Romans 3:19-26 • A Saving Grace
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
Let me ask that you look in your Bibles this morning at Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 is what we'll be looking at verses 19 through 26.
Romans 19, Romans 3 verses 19 through 26.
Next month the entire world will be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
In parts of the world celebrating for different reasons, there will be nations and governments that acknowledge that as a result of Martin Luther nailing those 95 theses on the Wittenberg door, that movements began that among other things released nations from church rule and also spoke of the equality of all humanity in such a way that the democratizing principles that we enjoy were given new force, energy, effort, and standard by what the Reformation did. Economists will acknowledge the importance of the Reformation because they will talk about the Protestant work ethic, that once you talk about the dignity of every human being and the holiness of every profession, then you elevate the dignity of what everyone does in every walk of life. And people begin to recognize, "I'm serving God in what I do every day if I'm thinking of my witness, my efforts to glorify Him in what I do." Of course tour companies will celebrate the Reformation because they'll take lots of people to Luther sites and to the sites historically of other early reformers.
But why do Bible-believing Christians celebrate the Reformation because of what's in Romans 3?
It wasn't about government, it wasn't about economy, it wasn't even about tours that Martin Luther staked his life on the principles of Scripture. It was for what is in this passage. He said, "Everything turns on this point."
Romans chapter 3 verses 19 through 26, what turns on this point? Let's stand as we honor God's Word. The Apostle Paul writes, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith."
This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, marvelous words, though all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, yet by faith in Jesus we are made right with You.
How can it be?
How does it change us?
How do we claim it? Teach us by Your Word the wonders and the goodness of the gospel we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.
Please be seated.
Preachers have told the story for centuries, you'll probably recognize it, a child panicked by a bee.
Her father tries to calm her, the child will not be calmed, and so finally the father grabs the bee and to calm his child shows the pulsing stinger in his own hand.
That's the story that's been told. I've told the story. I've told the story here.
But at some point I had to recognize the story had to become my own.
Why? Because we were heading home for a vacation. That means all the kids are packed into the van, they're seat belted, they can't move, not just because of the seat belt, but because the luggage is packed around them, and suddenly we get an unwelcome visitor in the van.
A bee. And for my fair-skinned, blonde, allergic-prone kids, now everybody's in a panic. The youngest girl is screaming.
The older boys are swatting for all their worth. None of this is calming the bee, who's only getting more angry and dangerous. Finally I recognize what I've got to do. I've got to listen to my own sermon.
I grab the bee and then to calm my youngest daughter, I show the screamer the stinger
in my own hand.
Now that's the story.
You be the preacher.
How do we turn that account into a parable if we're going to explain the gospel? Maybe the way you would do at lunch today with a child or a grandchild as a friend. If you're going to use that story to explain the gospel, whom does the father in the parable represent? Who's the father represent? Who's trying to calm the children down? Who's the father represent?
God the father? All right. What does…who are the children who are panicked? Who the children represent?
That's us.
A little harder.
What does the stinger represent which panics us and creates fright in us? What does that represent?
The consequences of our sin so that when we read in a passage like Romans from a couple of weeks ago, "The wrath of God is poured out against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," we recognize that the van that we are all in is one in which we are captured by our own sin's threat.
We want to be free of that sin. We want to be free of the danger that is coming upon us, what ultimately is going to calm our fears, recognizing the father has taken the stinger in Scripture in his right hand. What does the right hand represent? Now Jesus, who not only sits at God's right hand but is the instrument of His mercy. God provided His own right hand, what was precious to Him, to take the penalty we deserve in order for us to be made right with God. Now, what is going to calm your fears?
Knowing the stinger has been taken and it threatens you no more.
That's the parable.
It's the truth the Apostle Paul is teaching here. And we need that truth because of what he's already explained. If the wrath of God is poured out against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of humanity, then who stands guilty before God?
Paul will say in verse 10 of chapter 3, "There is none righteous, no not one." We are all in this van of life recognizing the consequences of sin will come upon us. And the question that comes upon us then is, how do I find safety in this situation? And Paul's simpler answer is this, you are not your solution.
