Romans 3_23_24 God's Great Gift to Humanity

“The Greatest Gift to Humanity” Romans 3:23-24

For all has sinned and come short of the Glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Idea: God has given us the greatest give, His Son Jesus in order that we can be forgiven of our sin and once again allowed into the divine presence of God. What a Gift!

Intro:

The Greatest Loss of Humanity (23)

All – pas (Adj) - Total, Whole, The totality of the world! This is every male and female regardless of age (babies, children, adults, and the elderly) Every race and religion, Every ethnic groups across all of the world. Pas includes every Jew and Gentiles, Greeks and Barbarians, this is the totality of the humanity, all 7.8 billion people alive today and the estimated 117 billion people that has ever lived. Pas includes the totality of every person who will ever live in the future. Pas is the sum of all humanity excluding only one, the subject of this pericope, Jesus, the only begotten of God who clothed himself in humanity and entered into this world to bring forgiveness of sin. Pas includes me and you!

Have Sinned – hamartanō (verb) = sin, to do wrong, to act or intend contrary to the law of God. We have all sinned thus we are all sinners! For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. James 2:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:10

Come Short of – hystereō (verb) = fail to attain. Literally, to miss the mark, an archer’s term that means to be off target. This carries the idea of not hitting the center of bull’s-eye every single shot. This verb is in the Present middle indicative meaning a continued action. Come short and still come short. I means to miss and keep on missing. (Daniel once used the illustration “to fall short” is to try to jump the great expanse that separates us from God and to fall short plummeting into the abyss. If we were given infinite opportunities to jump we would miss it and keep on missing it.

Glory of God – doxa (noun) theos - Doxa is the praise of God. Coming short of God’s glory is the idea of our actions never being pleasing to God. Thus we miss out on the divine presence of God and the privilege that Adam and Eve originally enjoyed with God. Since we have all sinned and come short of God’s glory we are cut off from direct fellowship with God and this is the great loss occasioned by sin.

The Greatest Gift to Humanity (24, [29-30])

Being Justified – dikaioō (verb) – To be put right with, to vindicate, a declaration of righteousness. This is God causing us to be in a right relationship with Him. “Being” is a repeated or continual action. Once God declares you right and puts you into the proper relation with Him you continue to have His declaration of being set right.

Freely – dōrean (adverb) – without cost, free of charge. This is the idea of receiving God’s continual justification without any thing done on our part to deserve it. The NASB translates dōrean as gift and I believe this is the best translation.

By Grace – charis (noun) kindness, good will, favor. It convey a sense of a gift of kindness and favor given to a person. Sometimes this noun highlights the underserved nature of the gift of salvation. Given not because of the righteousness of the recipient but because of God’s gracious kindness in Christ, the blessing of Salvation is given freely. Salvation is God’s free gift to us! How many of us have received a gift only then to be handed a bill for it? That’s not a gift! How many of us have received a gift because we earned one? That’s not grace! Grace is giving, that is purely motivated by love and with no expectations of return and without qualifications or stipulation placed upon the recipient though he/she has wronged the giver in many ways.

Redemption – apolytrōsis (noun) – deliverance, a ransom, a release by ransom. This teaches us that our salvation is free for us but it cost God greatly! Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus means a releasing by ransom. A release form the bondage of sin that once enslaved all us, God’s grace freed us but He is too good to do nothing about sin. The blood of Jesus the perfect Lamb of God is the purchase money that us as slaves. Redemption is the payment of a ransom! We were bought with a price! In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace Eph. 1:7

Notice, we are being justified. As believers we still fall short, we are sealed by the blood of Jesus and the down payment of the Holy Spirit ensures us that one day we will be glorified and never deal with sin again, we will never come up short again because we will finally be in the divine presence of God and be like Him (1 John 3:2). But this is not justification to continue sinning! So throw away the hot pocket(11/29 I threw away a perfectly uneaten hot pocket, because 1 Cor. 10:31 tells me that I should do all things to the glory of God and after eating things like that I do everything but glorify God!)

Application: 1. Receive God’s Gift Today

2. Be grateful for God’s gift

Beautiful Christmas presents I have sold to men who put love, devotion, and time to pick out a gift that says “I love you.” Just to have their wives return it with disdain saying I can’t believe that he bought me THAT! I like so and so. If we are truly honest with ourselves we spurn the greatest gift given to humanity by continuing to live in sin. A saved and forgiven people still living in sin! Throw away the hot pocket!