looking at a very imperfect man. Nobody knows that more than me. The other person that would be well aware of it is my wife. But the closer and the more you know me, the more imperfect you know I am. You're the same way. We like to put on a show. We like to put that veneer up. But if you're like me, you could kick yourself many a time. You say, I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that. I'm going to better myself here. I'm going to do away with this sin or I'm going to add this good thing. Man, we do it for about a month, five or six weeks, and pretty soon we forgot we're just we're flesh. We're sinners. But praise God. When he looks down upon me and every other Christian here today and around the world, positionally, as far as his records are concerned, we haven't sinned. As far as heaven's concern, we're sinless. You say, well, I know I'm not sinless. Well, praise God. In his eyes, we're justified. In the judicial records of heaven, God doesn't see a redeemed person only as pardon from sin, but justified as if we had never sin. I hope I haven't confused you. That's justification. And the Apostle Paul was trying to tell the Jews. How to be justified, how to get back in line in the eyes of God. Now, of course, they were God's chosen people. They lived by the law. And so he chose an illustration, a man, the most outstanding Jew ever known, Abraham. And he wanted to use him as an illustration. He wanted to illustrate how Abraham was justified. Now, he was all they wanted to be. They almost worshiped Abraham. He was the father of their faith. He was the father of their race and their religion. This may not be a good example, but if I were in a religious debate with somebody and we disagreed on a certain subject, if all of a sudden they said, well, Charles Haddon Spurgeon believed what I believe, they grabbed my attention. You say, why? Because I think Spurgeon was one of the greatest creatures that ever lived. You see, so they I'd have to think, wow, it's not just this guy. But if Spurgeon believed it, I better think about this. And that's exactly what the Apostle Paul was doing with these Jews. He was invoking the name of Abraham. Much more revered in their eyes than Spurgeon is in mine. He was saying, wow, Abraham believed this. You better think about it. So Paul in Romans using is using Abraham as an example to show exactly how to be justified. Now look at chapter four, starting with verse one. Paul says. In the first place, Abraham did nothing to be justified. What shall we say then? that Abraham, our father, is pertaining to the flesh, hath found. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. You see, if Abraham or anyone else could do anything to be justified, he'd glorify in himself. He'd want glory himself. What did I do? And there'd be no glory for God. Listen, from a little child up, we're prideful. A little child learns how to tie his or her shoes, and boy, they want everybody to know about it. I remember when my son was a little kid, a little baby, and he said hallelujah one time. Whoa, he saw our reaction. And man, it was hallelujah, hallelujah. And whenever he got around anybody, it was hallelujah. We're prideful from from a little little child on, and it goes up depending on what we are. Maybe a woman dressed all up with a new dress and man, she takes a glance and a reflection in the glass or something. We're prideful. We want people to think much of us. But Paul said, if a man could be justified by his works, he would glory in himself. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. He wouldn't glory in God. And now look in verse three. For what saith the Scriptures, Scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted on to him for righteousness. Now, if you're in here this morning and you're a member of such and such a church. Substitute this what what what what's the Bible say here? How was Abraham? We're being taught how to be justified, how to be made right, how to get in line, how to get to heaven. Now, what did he say? He kept the Ten Commandments? No. Oh, what about this? He was baptized? No. You say, but Pastor Vogel and I, are you against baptism? No, we're not against baptism. You open those curtains up there and there's a great big tank. We believe in Bible baptism. Put you under the water, lift you back up as soon as you're saved. But it has nothing to do with salvation. It has to do with obedience. And so we could go down through anything. Catechism? Well, you know, a person studies and I think it's good to study the Bible. And then they take a test and then they think they're saved. It's not in the Bible. There's no place in the Bible. People say, well, the Bible can teach anything. No, it can't. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by Me. There is one way and only one. Well, what about Holy Communion? What about joining the church? What about being confirmed? What about asking the priest to forgive us? It is not found in the Bible. That's all works of man. And again, get it out of your head when you say, well, you're Baptist and they are Lutheran and they are congregational. No, it isn't that at all. It is not that. It's the Bible. It's God. You see, and the Bible says Abraham believed God. And he was made. He was justified and made righteous. Look at verse four. Now unto him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of that Paul saying, take your choice. Get there free or try to buy your way in. That's what he's saying. Go the Bible way, go the freeway, accept Christ as your savior or try and buy it. If you want to get it free through faith in Christ, he will give you salvation and justification. If you don't want to get it free but want to work for it, It's going to cost you more than you can pay. You say, I'm going to heaven by being good. No, you're not. You can't be good enough. You've got to be perfect to get to heaven. You've got to be sinless to get to heaven. Oh, you say nobody's sinless. You're not listening. You get sinless by accepting Christ and his death. and trusting in him. Another silly illustration, let's say I would like to have a Rolls Royce, you wouldn't catch me dead in one, but let's just use for sake of illustration. I want a half a million dollar Rolls Royce and I go and say, I'd like I'd like to have that. Let's say Bob has a half a million dollar Rolls Royce. And I go to Bob and say, I want to buy that. And he says, well, preacher, it costs a half a million dollars. I know you're a rich preacher, but a half a million. And. I say, well, I want to buy it, he says, well, can you afford it? And I said, well, I I don't have a half a million. And Bob, because he's rich and he's generous, he says, I'll give it to you. But because I'm prideful, I say, no, I want to pay for it. Here's five hundred thousand dollars. Oh, a half a million. Well, I go and scrape up, I see my friends and I scrape up twenty five thousand dollars. Here's twenty five thousand dollars. No, Bob said, I'll give it to you. But if you have to pay for it, if you want to pay for it, it's five hundred thousand dollars. Now, you understand the illustration. I can't afford it. I'm not going to go to the bank, no bank's going to give me a loan for a Rolls Royce. You listening? I can't get it. The only way I can get it is if it's given to me. And the only way you'll ever get to heaven is if you receive Jesus Christ free gift of salvation. You can't. Buy it. Verse five. People say they have a hard time reading the King James Version of the Bible. I'm not saying that some things may not be as clear as we'd like, but If I read the newspaper, there's a lot of things not clear. The major areas of the Bible so clear. And you look at this vibe of this verse here, it says, But to him that worketh not. Now, what does that mean? What does that mean? Is that hard to him that worketh not? Means he's doing nothing, nothing, not lifting a little finger to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. That's Jesus. His faith is counted for righteousness. To him that worketh not. Hey, that's what the Bible says over and over and over again in verse 28 of the text passage that I read. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. There it goes. There goes your communion. There goes your little closet with the priest, I forget, confectional booth. There goes baptism. I'm not saying baptism's wrong. I'm not saying communion's wrong. But there it all goes. There goes your everything. You say, I want to get to heaven. I'm a good person. I'm going to keep the Ten Commandments. No, you're not. You can't. Try to be good. I try to be good. I'm not trying to give an excuse for sin. But there's nobody that can stay perfect. And that's what you have to do to go to heaven. For by grace are you saved through faith. Isn't that clear? For by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourself. It is the gift of God. Isn't that clear? The gift of God. Not of works. Lest any man should boast. It's not a Baptist idea. It's a Bible idea. It's not a Baptist idea. It's God's idea. It's the only way you'll get to heaven. Now, the best Christian you know, Paul's saying, the founder of your faith in your nation was justified by nothing that he did. Nothing. Now, Abraham did a lot of good works. He really prayed if you read the Bible. He was willing to leave from every indication a beautiful home in a modern area and just leave and go off and live in a tent. And he did. He was willing To lose his son for God. To actually kill his son for God. Anybody can do that here? But Paul, under inspiration, says not a thing he did helped to save him. Not a thing he did helped to justify him. Let me ask you, if Abraham couldn't work his way, how do you expect to? Can you imagine coming home to your wife and saying, well, we're leaving our house. We've worked for it like crazy. We just paid it off. We're living in comfort. We're going to we're going to leave. And she says, well, where are we going? You say, I don't know. God just wants us to leave, we're going to go live in a tent. And how about this? The son that you prayed for and God miraculously gave him to you at 100 years old. He is. Going to. Be the seed of a nation where he is. And God says. I want him. And for three days he went toward and up Mount Moriah, that boy was as much as dead. He had faith. I don't know anybody in the Bible. Nobody in here could say you have that kind of faith. Nobody in here could say you've done this kind of works. Nobody could. And that's exactly what the Apostle Paul saying, listen to me saying, hey, listen to me, if he couldn't be saved by those works, how do you expect to be saved? I'm not that good and you're not that good. Again, verse twenty eight of verse of chapter three, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. You know, you can take the Ten Commandments. And you can list down, you say, I'm going to I'm going to keep them. Well, I wish And we ought to. But please don't if you if you don't know me in this church, I am not saying go out and sin. We ought to try. Once we're