God is.
Why can you not be your solution? Because your righteousness says the Apostle will not save you, not righteous excuses and not righteous claims. What is in you is not going to keep you safe from the consequences of your own sin. That's verse 19. "Now we know," says the Apostle Paul in chapter 3, "that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God."
The law of God is rendering useless every excuse that this consequence of sin should not be attached to me.
Any single one of us, of course, if on a particular day we get caught going 50 in the school zone, has something we want to say to the policeman. We want to say what?
I didn't know. I wasn't aware.
And what does the policeman say? Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
But you have to see people objecting, even people in Paul's time. Well, yes, some of the people in our church in Rome are Jews. They had the law. They know the law. But we didn't know the law, so why do we stand condemned by the law? The Apostle has already answered that question. We looked at it last week in chapter 2 and verse 14. In Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires.
They are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Yes, it's true. You may not have a Bible to give you the standards of God. But the Apostle Paul says not only is ignorance of the law no excuse, you're not really ignorant of the law.
It's written on your heart, proof.
In the world in which we live, you think of those groups that may be identified as ISIS,
or Boko Haram, or Colombian warlords, or human traffickers, or a group of evil men in Philadelphia suburbs who kidnap and assault and murder and hurt in terrible ways. There is not a single one of us here who says, "Oh, they just didn't know.
They didn't go to church. They didn't have our Bible.
Their culture thinks other things."
We believe profoundly. The law is written on their hearts.
We know what is fair and just and loving and merciful. And we, to examine our own hearts, recognize that we do not live as people who are always fair and merciful and kind and selfless and indifferent.
We live as though we are indifferent to God's law. Everyone who claims, "I just don't know. I just don't have the Word of God," we have to say that just isn't true. The law of God written on your heart makes you know that immorality and vulgarity and drunkenness and infidelity and racism and materialism and indifference to the needs and the hurts of others. We know that is wrong.
And we don't somehow have to be sitting in a Sunday school to be aware of that. God says we are aware of what hurts people, what hurts us, what hurts our families. We know. And for that reason, every excuse is rendered null and void. The whole world, says Paul, will be held accountable to God whether or not they have the law of Moses in their background. Well, people will say, "All right, if I know the law, maybe what will make me right is I claim not to have an excuse. That's not it. I just claim that I'm righteous, that I'm not a bad person."
Verse 20, chapter 3, Paul says, "By the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his that is God's sight." Through the law comes knowledge of sin. If I really think of what I know, either from the Word of God or from my own conscience, I recognize I do not live up to the standards of righteousness even I know.
I recognize what is required and yet at the same time I know if I am honest with myself
that a holy God does not recognize holiness in me.
Mark Cahill is a former basketball player, became a Christian, began to witness to his teammates and friends, and talks about a conversation he had with one on a particular day where self-justification was going on. Cahill said to his friend, "When you die, what do you think is on the other side?"
The friend replied, "There's a heaven, there's a hell.
When I die, I'm going to heaven because I keep the Ten Commandments."
"Okay," said Cahill, "let's just see how well you're doing."
"Have you ever told a lie?" said the friend, "No."
Cahill said, "Well, that was an obvious lie." So he said, "What do you mean no?" The friend said, "Well, I've just stretched the truth a bit."
Said Cahill, "How far do you have to stretch the truth before it's a lie?" Said the friend, "Okay, I lied."
Said Cahill, "Then when you stand before God, what will you have to confess?"
"I'm a liar."
"Have you ever stolen anything?"
"Yes."
"What does that make you?"
"A thief."
"Have you ever lusted in your heart after someone else?"
"No."
But the friend's girlfriend was standing beside him, and she said, "You've lusted after me."
That caused him to swear and take the Lord's name in vain.
Said Cahill, "We've only been through four of the commandments so far, and you are all for four.
So when you stand before God, are you going to be innocent or guilty?"
Said the friend, "Guilty."
