The Unchanging Truth

Guest (Male): Welcome to the unchanging truth, the verse by verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jared Gilcher, lead pastor of Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. Through the living and active word of God, the unchanging truth exists to encourage your soul, transform your life, and help you trust and treasure Christ as redeemer, savior, and king. Now, opening the scriptures and proclaiming the truth that never changes, here is Dr. Jared Gilcher.

Dr. Jerod Gilcher: Before you got saved, chaos and madness and sadness and sin and idolatry leaving behind a trail of pain and and the wreckage of of ruined lives. And the reason why that happens is because notice verse 17, the path of peace they have not known. What's the path of peace? It's the path of humble submission to the Lord. Dependent on his grace, trusting in his love, obedient to his word, this is the path of peace and they didn't know it and they never knew it and they didn't want to know it because verse 18, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

And Paul put this last because it is the worst and it is the root of all the other things that came before it in the list. Mankind doesn't fear God. That's the problem. In fact, God is the one subject that unbelieving sinners feel the most freedom to speak about, to speculate about, to presume upon, to blaspheme, to assign evil motives, to mock and scoff and criticize and belittle and deny having zero idea that no one can see his face and live. That Psalm 7 verse 11, God is a righteous judge and is angry with the wicked every day.

This is the totality of depravity. And we got to wrap our heads around this. The text is here to be read. The text is here to be preached. And it's essential to the gospel. Sinners need to know that something is wrong. And I believe that sinners do understand at some level that something is wrong, but they don't have the categories to understand what is wrong and what is wrong is sin. They were born slaves just as we once were to a darkness within that has the power to send them to destruction forever. They they need to know.

Sinners need to know that they are sinners. They need to know what sin is because until they know, get this, listen carefully, until they know that sin is vile and deep, until they know that God is both loving and angry, until they know that Christ is supreme and sufficient and until they know that they are helpless and weak, salvation is only going to mean a cooperative effort to save an otherwise good person, but the news is out. There is no one who does good. Not even one. Reality number two. More than halfway home. Reality number two.

The impossibility of human capability. The impossibility of human capability. Now, every person is born with a right call, a wizard of Oz theology. Wizard of Oz theology. What I mean is well, you know the story. Young girl named Dorothy gets magically swept away to a technicolor dream color world where she immediately begins to long for home. And she's informed that her only way back home is to find the wonderful majestic wizard. And so she sets about on her journey because this wizard can grant her her wish. Along the way, you remember she meets a couple other characters.

There's a a scarecrow who doesn't have a brain and there's a tin man who doesn't have a heart and there's a a lion that doesn't have courage and they make their way to the Emerald City. And once they do, they're immediately ushered into the presence of the wizard. And and then they are they they melt in terror by what they see and by what they hear. Flashes of light, billows of smoke, the voice of the of the wizard thunders through the palace until Dorothy's dog Toto pulls back a curtain in the corner to reveal a little old man pulling levers, pushing buttons, and speaking into a microphone.

Then it becomes painfully clear that all of the splendor of the great wizard is contrived. And he's forced to admit he doesn't even actually have the power to grant them their wish. But you see, therein lies the whole point of the story. They didn't need the wizard anyway. All the things they hoped to get from the wizard they already had. The scarecrow could already already think. The tin man could already feel. The lion could already be brave. They all that they thought they needed from the wizard was already in their possession. All they needed from the wizard was to validate their capacities.

Do you see? And everybody is born with a Wizard of Oz theology that really believes that they are enough, that all that God requires they already possess, and that God just has to validate their capacities. This is not so and we see it in verses 19 and 20. Paul says, and we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law in order that every mouth should be shut and all the world become accountable to God because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified before him for through the law comes knowledge of sin.

And these here are the implications of verses 10 through 18. And the first implication is judgment. Look what he says in verse 19. We know we know, he says, that that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. Stop right there. You know who that is. Who was it? Who was under the law? That's Jews. That's Israel. They were under the law. The the mosaic law, the covenant with Israel, the contractual relationship between Yahweh and the Jews. And and the thing, and this is important, the thing about the the law that many people don't understand is that the Jews didn't have to perfectly keep the law to obtain the blessings of the covenant.

Does that make sense? There there were blessings that were promised for faithfulness. And if they messed up and sinned, they could offer sacrifices and that could heal the breach for certain issues. And so what that means is they could live in the land, God would protect them, they would receive the crops and blessings of the covenant. And that didn't depend on keeping the law with perfection. Does that make sense? However, to be justified by God, to be counted righteous by God, to qualify for the kingdom and eternal life did require the perfect keeping of the law.

