Sermon Tone Analysis

MBC – 3~/6~/2005 – Pastor Doug Thompson

*/“The Gospel Leaves No Room for Boasting!”/*

Romans 3:27-31

 

Ø      ROM 3:21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

Ø      ROM 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

Ø      ROM 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Ø      ROM 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Ø      ROM 3:25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.

This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

Ø      ROM 3:26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Ø      ROM 3:27 Where then is boasting?

It is excluded.

By what kind of law?

Of works?

No, but by a law of faith.

Ø      ROM 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Ø      ROM 3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only?

Is He not the God of Gentiles also?

Yes, of Gentiles also,

Ø      ROM 3:30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

Ø      ROM 3:31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith?

May it never be!

On the contrary, we establish the Law.

*/Intro and review on the atonement./*

For the last several years, a group of so-called Christian scholars from all over the world meet together in Santa Rosa to work on a project.

The group is the Jesus Seminar, and the project is to vote on which portions of the Gospel should actually be considered historical.

They vote!

The founder of the “Jesus Seminar” said this:

 

Ø      “The doctrine of the atonement—the claim that God killed his own son in order to satisfy his thirst for satisfaction—is subrational and subethical.

This monstrous doctrine is the stepchild of a primitive sacrificial system in which the gods had to be appeased by offering them some special gift such as a child or an animal.”

Paul said “may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What is grotesque and foolish to unbelievers is the most precious truth in the world to believers.

Romans has brought us to a study of what Christ’s death on the cross means.

There is nothing deeper than the doctrine of the atonement, but there is nothing that is more personal and relevant to every one of us.

I believe that deep in the heart of every person, there are two questions that are bound to surface at one time or another:

 

1.)

Is there justice in this universe?

Will people who commit horrible, heinous crimes ever get what they deserve?

We think about those who torture children.

The BTK killer, a serial murderer who got away with it for 30 years.

What if he or Scott Peterson dies of natural causes before they can be executed—do they just get away with it?

* A man named Richard Rubenstein told a story about what happened one Sunday afternoon in the Buchenwald concentration camp where Jews were being tortured and killed like animals.

A group of Jews decided to put God on trial for neglecting His chosen people.

He says, “Witnesses were produced for the prosecution and the defense, but the case for the prosecution was overwhelming.

The judges were Rabbis.

They found the accused—God—to be guilty and they solemnly condemned Him.”

He said that after the Holocaust it was impossible to believe in God.

Deep in our hearts, we desperately want to know if there is a God who /will/ exact justice.

And deep in our hearts, we know what Abraham knew: (Gen.18:25)

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"

But that has to prompt another question, if we think about it at all—

 

2.)

Will God forgive me?

And /how/ can He?

You and I know our own hearts and our actions.

How many of us here would be in jail or dead if we received the just consequences of our sins?

So there is a tension in our minds: we sense this deep necessity for justice, but we also want it to bypass us—but how can that work?

Remember Spurgeon’s pre-conversion struggle that we read 2 weeks ago?

“The sin I had committed must be punished.

But then there was the question how God could be just, and yet justify me who had been so guilty.

I asked my heart: ‘How can He be just and yet the justifier?’”

Beloved, the Cross is God’s answer to both of these questions because it declares the righteousness of God: Yes, there is a just, holy God, who will punish every sin of every person to the nth degree.

No one gets away with anything.

Every sin of Hitler and Stalin and Scott Peterson will be /fully/ punished--and every sin of you and me will be fully punished.

* Remember the analogy we used about the train: God’s wrath and coming judgment on sin is like a huge, thundering train roaring down the tracks.

For those who thumb their noses at God and ignore His mercy, and mock the gospel, they are tied to track and they will be crushed.

But the Cross de-rails the train for those who trust in Christ, and sends all of God’s wrath on their sins—onto Jesus Christ, and He is crushed in their place.

If Jesus has suffered in your place, then God’s wrath is spent.

It’s over.

You will never face God’s judgment for your sins.

What Jesus cried out on the Cross before He died was for believers and believers only: “It is finished!”

My friends, the train is coming.

Will it crush you, or has it already crushed Christ in your place?

As long as you are still breathing there is time to de-rail the train!

Now let’s tie this into vv.27-31, and I’m going to give just a quick explanation of what Paul is saying here:

 

*I.

Why the Gospel removes boasting.*

In v.27, Paul asks, “Where then is boasting?”

Answer?

There’s no room for anyone to boast about their salvation in this scheme!

Why not?

Because you don’t have anything to do with it—nothing at all.

You can’t take any credit for something you didn’t do.

God saved you through His electing grace, through Christ’s righteous life and substitutionary death, and the Holy Spirit’s regenerating call on your life.

Your salvation is all of God and His grace.

Give Him all the glory and the praise!

/“But I did the believing!”/

“God didn’t believe for me!

It was my faith that de-railed the train—isn’t that something?”

Well that is an understandable question, but hold on to this thought--I’ll demolish it in just a second--but remember, Paul is /contrasting/ faith with works—right?

He is setting them against each other as 2 opposite ways to approach salvation.

So whatever faith is, it can’t be something that earns salvation.

God doesn’t save /because of/ anything we do:

 

I heard a girl say once, “I’m just so glad that I was smart enough to believe in Jesus!”

I hope she was really was a child of God, but if so, it certainly had nothing to do with her intelligence, but only the grace of God.

But do you see that if people came to Christ because they were smart enough of good enough or “religious enough” to believe in Christ, they could boast when they got to heaven that they were there because they had something over those who didn’t choose Christ.

Ø      I’ve had this conversation with Arminian friends who reject what the Bible says—that God chose us unconditionally, apart from anything good within us.

They believe that God looked down through history and chose those who would choose Him—so He picked the winners.

And they reject total depravity: they believe that some lost sinners, in and of themselves, with their free will, choose Christ.

I asked an Arminian friend: “Aren’t you saying that ultimately, the reason you are a Christian and someone else isn’t, is because of you and your choice, not God and His choice?” “Yes.”

“Then you have something to boast about over others.”

He replied, “Oh I would never take credit for my salvation!”