Now I told it was some humor, and I meant to, but I hope you recognize that when you stand before God and the wrath of God is poured out against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of humanity, that to stand before God and say, "I am guilty," will be no laughing matter. That we would stand before God and say, "God, I have no claim," is actually to put us in panic is to recognize that when the Apostle Paul has already said, "Because of your heart and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For God will judge every person according to their works, that every single one of us should feel this absolute terror. How am I going to get out of this situation?" Now we may try to minimize the sin. We all want to do that. We don't just claim ignorance. We claim, "Well, I haven't done that bad of stuff."
Some of us have been trained to think about what claim that means. When the Bible talks about our sin, it says that we sin against God in thought, word, and deed. It's not just that we have murdered people. It's not just that we've committed awful assaults. We recognize that even the thoughts that go through our heads are often selfish, that guide our actions, that are bitter, that hurt our families as unforgiveness begins to characterize us. We recognize that selfishness and arrogance and bitterness and unforgiveness and just plain indifference to people who are hurting characterizes our thoughts and actions. And if you were just to kind of say, "Do you have three uncaring, indifferent, bitter, angry thoughts per day?"
Then what would that accumulate to be in a year?
Well, that's a thousand a year.
Multiply that times your age.
Five thousand?
If you're a teen, fifteen thousand?
Middle age, thirty thousand? Or is it fifty thousand? Or is it sixty thousand? Or seventy thousand?
And when you stand before God, will you be innocent or guilty?
The Scriptures tell us precisely what we will be. Chapter three in verse ten, "None is righteous, no not one."
Our situation before God renders us desperate before God. And when we recognize that, we have to say, as the Apostle wants us to say, "You are not your answer. Your righteousness will not save you. God's will."
It's actually the righteousness of God that is the solution to our own sin problem. And that righteousness of God is intended to save us. Now when I say that, you must recognize that even for those in the church in Rome many years ago, that would have been a startling thing to hear. The righteousness of God saves. I thought the righteousness of God was what made me feel guilty. I understand He's righteous, He's good. I see in the mirror of God's great righteousness, my own sin, my flaws, my failings. I thought the righteousness of God was what would condemn me, not what would save me.
But the Apostle Paul is trying to make it clear to us, the righteousness of God must not only reveal good standards, but a good heart.
And it is the good heart of God that's also on display as the Apostle Paul is explaining the righteousness of God. Verse 21, "But now," he says, "the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it." Now these words are a little difficult for us. They would have just been earth shattering to the Jews of Paul's time. God is revealing Himself to us apart from the law. I thought the law doing good stuff was how you made yourself right with God because it says here's who God is. So if you want to be with God, you want to be like God, you have to do this good stuff too. And when you don't, you're just plain guilty. And now the Apostle Paul says, "No, the righteousness of God is being revealed apart from the law." How do you get righteousness of God understood apart from the law? It's like saying, "I'm going to explain Starbucks to you and I'm not going to mention coffee.
I'm going to talk about Apple and never mention Steve Jobs." No, these things are integral to the understanding. How can you say the righteousness of God is being revealed apart from the law? We have to know that because it goes so much against what most people think even when they come to the church.
Actually, many people who've been in the church a long time think that what we're here for is just to learn to be good.
So that we will qualify to be with God.
I can't help but remember some years ago when I was jogging on one of those paths I told you I jogged for about 30 years and meeting different people at different times and jogging along with a man at some point and then him discovering he's jogging next to this weird creature known as a preacher, right? And so, you know, he's suddenly, you know, inside, "Oh no, oh no, oh no, you know, how do I make conversation? How do I look good with a preacher who's jogging beside me?" And so he says, "You know, I know I ought to go to church more because I know church is supposed to talk to us and teach us about how to be good so we'll get to heaven."
And I startled him a little bit. I said, "Actually, what our church teaches is that good people don't go to heaven."
What do you mean good people don't go to heaven? Well, that's right. Good people don't go to heaven. How could that be? Because there aren't any of those people.
There is none righteous, no, not one.
