By Faith -Romans 3:21-31
Notes
Transcript
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith. For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
In verse 25, there is an interesting word here that shows up in the Greek. The word is hilastērion (hil-a-stay'-ree-on). The reason this word is interesting is that in most translations it gets translated as propitiation. The CSB that I use goes with mercy seat. The Greek OT translates it Mercy Seat.
What is the mercy seat?
What is the mercy seat?
Put the tablets of the testimony that I will give you into the ark. Make a mercy seat of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide.
I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony; I will speak with you from there about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.
The Mercy Seat is the top part of the Ark of the Covenant
The Stone Tablets, the 10 Commandments, the Law summarized was placed inside the Ark and the Mercy Seat was set on top of it. This was then set in the Holy of Holies. This is where God met you if you were priest and only once a year.
Every year on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement the high priest would first make atonement for himself and his family.
The priest would take two goats and sacrifice one for the people. He would take the blood, go into the holy of holies to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. The other goat would have the peoples sins placed on it and it would be sent away. This is where we get the term scape goat.
This was the way you approached God. This is how you were made right before Him.
This is how the people were justified with God.
If you wanted to be right with God and have Him forgive your sins for another year you needed the following:
The Tabernacle:
You needed the place where the Ark could dwell. If had it’s very specific measurements and requirements. It had to be setup and torn down a certain way. It had to be carried a certain way.
Holy of Holies:
You needed the Holy of Holies in the inner most part. Hidden behind the veil the most sacred place on earth because God chose to interact with the priest there.
Ark of the Covenant:
The Ark had to be in the middle of the Holy of Holies with the 10 Commandments inside. On top of the Ark was the Mercy Seat the hilastērion (hil-a-stay'-ree-on). This is where the blood was sprinkled and it is were God met man.
The Priest:
You needed the priest who could intercede to God on your behalf.
To receive forgiveness this is what was done.
But now everything is different.
God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
Everything changes because of Jesus’ sacrifice.
Ark of the Covenant:
Jesus is our atonement. He became the Mercy Seat. He fulfilled the Law .
He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.
Jesus’ sacrifice is so complete that it was a one and done.
The Priest:
We, who confess the Messiah and have been redeemed by Him, are now priests under our High priest. We call this the Priesthood of all Believers
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Holy of Holies:
Because of Jesus we have direct access. We are allowed into the inner place. He tore the veil and invited us inside.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—
The Tabernacle:
The Tabernacle is now more mobile then ever before. We as believers become the temple.
Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.
God is Just
God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
God set the pattern and the Law and then kept it Himself. Jesus who is fully God and fully man is the one kept the law even though it required His death. He kept the Law in a way we never could. More than that because He kept it.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It is right for God to forgive you when you come to Him because of what Jesus did.
We have done nothing to deserve it
We have done nothing to deserve it
God has done everything all we do is receive it.
He also said, “A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.
“Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’
“ ‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”
We call this story the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son but we should call it The Heart of the Father. This story tells us more about the Father than the son or sons.
There were two sons. One is wasteful and blows through his inheritance while his father is still alive. Then he comes back and is ready to beg and plead with the father to just be treated as a slave. The Father welcomes Him with open arms.
The other son is frustrated and aggravated and tells his father I have always served you and done what was right:
But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’
The Father responds that the son could have done whatever whenever.
The Father is the central figure here because that is not how it should have happened.
How the Story was supposed to go
How the Story was supposed to go
The son who left was supposed to come home begging. He was supposed be shamed for his treatment of his father. He was supposed to be embarrassed and cut off
If a Jewish son lost his inheritance among Gentiles, and then returned home, the community would perform a ceremony, called the kezazah. They would break a large pot in front of him and yell, “You are now cut off from your people!” The community would totally reject him. - Kenneth Bailey
The son was to be cut off not just from his family but from the whole community. There was a system in place for this type of behavior. To stop this, to stop the son from bearing shame the father took the shame.
Grown men did not run because to run he would have had to lift his tunic and show his legs which was shameful.
https://www.biola.edu/blogs/biola-magazine/2010/the-prodigal-sons-father-shouldnt-have-run
The father took the shame and welcomed his son home with a royal robe. He gave him a banquet fit for a king.
The younger son did not like this. He expected to be treated like royalty because he was faithful. He relied on his good works to make Him ok in the fathers eyes.
But he was already accepted. He already had access to everything.
This is why we cannot boast.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith.
We have no room to boast because it is all on Him, it is all on God! Jesus is our Mercy Seat our hilastērion (hil-a-stay'-ree-on). We just rest in what He has done.