saved and we've trusted Christ as our savior, we should try to be the best person we can be. And God will judge us here on this earth if we don't. But the point I'm trying to make is we can try. God says one of the Ten Commandments, and I find it interesting, most people I say they're living by don't even know what they are. But God says one of them, you're not to be covetous. I believe that is maybe the number one sin of America. Covetousness, I want, I want, I want. I don't have enough covetousness. God says not to use the Lord's name in vain. Oh, it's so sad on the radio in every place. People think they're pretty good people. Churchgoers will use the Lord's name in vain. They say, what does that mean if you're not praying to God or invoking his name as far as the Bible or something like this? If you just slip God's name in or Jesus Christ name and you are, you are sinning against God. It seems to be something that's fashionable today. God says we're not to commit adultery, and Jesus said that adultery goes as far as thinking an impure thought about a woman. Say, I'm going to keep the Ten Commandments. No. But you know what? From this point on, you could keep all the Ten Commandments and all the commandments of the Bible, and it still wouldn't justify you. You say, why? Because you're already a sinner. If some way you could be perfect from this point on. You're still not justified. Let's suppose a guy commits a crime and he goes to jail and he starts keeping the Ten Commandments. Starts praying. You say, is he going to get out of jail? No, he's not going to get out of jail. He's already committed the crime in the same manner. Paul said Abraham was not justified by law keeping. The only way you're free is to be dead to the law. To die in Christ. Again, to illustrate that the law has no dominion over a Christian because he's dead to the law. To illustrate where Paul says he was dead to the law. A few years back, there was a spy that was caught And they were shipping him back to the United States for trial. But on the way back, he evidently had a vial or pill or something with poison, and he arrived back in the United States dead. Now, what did we do with him? Did we bring him to the courtroom and set him up there on a witness stand and somebody lift his hand up? Huh? Did they charge him and say, you've got 43 counts Of treason? No, nothing happened to him. Nothing happened to him. Why? He was dead. Dead men don't stand trial. You say, he's sinned. He's dead. He's dead. And death takes you out from under the penalty. If I were called to stand in judgment for my sins, I'm dead as far as God is concerned. I can't because I'm dead to the law, to sin. But let's go on to verses 9 and 10. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned unto Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision?" Boy, he has them there. You see, this was their ritual. They're saying, you've got to be circumcised. And he says, now, was Abraham When was he justified? And the answer is not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. See, Paul saying you do say you're justified by circumcision. This is your ritual. This was their baptism. This was their Lord's Supper. This was their church membership, their holy water, their sacrament. And Paul says, I've got a shocker for you. Abraham wasn't even circumcised when he was justified. I've said it before and I'll keep on saying being saved has zero to do with ritual. Being saved has nothing to do with forms. Why don't you do as Martin Luther did he was a priest. And he was climbing those so-called holy stairs. And God had been dealing with him because he was reading the Bible. And a verse kept on ringing in his ears. The just shall live by faith. And we're told that as he was climbing those stairs, finally he got up off his knees. And he walked away. I didn't go as far away as I'd like to go away. But he walked away from so many of those works and those rituals. Because the Bible said the just shall live by faith. Put your trust and faith in Christ. Quit trying to save yourself. That's pride. Quit trying to save yourself with rituals. New Testament Christians knew nothing about rituals only to point the Messiah. He died when he died, the veil was rent and ritual was done away with. So Paul says Abraham was justified. Without works before the temple. Before the tabernacle, Paul says, if you Jews get justified, You'll get that way apart from any works or ritual the same way Abraham did. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We read that Romans chapter three. The wages of our sin is death and hell. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, and it's a gift, a gift, a gift. It's free. I beg of you this morning, you want to go to heaven when you die. You can know that you're on your way to heaven. Some people get angry when we talk about that. You can know. You can know. I don't know why it just popped into my head. People hate our president because he believes in God. Across the world, they seem to hate our president because he has a faith. Understand, he believes he's not afraid to talk about it. Listen to me. It isn't what you believe, it's not what he believes. It's what the Bible teaches. We're a sinner. We deserve death and hell. We need to reject that sin. That's the idea of repent from our sin. Hate that sin. And accept Christ as our personal Savior. Will I be perfect? No. I'm not perfect. You won't be perfect. It's not works. It's faith. Trust in Jesus Christ. Let's bow in prayer. Heavenly Father,