It's not the good people who go to heaven because only sinners can go to heaven because that's all we are. That's no distinction in the economy of the apostles as he begins to think about who we are. So our righteousness isn't going to be the basis of our being right with God, but God is revealing a righteousness apart from the law. And yet he says, remember, verse 21, "The law and the prophets bear witness to whatever it is that God is displaying to reveal His righteousness." So it's not the law that's comprehensively revealing the law that's going to be the righteousness of God, but the law and the prophets are revealing the righteousness that's apart from the law.
How does the law reveal our righteousness apart from the law?
Okay, well, I just think, in the Old Testament, what was that law revealing to people? It was revealing what God requires, but it was also revealing the rescue we require.
You're not going to do this. You are not righteous enough to be right with the holy God. And so the Apostle Paul actually says in Galatians 3 and verse 24, "The law was our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ."
That the very law that was revealing all of God's standards was saying, yes, this is what God requires, but it's also revealing you require a rescue because you're not going to be made right by what you do according to this law. But that wasn't all that was in this Old Testament.
The law was not all that was being revealed back here, the law and the prophets.
The law is revealing the need for rescue.
The prophets are predicting the rescuer.
Isaiah in chapter 7 says, "There will come one who will be born of a virgin." That is, the lineage and the legacy of sin will be cut off from him so that he would have a perfect start in the world. And not only would he have a perfect start, Isaiah in the 54th chapter says that he would be the holy one of Israel who would redeem. He would live a righteous life. He would have no sin in his heritage. He would have no sense in his own doing, no sin in his own doings.
And as a consequence, he would be a perfect sacrifice for the sins of others. Isaiah would say, "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way by thought, word, and deed.
But the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all that he would ultimately pay a price that we could not pay, that he would be the one who would suffer in our behalf." God is revealing this great rescuer who would be the perfect substitute for my sin and your sin. He would pay the penalty that we deserve. And the question, of course, all of us have now is, "Well, if he's going to pay the penalty, how do I get in the van with him?"
And Paul says it over and over and over again. Verse 22, "It is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe."
He's actually quoting the Old Testament. He's actually quoting the prophet Habakkuk. Remember the just, those who are made right with God, shall live by faith.
It's not trusting what you do. You are not your answer. It's trusting in the God who by his righteousness, his standards that are showing you need him and his heart that is providing for you. Trusting in that God is your ultimate hope. Now if you are a Jew in the church in Rome, or if you're a new Gentile coming into the church, I must tell you, this is just not making sense.
I have lived as a Jew all of my life trying to follow the law of God. And now Paul, you're saying there's a righteousness of God that's not based on the law. And I'm coming into the church, and maybe I'm coming to the church through immorality or some sort of anger or bitterness or broken family, and now I'm coming to church because you're promising that you're going to help me here. And now I get in the church and you are telling me that I'm not made right with God by being a good person.
Paul, you've got to make more sense than that.
You're going to have to slow down. You're going to have to make this more clear.
And as the Apostle Paul writes the next words, I sometimes wonder, was he just smiling?
Or were there tears of joy dropping on the page as he said? All right, I'll slow down.
I'll make it clear.
What does he say?
Verse 23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Well, I don't like hearing that, Paul. Well, all I'm saying says Paul is, listen, there are plenty of sinners.
There's no distinction. Whether you had the law or didn't have the law. Whether you're in church, out of the church. Whether you know the Bible, nobody meets their own standards, much less God's standards. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There's just plenty of sinners.
And there's plenty of grace for sinners like us. That's the beautiful message that the Apostle Paul is making clear. He has to make it clear because it wasn't just back then. It's even today, people come through these doors. They may sit in these pews for years. And what they think is, you know what, I've got to qualify for God's grace. I've got to do enough, think enough, pay enough, appear to be good enough that God's going to accept me.
And if that's what you think, if that's what you're going through, Paul just has to undermine all of that. And he starts out by saying, listen, everybody's a sinner.
