Sermon Tone Analysis

2~/6~/2005 – MBC – Pastor Doug Thompson

*/“God to the Rescue”/*

Romans 3:21-24

 

20 by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight;

for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

21 */But now/* apart from the Law

the righteousness of God has been manifested,

being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

 

*/Intro:/* Why I don’t care for science fiction.

I’ve never read Lord of the Rings, or even seen the movies, which could qualify me for instant stoning at the hands of angry of homeschool children.

What I don’t like is that there are no rules—the writer can get out of any plot by bringing in something supernatural.

That’s not fair, that’s cheating.

In the old Gk. and Roman dramas sometimes a writer would write himself into an unresolvable plot, and he would just bring in a god to get him out of the jam, They called that device, deus ex machine—god in the machine.

The Roman poet Horace said, “Don’t bring a god on the stage unless the problem is one that deserves a god to solve it!”

As we finally come to Rom.3:21, we have a situation that only God can solve.

Paul has spent 2 ½ chapters painstakingly proving that all of mankind is involved in an unsolvable plot: all men, whether they are up to their armpits in sophisticated religion, or down on their knees worshiping rats and frogs—all men—every man, woman, and child, are, by virtue of their sins, under the judgment of God.

We have been condemned, sentenced, and are awaiting execution.

And our secular society might laugh at what I just said and say it’s ridiculous, but why, then, are we so guilty?

Ø      Psychologist Erich Fromm said this: “/It is indeed amazing that in as fundamentally irreligious a culture as ours, the sense of guilt should be so widespread and deeply-rooted as it is./[1]

Ø      Marlon Brando died last year.

Back in the 50’s and 60’s he was the Brad Pitt or Colin Farrel of his generation.

He was young, fit, and handsome.

Before he died he weighed over 400 pounds.

He said this: “I’m sorry for all the harm I’ve done and for all the troubles I’ve brought to others in my life.

I’ve never been a good parent or a good husband.

I’ve been too busy with my own life to have time for others.

Now I’m a guilty old man who’s ashamed of the kind of life I’ve led.

There’s nothing left for me except eating.”[2]

I’ve been around long to believe that unbelievers sense their guilt and they also sense that before God, they are in trouble.

And that’s what Paul has been saying: Our last hope and appeal has been denied, we’ve been shut down:

 

Ø      V.

20 by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight;

 

We just wanted a chance to have our day in court and argue with God the Judge what good things we have done that might offset the bad, but our appeal has been denied.

The Judge won’t even hear it.

Why? Whatever we have to offer is not nearly enough, because God’s standard for goodness is perfection.

And besides, it’s just like a human law court: when the jury found Scott Peterson guilty of premeditated, 1st degree murder of his wife, it didn’t matter to them that he occasionally worked for charities and was kind to older people!

Whatever good we have done is infinitely insufficient, and our sins, because they are all against a holy God, are infinitely heinous and offensive.

Every mouth has been closed, right?

It’s as though the entire human race has been brought before God and gathered into one mass, and there is absolute silence—

 

And beloved, if we hadn’t studied these first 2 ½ chs., we wouldn’t be ready for the good news that comes next, but if you have been reduced to helplessness, hopelessness, and despair.

If God, through these words has brought you to cry out for mercy, here it is—

 

*/But now!/* That’s so powerful!

/But now/—on the other side of these two words is death and despair and condemnation—/but now/—there is an alternative!

What man wouldn’t do, and couldn’t do, God has done.

There’s a solution.

*/But now,/* God has come to our rescue!

And this is no dream!

This plot is real.

A vast multitude of those who were under the sentence of eternal punishment will instead receive eternal life, peace with God, and heaven!

This morning we come to the good news.

God offers every condemned sinner—

 

A righteousness apart from law and a justification through redemption.

(We are just scratching the surface this morning . .

.)

 

* *

* *

*I.

A righteousness apart from law.*

 

Ø      20 by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight;

Ø      for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Ø      21 */But now/* apart from the Law

Ø      the righteousness of God has been manifested,

 

 

*/A.

It is of God and from God./*

We have to turn back to 1:16-18 to see what Paul is talking about when he says “the righteousness of God:”

 

If you remember, this was the passage that turned the lights on for Martin Luther and launched the Protestant Reformation.

But that phrase, “the righteousness of God” was a huge stumbling block to Luther.

Luther took “the righteousness of God” to mean the attribute of God’s character.

God is just and righteous and holy.

And Luther knew that the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and he knew that he didn’t even come close, so if the gospel is the revelation that God is holy and just, and Luther is sinful—then the gospel is not good news, and Luther is damned.

That’s why he said he hated God.

Let’s look at it--

 

Ø      ROM 1:16 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.

Ø      ROM 1:17 For in it /the righteousness of God/ is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith."

When Luther studied this passage in the original Gk., he finally understood what it meant: —

 

The rtnss. of God is God’s own absolute holiness and righteousness, but the “of” also means “from,” so it means the righteousness /of/ God which comes /from/ God to us!

If you get this, you see what Luther saw! God is righteous, and holy, and just.

He demands absolute righteousness from His creatures—look at vv.18ff—God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness.

God demands holiness—from you and I!

 

We don’t have it.

Not even close—that’s the bad news.

But the good news of the gospel is that God supplies us with the righteousness that He demands by giving us His own.

Luther saw what Paul saw when God saved him—Phil.3:9:

Ø      PHI 3:9 [Paul said that he added up all of his achievements and qualifications before he met Christ, and they equaled a big zero] /so that I  may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

/

 

What once was only a demand is now a gift in Jesus Christ.

We will see more about where this rtnss.

comes from when we get to ch.5, but let me try to put it in a nutshell: When Jesus walked on this earth, He kept God’s law perfectly.

He never sinned.

He was righteous.

God appointed Jesus as the representative—the substitute, for everyone who will believe in Him—so if you trust in Jesus, God credits Jesus’ perfect rtnss.

to your spiritual account.

And He treats you as though you have kept the law as perfectly as His Son kept it!

You are holy and blameless in His sight!

But never forget, that it’s not your own rtnss.

This is why Luther called it “an alien righteousness,” a “righteousness outside myself.”

Get a hold of this, and it is mindblowing!

It brings such peace and security, because in terms of your standing before God, (if you trust in His Son) He doesn’t even /look/ at your disobedience, He looks at His Son and His obedience.

We sang it: “And God the just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me.”

Listen to these words—they’re yours if you trust Christ:

 

Ø      ISA 61:10  I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.