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Romans 3:21-26 |
| Posted by Administrator (charlie) on Mar 30 2009 |
- Introduction
Nothing is more fun that receiving a gift.
It is especially fun when that gift is unexpected.
That is when you know someone really cares about you.
They go to the trouble to get you something and then they keep it a secret so you can get the max surprise effect out of the gift.
That surprised look is something that you never forget.
- Describing the Biblical Text
This text from the book of Romans is in a section of the book that is demonstrating that all people have sinned and that it is a universal problem yet in the midst of that problem, God has moved through the death of His son to save them.
This text also describes God as an equal opportunity savior and judge.
All have sinned and yet all need a savior and for those who know Christ and have trusted Him for salvation, the death of Jesus had provided the satisfaction of God’s wrath that is required to pay the price for forgiveness.
- Narrate the Contextual application
As we consider the overarching theme of the book of Romans which I am sure you all know as Justification or being made righteous by faith, we see in this passage that justification is a gift of God received in faith through the grace of God.
If we are justified by faith, that means that our faith has to be present.
Faith is an essential ingredient in terms of the application of God’s righteousness in our lives.
- Life Application (thesis)
Yet, our faith must be that which is described in John’s gospel, believing in Jesus.
Consequently faith in Jesus is the key for His righteousness to be in us.
- SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This statement has some very important ramifications that will apply to our lives as we consider them.
The first of these ramifications or fundamentals is this.
Justification or the righteousness of God is revealed in Christ.
Have you ever been trying to figure something out and all of a sudden something you do just makes the light come on for you.
As you can hear when I sing, I have never had any kind of formal music training other than chorus in elementary school.
Then when I was 35 or so, I started taking saxophone lessons. As I was required to play scales in two different keys, I started tinking them out on the piano from the staff. One day it hit me. If you recognize the key, in my case c or f, you know exactly which notes you need to play. So, the key of the music is like your toolbox of notes needed for a piece of music. For me that was like a wow, now I get it moment.
That is the idea behind the wording in verse 21 that says that the righteousness of God is revealed.
That word revealed or manifest is close to my heart because I did poorly on a Greek exam because of it.
It occurs 10 or so times in the book of 1 John and I completely drew blank on it translating for a test and missed every occurrence.
That’s life.
The meaning of the word was not revealed but the righteousness or justification of God is revealed and it is revealed in Christ.
The idea is almost like there is a curtain or a veil in front of God’s justification and that curtain is pulled away in Christ to reveal salvation to us.
Yet, this revealing in Christ was not the first time that the righteousness of God had been witnessed or at least testified.
The Law and the prophets bear witness to the righteousness that is in Christ as well even though they do not and cannot provide it.
They certainly point to it.
But, this text clearly indicates that God’s righteousness is applied to us through one means that is through the faith that we have in Jesus Christ.
So then what is it that qualifies us to be the recipients of the faith that we have in Jesus?
Well, it is a simple as this.
We must be a sinful person.
Hence our second fundamental is this.
Justification is received by sinners.
Notice how this passage states that idea.
The end of verse 22 says that there is no distinction.
That has to bee seen in two different directions.
We will start by looking in the direction of verse 23.
All have sinned.
This points then to the fact that every human being in wrapped up in a universal malady called sin.
This malady applies to all humanity without distinction.
Specifically, those under the law heretofore known as Jews, because of the law and its demand of perfection, are sinners.
Also, those without the law, gentiles, do not have the law but yet have the witness of God through natural revelation, are also condemned by sin.
So, there is no distinction in the sinner whether a Jew or a gentile.
Everyone comes short of the glory of God.
It is like the softball player whose team is down by 1 run and he is up with a runner on second and third and two outs in the bottom of the last inning. The pitch comes in and the batter knocks it into the right center gap. He begins to jump up and down celebrating with his team as the runner from third scores followed closely by the runner from second. As the batter celebrates, the center fielder throws the ball to the second baseman who throws the ball to first. The batter is out. It is the third out of the inning and the game is over.
Why, because he came short of simply reaching first base to allow those two runs to score for when he was put out at first, they did not count.
We think that life is good and filled with accomplishments but as we celebrate, we sometimes fail to realize that we are missing the mark and falling short of God’s glory.
It is because of Sin that we cannot make the standard of God’s glory.
It is sin that leaves us wanting.
Yet as we look at there being no distinction, we can also look at the direction of verse 22 in that the righteousness of God is for those who have faith or who believe in Jesus.
Again, there is no advantage to the Jew or to the gentile as God’s righteousness is revealed to anyone who has trusted Christ.
This really is the gist of our third fundamental this morning.
Justification redeems the one who has faith in Jesus.
Justification is simply the application of God’s righteousness to a human being.
That occurs through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit as we receive Jesus into our lives.
It occurs as a sovereign act of God yet connected to opur hearing of the gospel.
Romans 1:16-17 tells us this.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
The gospel reveals the righteousness of God.
It shows the sinner who is coming short of God’s glory, the truth about sin judgment and righteousness as the Holy Spirit convicts the world or literally people out of every tongue, tribe people and nation, Jew and gentile alike.
It is at this point that salvation has come.
It isd at this time the justification that was purchased on the cross is applied to the unbeliever’s life resulting in the necessary faith and repentance that become the demonstrations of God’s redeeming work.
This points us then to our last fundamental this morning.
Justification relays the Character of God.
Look at verse 26.
Do you see how God is both the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
When I was a teenager I used to belong to a secret order, a fraternity of young me if you will. The secrets of the order could only be passed on to initiates by those who were full members of the order.
God is the just, or another way to put is this way.
God is the righteous and the one who justifies or makes righteous.
Because of this, we know that he righteous attributes of God that were demonstrated through the perfect life of Jesus are now transferred to us in terms of our redemptive character.
I want to ask you this morning, is the redemptive power of Christ working in you today?
Has the Just justified you in his redemptive work?
The Bible tells us that whosoever believes or has faith in Jesus will have eternal life.
Eternal life is the end result of the life that has been justified in God through faith in Christ.
Last changed: Mar 30 2009 at 9:36 AM
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