Before God, before their own standards, they are a sinner. So what's going to help them? And he gives three analogies to help. A courtroom analogy of what that means, then a marketplace, and then a temple. What about the courtroom? He says in verse 24, do you remember, that we who are sinners are justified by God's grace as a gift. To be justified means you are declared righteous or just, either because you're not guilty
or because the penalty for your crime has been paid. Now, folks, which are we going to be? Not guilty?
No, that's not us.
But we are declared just because the penalty for our crime has been paid.
And the reason that we can stand before God justified is because He provided for that penalty to be paid. It has to be that way. Or else we don't really understand the righteousness of God. Ravi Zacharias talks about talking to a Palestinian in a restaurant in Jerusalem years ago, and that Palestinian had actually been privy to a conversation between a Christian missionary
and a Muslim sheikh who in Palestine had just ordered the murder of eight Israelis because four Palestinians had been killed by Israeli troops.
As the missionary was talking to the sheikh, he asked this question, "Who appointed you, judge and jury?"
The sheikh replied, "I'm not judge and jury.
I am just an instrument of God's justice."
There was a moment of silence, and then the missionary asked, "What place is there then for forgiveness?"
Said the sheikh, "Forgiveness is only for those who earn it."
If you earn it, folks, it's not forgiveness.
Forgiveness is what is given as a gift.
And it's precisely what the Apostle Paul is saying over and over again with increasing clarity, verse 24, "We are justified by His grace as a gift." Do you recognize the Greek word for grace is just gift?
We are justified by a gift as a gift. And so I have to make you understand this is not something you purchase. This is not something you earn, that there is a just judge, and in His justice He justifies. But the way in which He does that is by a gift, not by your earning, not by your qualifying, not by you're getting good enough. If what you're doing here today is that I'm here, so I get good enough for God to help me, you have to understand you are trying to earn something that God intends to give.
It's a gift. How do we understand that? Verse 24 at the end, having talked about the courtroom where there's a justification by a gift, he says, it's through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
The words are odd to us, but not to the people of Paul's day, because he's now talking about a market scene, but it is a slave market, where people are redeemed from slavery or from indentured relationships, or being captives, now being sold as slaves, because someone pays the price and sets them free.
They are compensated, the one who could hold them, could punish them, could hurt them, has been compensated by a redemption that sets free from the penalty, free from the slavery.
Mindy Bells is the editor of World Magazine that some of you read, and she talks about beginning to understand the redemption that is ours and the wonderful magnitude of it by being in the Sudan, where she was dealing with a Christian father whose son had been kidnapped, and he had to come up with a ransom price to redeem his son from the hostage captivity.
Some of the prices to release children has gone as high as $30,000, as those who were taking the money were using it for weapons and more terror.
And her knowing that, she talked to the Christian father, she said, "What was the price that you paid for your son?"
And she said, "He looked down in embarrassment."
I paid $750, which means that was all his son was worth to those captors.
What are you worth to God?
The redemption that purchased you was Jesus Christ, God's own precious son, as He gave his son, his blood, his life, to purchase your redemption. It is the one who is saying, "I am justifying you because the penalty has been paid." But how was the penalty paid? It was paid by blood, verse 25, "This Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith." This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance, He had passed over a former sense. God had passed over people who deserved His wrath for so long. And why did He… All that Old Testament, all this prophecy, He did not bring to bear the ultimate wrath of God. Why? Because He was preparing for the propitiation, the sacrifice of His own son. This is temple language. We're not accustomed to it anymore. The only time we hear the word "propitious" is when, you know, a mayor or a city councilman is opening the new mall or a new store or something. Well, this is a propitious occasion, right? And what do we mean? This is something that has favor for the future.
And when there's a propitiation, something has been paid to provide the favor that is needed. And God says, "The very one against whom the wrath of God, the very one who has wrath poured out against all ungodliness and unrighteousness…" That person has provided the propitiation, the sacrifice of atonement that was needed. He has made things right by Himself paying what was needed.
I saw it happen in a circumstance that my son would not like me telling you about.
I was in traffic court.
It was his ticket, not mine.