The problem with that is what? It was impossible. It couldn't be done. In fact, that wasn't even the purpose of the law at all. God gave the law to show the Jews they couldn't keep the law, that they were sinners. Who needed a savior? Which is why Paul says in verse 19 that every mouth should be shut and all the world be accountable to God. Do you see the law? The result of the law is only condemnation. The law was never meant to be some carnival game where you knock down as many bottles as you can and and and that's good enough.

It was never meant to be some merit system that that somehow earned your way to a righteous standing. And and you notice you know it only leads to judgment. And notice the ramifications of the law are not just for Israel, but what does it say? Whose mouth will be shut? What does it say? Who will be held accountable? What does it say? All the world. You see? That's judgment. That's the final judgment. The stunned silence of sinners as King Jesus makes the verdict and there is not one single word that people can make in reply.

There's no alibi. There's no defense. There there's no there's no pleas of insanity. There are no bargains that can be made. There's just the silent terror and condemnation of the guilty. But but that Jared that that's not fair. That's not fair, someone cries, because if the law was given to Israel, what does that have to do with the world? I mean why why is the world accountable for a law that wasn't actually given to them? And the answer is, listen carefully, with or without the law. The primal decision for autonomy and radical self-sovereignty in rebellion to God has been repeated by every single person on the planet exactly like their father Adam in the garden at the beginning.

The whole point of verses 9 through 18 is that all are under sin. All are under sin. And thus, listen carefully, without the saving righteousness of God in the gospel, without a redeemer and sovereign grace and the miracle of the new birth, every mouth will be shut and all the world will become accountable to God. And so beloved, let me just ask you, let me just ask you a weighty question. At the end of the age, at the end of the age, will your mouth be shut in judgment or opened in praises to the king?

I'm legitimately asking you that. In other words, put it this way, what what statement from Christ are you going to hear on that day? Depart from me, I never knew you or enter into the joy of your master. And you see, the way to tell or at least one of the ways to tell which statement you're going to hear on that day is if you agree with verses 9 through 18. That's how. Like do you believe that you were as bad as the text says you were? That that you weren't a good person, that you weren't corrupt, that that you were corrupt and defiled, that you did not have within you all that God required, that you were a slave to sin and under the wrath of God, that your only hope was for a divine redeemer and sovereign grace.

Did you believe that when you professed Christ or at the very least do you believe it now? Because that's what saved people believe. Bottom line, do you understand grace? Because you know what grace is, don't you? Grace is the gift of God to men who are so corrupt that they can't change their own natures, who are so rebellious that they can't turn to God on their own, who are so blinded by sin that they cannot see the glory of Christ. Who are so spiritually dead that God must open their graves and lift them into resurrection.

Is that what you believed when you professed Christ? Or at least is that what you believe today? And yet, what if I'm a good person, someone says? What if I'm a moral person? What if I am kind? What if I am nice? What if I am generous? And and who occasionally sins but does nice things. I mean if my good outweighs my bad, I don't see what the problem is. I mean I mean couldn't that earn my acceptance with God? I mean I mean do not good works like keeping the Ten Commandments, for instance, doesn't that earn salvation and forgiveness with God?

In other words, Wizard of Oz theology. And Paul says, no, it cannot happen. It does not work because look at verse 20. By the works of the law no flesh will be justified before him. Why? Because through the law comes knowledge of sin. Years ago, I had a had a coworker was to sell shoes. And I used to and and I used to share the gospel with with coworkers. And and I was in a conversation with one guy and when it got to the part about sin, it cut a little too close to the bone and he turned around and snapped at me and he goes, I keep the Ten Commandments, all right?

I'm fine with God. Wasn't quite that loud, but it was tense. And he walked away and he never said a word to me again. And the problem is trying to keep the Ten Commandments doesn't make you fine with God. Atonement makes you fine with God. Keeping the law, the the Ten Commandments and beyond, that was never designed as a system of merit, a way to way to earn favor with God. In fact, the works of the law or or just any good works at all can only earn condemnation from God. Look at the end of verse 20.

Through the law comes knowledge of sin. That's what the law could do. The the law could reveal your sin, but it could not redeem you from sin. And again, you know what I mean by law, right? The Ten Commandments and beyond. Exodus kind of through Deuteronomy sort of stuff, all of that. It it it could justly condemn you, but it could not justify you before God. Why? Because sin is evil. It's an infinitely evil crime against an infinitely worthy God which deserves an infinite punishment. And and cobbling together a few good works doesn't repair the infinite damage done to the glory of God.

That's exactly the problem. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In fact, that is the most devastating dilemma in the universe, isn't it? Put it like this. How I mean if if it's if it 's not by the works of the law that we can get to God, reconciled to God, saved if it's not by the works of the law, then how is it? If it's not by a few meritorious good deeds, then how is it? Put it like this. Listen carefully. How can the righteous God righteously punish sin and pardon guilty sinners all at the same time?

