The Rightousness of God Given Freely
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Introduction
When I was a kid I loved to compete against other people. Whether it was racing, playing games, working out or whatever it was, if it was a challenge I was interested. I loved going against other people and seeing who can win. I played several sports and ended up settling in track and field in regards to doing an official sport in high school and college.
Alot of times people would hear that I ran track and they would always ask “do you like running”. My answer was always no. I ran track because I enjoyed competing and I was good at it.
This same love for competition followed me into adulthood and I found that it was part of my overall culture. Everything was performance driven. You compete to see who has the most sales or has the best stat’s in the company. You work more to get paid more.
We even have phrases and titles for people who have performed in a way that they have achieved alot through their grit or hard work.
If someone starts from a lower economic background and they climb the social and economic ladder then we call them a self made man or woman.
On another note when people inherit large sums of money we call them silver spoons or trust fund babies. Implying that they did not earn what they have so that drops them down a notch on their credibility. This gained wealth without working for it is looked down at in our culture and we see resentment or disapproval shown towards these people.
Our American culture is highly performance oriented and performance driven.
Today we are going to talk about something that is contrary to our performance culture. We are going to talk about Gods Grace and the fact that he gives us what we have not earned.
Big Idea- There is nothing that we can do to earn salvation.
Take Aways
The righteousness of God is shown in Jesus.
We cannot boast in anything because it is by Gods grace that we are justified.
Grace is unearned.
Romans 3:21 (NKJV)
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Here at the beginning of verse 21, where it says “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,” . It is saying that God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without being held to keeping the law.
Now this concept or thought process is completely different then our minds would think. We naturally want to work and earn what we get. But that is not how God has designed his plan for our salvation. Instead he made it an impossible task that we could not accomplish that only He could do.
although we want to earn our way to heaven, we cannot. Gal 3:11 says.
But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
So here in Galatians we see that no one is Justified by the Law. That is because no one can keep the law perfectly apart from Christ. Also we were all born in sin. Psalm 51:5 Gives us a good picture of this reality when it says.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
So even if someone apart from Christ were able to follow the Law, they would still be in sin because they were born in sin. So they would still need a savior.
So looking at the next portion of the main text, the end of Rom:3:21
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
This next portion says that the revealing of the righteousness of God apart from the law is witnessed by the law and the prophets.
What this is talking about is the writings in the Old Testament spoke of an atonement that would be made that would allow the relationship between God and Man to be reconciled, or brought back together. With this act the righteousness of God would come to us and it does through faith in Jesus.
There are a few passages that outline this. Jn 5:46 says.
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
This is Jesus talking about himself.
Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
This is also pointing to Christ and the work that he has done in his life and on the cross for us.
Back to our main text Rom 3:22-23
even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Here when it was saying there is no difference it is talking about there being no difference between the Jew and the Non Jew. During the time that this book was written there were some racial tensions between Jews and Non Jews. The Jews were oppressed by the Romans. And some of the Jews believed that salvation was for the Jews and not the Gentiles.
However Paul says differently, he says that salvation is for all and it dosent matter your ethnic background. He says that all have sinned and fallen short of keeping the law. This lets us know that everyone needs a savior who is Jesus.
Here are a few passages that support this truth, that God is the God of all.
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Back to our text
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Here when it is talking about us being Justified freely by His Grace, it is saying that we have been given salvation without doing anything to earn it. This is saying that God gave us salvation by his grace. Grace is when something is given to you that you do not deserve or have not earned.
Eph 2:8 explains this principle well where it says. Eph 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Who has heard of WIFM? Whats in it for me? thats something that they use to teach us in business classes that we should always ask. Thats what we think like in our culture. But to hear that there is a God who loves us so much that he would pay the price for our sins and then give it to us freely is sometimes hard to believe. But it is true.
We cannot do anything to earn salvation, Jesus already did it. That is what it is saying in Romans 3:25-26
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Now here the word propitiation means to pay for something or to atone for something. In this case Jesus died in our place for our sins so that we can have a relationship with the father. His death allowed us to have relationship with the Father, and we would no longer be under the wrath of God towards sin.
In this same passage it talks about God looking pass sins that were committed so that he may be able to demonstrate his righteousness. Some may think that this is unjust, however it is Just. The penalty of Sin was covered by Jesus’s sacrifice and those who placed their faith in Him were given the opportunity to Come to Him.
Also if you are a follower of Christ, He did the same for you. If he cut us off as soon as we sinned then who would be a part of the Kingdom of heaven? All have sinned.
Back to our text Rom 3:27-31
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Here in verse 27 when it is talking about boasting being excluded it mentions the law of faith. Here the law of faith is referring to the principle of Grace. it is talking about the fact that people are set right with God through faith in Christ because of what Jesus has done for us. Since this is Gods Grace and Jesus did the work on our behalf, what can we brag about?
Have you ever seen a kid bragging about their parents nice car, or the house that they live in, or how rich their favorite celebrity is? Those things aren't even the kids, why are they bragging? Have you ever seen a naturally beautiful woman boasting about her beauty? or a man who is naturally strong boasting about how strong he is? All of these things are things that were not earned, they were given to them by God.
In regards to our salvation there is nothing for us to boast about. God did it, not us. We cannot look at groups of people who are different than we are, ethnically, economically, geographically or in any other way and say that Christ is not for them. God is the God for all and one group of people is not better than another.
When Romans was written we saw that issue between the Jews and the Gentiles. However today we see the same at times but with other groups. But lets not forget our mission to go out and make disciples of all nations.
At the end of verse 31 Paul asks if we make void the law through faith. Or if the principle of faith takes away the role of the Law. The answer is no. Faith puts the Law in its proper place.
The law is there to show sinners that they are sinners, it is a measuring stick of what perfection looks like. Faith allows us to fulfil the obligations of the law through Christs fulfillment of the law because of His Righteousness.
Back to the text Rom 4:1-4
What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
Here we see Gods grace in the life of Abraham. Although God chose Abraham to be the father of the Isrealites and the father of many nations his works and His genetics were not enough for salvation. It was his faith in Christ looking forward to God accomplishing what He said He would do that was accounted to him for righteousness.
Now there is another passage that seems to say the opposite of what this passage says concerning works and faith. However it is not. This passage is James 2:24
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
So in Romans it says Abraham is justified through faith and not works, but James says he is justified by works and not by faith only.
The reason for this is that they had different audiences. Paul wrote to groups who were influenced by Jewish focuses on keeping the law and they needed to learn that the righteousness of God can only be recieved by faith in Christ.
James spoke to those who struggled in the area of putting actions behind their professed faith.
Both believe that Faith includes believe and action. Works come with Faith but they cannot produce salvation or righteousness alone.
Our Take Aways
Take Aways
The righteousness of God is shown in Jesus.
We cannot boast in anything because it is by Gods grace that we are justified.
Grace is unearned.