But as the father is with his teenage son, we're waiting for our case to be handled. And as some of you have been in traffic court, you know, this line of people that are being handled before we have to go face the judge.
One woman was found guilty and the judge says, "This is your fine," gabbles the fine.
She said, "Judge, I cannot pay the fine."
He said, "If you cannot pay the fine, you will forfeit your license."
She said, "If I lose my license, I cannot work." "If I cannot work, I cannot keep my apartment. I cannot feed my children.
I have to keep my license."
The judge was stern for a little bit, and then his heart was touched.
And I watched the judge reach into his wallet and pay the fine that he himself had imposed.
He was just, and at the same time he was justifying the one who was asking his help in need.
Did you see that in verse 26? All that God has done in providing his own Son for us, it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier at the same moment.
He's paying the fine and releasing us from the penalty. He's just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
He's taken the stinger in his own hand by letting his Son, his own right hand, accept the penalty that we deserved.
He paid the cost, our Heavenly Father, by giving the Son in our behalf. And now we say, "If that's the case, if the penalty has been paid, if I could be made right with God and it's not by my work, how do I get in the van that's safe? How do I get on the good side of this God?" Paul has made no mystery of that. He said it four times in this passage. Verse 22, "The righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ." Then again in the same verse, "For all who believe." Verse 25, "God put Jesus forward as a propitiation, as this sacrifice of atonement, to be received by faith." Verse 26, "All this was so that God might be just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
We see the rescue. We say, "What's the rope that connects me? It is faith to God." But now we start doing these crazy things even though we've been told over and over again that it's not what you do, it's what God has done. We begin to say, "All right, how much do I got to pay for this faith?
How much of this faith do I have to pump up in me? What are the five things I have to do to get this faith?" Say, "No, no, no. It's faith in what He has done. It's not faith in your resolve. It's not faith in your faith. It's not faith in doing enough good stuff. It's faith in Him. If you can just perceive it, it's my daughter opening her eyes and seeing the stinger in my hand.
It's not believing she's done anything. It's believing I have taken the pain. I have taken the load. I am the one providing."
That's the faith. It's understanding that when we come before God, you and I are not going to stand before God and He says, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" He says, "Well, what I got to do, I have enough faith and it's really, really good faith."
No, not the point. Is it what you do or what He's done? Where is your faith? Is it in all that He has accomplished, all that He's done in your behalf? Faith is always the catcher's mitt, never the pitch, right? It's receiving. It's accepting the gift, not trying to purchase the gift. It's saying, "Jesus, I'm leaning on you and I'm not going to get credit for the leaning.
It's you. It's you that is my hope." In just a few moments, folks, we're going to have opportunity to think, "Does this make sense to you that you're not trying to earn God's affection? You're not trying to be good enough for Him, but to say, "I'm just going to stand before God someday and I'm not going to say I was good enough or my faith was good enough. I'm just going to say, I believe Jesus did what I had to do. He provided for me and that's all I believe. I believe there's no good in me, no good in my faith, no good in my works, no good in my righteous. No, I just believe Jesus made a way for me."
And when you believe that, God says, "You're in the van.
Now let's go to some good places because you're now in the van with the one who loves you beyond all eternity.
It's a wondrous place to be.
And when you recognize He took the penalty, the screaming of guilt and shame and hurt and wonder and fear stops.
He took the penalty.
Praise God.
I believe in Him. I believe in Him."
Father, teach us the gospel again that hearts that are at peace might be filled with the joy of knowing that this good, good God, this wondrous Father has provided His Son to take the penalty that we deserved so that we would never claim our righteousness, but would just say this, "I believe that Jesus paid the penalty for my sin and now I'm right with God because I'm trusting Him." Folks, can you do that? Some of you here just say, "I believe I'm a sinner."
Is that in your heart? You know it's true.
I believe I'm a sinner.
I believe that God sent Jesus to pay for my sin and I'm going to trust Him now and forever.
If that's your prayer, raise your eyes and know the hope of the gospel, it's yours. Let's rejoice in it as we sing.