Do you see the quandary? That's massive. And the answer the answer is found in the very next verse, verse 21. But now, apart from the law, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, witnessed by the law and the prophets. What does he mean? He means God has made a way where sinners may be justified, counted as righteous. But how? It must be without the law because that's what he says. How how do we get the righteousness of God by which we are saved? Verse 22. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for for all those who believe.

There it is. Do you see it? The righteous God made a way to righteously righteous the unrighteous. To declare them righteous and adopt them as sons. How? Through faith in Jesus Christ. Do you see that? Because the problem is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But verse 24, hang with me here. Hang with me. This is this is so massive. He says we are justified as a gift by his grace. Here it is. Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Stay with me. Whom God displayed publicly through faith in his blood because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed.

I'm going to preach on that whole text in two weeks. That is declared by many to be the most important paragraph on salvation in the entirety of the Bible. And I agree. And it was a lot. What did it say? You see the chain reaction. Here it is. All he said was redemption plus propitiation equals justification. That's what he said. In other words, the death of Christ was a ransom price that satisfied the wrath of God so that when we put our faith in Christ, the guilt and wrath for sin was gone and we received the righteousness of Christ.

Justification. And I'm going to preach a whole sermon on justification next week. But but notice notice, turn to chapter five. We've done this before. We'll do it again. You know this text well. Chapter five. All I'm doing is pointing out the solution for everything we just saw in chapter three. Chapter five, verse eight. You know it well. But God but God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And much more having been justified by his blood, what's the result? Saved from the wrath of God through him.

Turn to chapter eight. Chapter eight. More solutions for the problem of sin. Chapter eight. You we can start in verse one. There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life freed you from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did by sending his own son and as an offering for sinful flesh as an offering for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. What's the result? That the righteous ordinance of the law would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but who walk according to the spirit.

Do you see? If all those texts together say anything, they say what I've said before. The love of God sent the son of God to bear the wrath of God that we might be sons of God who have the righteousness of God in the kingdom of God for the glory of God. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and king, the triumphs of his grace. He breaks the power of canceled sin. He he sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me.

And this we do not understand until we understand the doctrine of sin. Couple of implications of sin and then we close. Number one. Number one, we we need to take sin more seriously in our lives. No, in Christ we're no longer slaves of sin. We're no longer under its condemning power. That's true, but a wounded animal is still dangerous. And one of the greatest mistakes that we can make is that we can underestimate the power of sin and we can overestimate our power to resist sin. That doesn't mean we need to live in fear, but it does mean we need to live in desperation and dependence upon the true vine, Jesus Christ.

Number two. The truth about total depravity radically changes the way we parent, doesn't it? And raise our kids and discipline our our children. It has to. Total depravity reminds us that our children emerge from the womb not merely broken or damaged, but that they emerge spiritually dead. And knowing the effects of sin helps us as parents remember that our kids don't merely need superficial changes to their outward behavior, but what they need is a new heart. Number three. The truth about total depravity is one of the greatest foundations for authentic humility and for joy. Humility and joy.

There's just there's just there's just something that happens to the human heart when we realize that right now at this moment we should be in hell. And we're not and we'll never go there. And although we're not in Christ, we're no longer totally depraved. I mean we're we're not spiritually dead anymore. We still remember with grateful trembling joy that had God not opened our eyes to the beauty of his son, we would have never believed and been saved. Number four. The truth about the terrors of sin help us look upon unsaved sinners with pity and compassion and urgency to give them what they need the most, namely Christ in the gospel, right?

How can one formerly condemned sinner look upon a currently condemned sinner with even a shred of superiority? And I do do that. And the cure is this. How can one former slave to sin look upon a current slave to sin, not look upon a current slave to sin with urgent compassion and boldness to proclaim guilty, vile, and helpless we? Spotless lamb of God was he. Full atonement. Can it be? Can it be? It can. Hallelujah. What a savior.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for the unchanging truth, the verse by verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jared Gilcher and Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. At Christ Community Bible Church, we exist to prize, portray, and proclaim the supremacy of Christ as we trust in his word and wait for his return. We hope today's teaching has encouraged your soul and helped you trust and treasure Christ as your redeemer, savior, and king. If you're in the DFW area and looking for a church home, join us for worship Sunday mornings at 10:30. To learn more about the mission of the church, meet the pastoral staff or plan a visit, go to ccbiblechurch.com.

You'll find ministry services and additional teachings there as well. Just click on the resources tab to get started. That's ccbiblechurch.com. Join us again next time as we open the scriptures together and proclaim the truth that never changes. This has been the unchanging truth.