Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans.  Tonight is study #36 of Romans 3,  and we will read Romans 3:20-22:

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 

I will stop reading there.  The Lord has concluded and stated that the Law will stop every mouth and make all the world guilty before Him, and under His wrath: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”  The obvious question is, “Who then can be saved?  Who then can enter to the kingdom of God?  Why send the Gospel into the world to save when, apparently, none can be saved?”  And it is true that none can be saved through their own works, and, therefore, salvation is impossible with men. 

And it is not just me saying that, but it is the Bible.  In Matthew 19 there is an account of a rich, young ruler who was rebuffed (by Jesus) because he thought he could do a few good works to enter into the kingdom of God.  But the Lord emphasized to him that his work was not sufficient.  We read in Matthew 19:16-21:

And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

If you are going to go the route of keeping the commandments, then it is endless.  You have to keep this command, and that command, and that other command, and so forth.  You have to keep the Law perfectly in all.  If you keep the whole Law but fall in one point, you are guilty of all – you are a lawbreaker that has come under the penalty of death.  Then He told him, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”  Then it says in Matthew 19:22:

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

You see, the Lord was convicting him.  The young man thought he had obtained some level of righteousness and justification before God through doing good.  It was implied in his question: “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”  His thoughts were along the lines of working (doing good) to gain entrance into God’s holy heaven.  Christ loved him in the sense of revealing to him more Law, and in giving him more Law, He was showing him his sinfulness.  The young, rich ruler needed to begin to realize his sin.  Apparently, he had little knowledge of his own sinfulness and desperate wickedness.  Christ is The Word, and the Word is the Law, so He spoke Law to him, telling him what He wanted him to do, but the young man went away sorrowful because it was hard to keep that Law.  A lot of things probably went through his mind, and although it does not mean that the Lord could not have saved him later, it certainly destroyed his idea of being saved by doing good.  Then it says in Matthew 19:23-25:

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

Why were they amazed?  Well, Abraham was rich.  Isaac was rich.  Jacob was rich, and many of the saints that they had heard about from being taught in the synagogues were rich men, like Solomon and David.  They were kings, and they were rich men.  How could it be that a rich man could hardly enter the kingdom of heaven, so they asked the question, “Who then can be saved?”  Why did they ask?  It was because it appeared that none could be saved.  Then it says in Matthew 19:26:

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

What is impossible?  He was answering their question concerning who can be saved, so this is referring to salvation.  With men, salvation is impossible, but with God all things are possible.  That is the true Gospel of the Bible.  That is the Bible’s teaching, from beginning to end.  Salvation is of the Lord, not of man.  Man cannot do anything to get saved.  He cannot give enough of his wealth.  He cannot do enough good deeds.  He cannot keep enough of the Law.  He cannot believe unto salvation because belief is a work.  He cannot do anything.  The Bible instructs us in John 1:12:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

There are some people so immersed in their false “free will” gospel, they immediately conclude, “Salvation is a free gift of God, but you have to receive it.  You have to put out your hand and accept Christ, which is receiving the gift.”  And that is what it appears to say here: through belief, you are receiving Him.  But God stops the wicked minds of men that are geared toward works at every turn.  It is not man’s works.  Go to John 3:27:

John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

This means that “to receive” the gift it must first be granted to him by God, which means that God is the original doer.  God is the One who must first take action, and that is what the Bible means when it says that God first loved us, and then we respond with a far lesser love, after we have first received the Spirit.  Then God begins to work in us through His Spirit to produce the “fruits of the spirit,” one of which is faith.  Then we may make a profession of faith, “I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,”  and it will not just be true from our lips, but true from our heart because God has first given us a new heart and a new spirit in salvation, and then our profession and belief will be genuine, true belief, and only the elect children of God can believe in that way.

So, again, it says in John 1:12:

But as many as received him, to them gave he….

To receive it is a gift, and everything else associated with salvation is a gift of God.  Then it says in John 1:12-13:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born…

By the way, given the setting of the previous verse and the Bible’s whole message of salvation, this is referring to being born again.  That is how we must understand it.  Again, it says in John 1:13:

Which were born, not of blood…

It does not matter who your father, mother, or other ancestors are.  As a matter of fact, if you want to trace your ancestors, we all go back to Adam, and you would have blood guiltiness because we all came from his loins.  So forget the fact that your father was a preacher, or whatever.  It means nothing as far as God’s salvation is concerned.  Again, it says in John 1:13:

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh…

No one is born again of the “will of the flesh.”  In case that goes in one ear and out the other, God then says it another way, as He goes on to say in John 1:13:

…nor of the will of man…

And there is the “end” of free will as far as salvation is concerned, according to the Bible.  There is God’s answer.  There is the truth.  And there is the revealing, as He takes the veil off the false gospels in Christendom, consisting of great numbers of churches, theologians, and websites, that tell you to believe, walk down the aisle, accept Christ, say the Sinner’s Prayer, and they all involve exercising free will.  And 100% of the time it is of Satan, and it is not the truth.  It is a lie, and Satan is the father of lies.  In the saying of these lies, they are showing themselves to be children of the devil, the one who originated the “lie.”  And they are simply in tune with their spiritual father’s gospel.  And it is not the Gospel of God, or the true Spirit of God, which always credits glory to God.  Salvation is of the Lord, and to God be the glory.  Thank God that His magnificent salvation program is of Him.  It is a result of the faith of Christ, the faith belonging to Him.   He possesses the faith that saves, and it is not the “faith” of man, which is a work.  Faith is a work, and no man is justified by the works of the Law.

As it says here in John 1:13:

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And this is exactly what we read in Matthew 13 regarding Jesus’ response to the question, “Who then can be saved?”  And it says in Matthew 19:26:

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Of course that means all things lawful according to His Word.  Sinful things are not possible for God.  It is impossible for God to lie, for example, but all things that are good, righteous, just, and lawful according to the Bible, are possible with God.  And according to the Bible, God has a salvation program whereby He gives faith.  He grants grace.  He bestows mercy.  He washes away sin.  He cleanses the sin of the sinner through the blood of Christ.  It is all of God, and none of man.