20241110 Romans 3:24-31 Justification Glorified

Welcome to Vertical Church

Veteran’s Day

Acts 2:42 (LSB)

And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

As a church we seek to uphold the values of the NT church as seen in Acts 2:42 -

We are Trinitarian - while God is one in essence, He is three in person: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit

We believe in the sovereignty of God - sovereign over all creation, sovereign over the affairs of men, sovereign over salvation

We believe in the authority of the Bible - Scripture alone is the Word of God

We are Biblical in our theology - we are a bible teaching church

We believe that the Church is not a building or a denomination but a people - those who are truly in Christ and embrace the truths that were embraced and confessed by the New Testament Church, the apostolic church.

We are evangelical - we believe that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

We are a Vertical Church - we believe that all true worship and living is Vertical, God directed and for the glory of God alone.

Scripture Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone, For the glory of God alone - join us on Sundays

Call to Worship - Psalm 36:5-11

Psalm 36:5–11 LSB

5 Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, is in the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep. O Yahweh, You save man and beast. 7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the sons of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. 8 They are satisfied from the richness of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. 9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. 10 Continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart. 11 Let not the foot of pride come upon me, And let not the hand of the ungodly drive me away.

Scripture Reading - Romans 3:24-31

Romans 3:24–31 (LSB)

24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith, is one. 31 Do we then abolish the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

Prayer

Sermon

(1) The Gift

Romans 3:24 LSB

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

There is no inherent righteousness in any person. We are spiritually dead and our nature is radically corrupt

Romans (Justification)

In justification God makes a legal declaration. The New Testament shows us that in the act of justification God makes a judicial declaration about a person’s status before he makes his judgment. Again, what happens in justification is not a pardon; it is an act whereby God declares a person to be just. Justification is that act by which God judicially declares a person to be righteous in his sight.

Romans Declared Righteous

In simple terms, this means that the only righteousness sufficient for us to stand before the judgment of God is the righteousness of Christ. The doctrine of justification by faith alone is only theological shorthand for the affirmation that justification is by Christ alone, by his righteousness, which is received by faith.

Romans Declared Righteous

To be justified by faith is not to be justified because we have faith, in the sense that our faith now is the supreme work that makes us righteous. The language here of being justified by faith or through faith simply means that faith is the means by which we lay hold of Christ. It is the means by which the righteousness of Christ is bestowed upon us.

Romans The Double Transfer

It is vitally important for us to understand what faith is—why we call people to faith and why the New Testament calls us to faith. Faith means that we place our trust in Christ and his righteousness. We do not trust our own righteousness because we do not have any. When we trust Christ’s righteousness on our behalf and embrace him, then God transfers legally his righteousness to us. A double transfer is involved in salvation. Christ dies for our salvation, but he also lives for our salvation. Our sins are transferred to Jesus, and he died on the cross for us to bear those sins.

This is a legal transfer. God did not reach down into our souls and grab a hunk of sin and place it on the back of Jesus. God assigned our guilt to his Son. He transferred it from us to Christ, but that is only half the transaction. The other half is that he took Christ’s righteousness and assigned it to us when we believed so that now when God looks at us, knowing all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, we will not perish. He has given us the cloak of the righteousness of Jesus.

Romans Declared Righteous

in the sixteenth century was a little Latin phrase: simul iustus et peccator.

Simultaneously just and sinner - we are still sinners but we have the righteousness of Christ

Romans Declared Righteous

While we are sinners, we are also righteous in God’s sight by virtue of the legal transfer God made by assigning to us the righteousness of Jesus, if we put our trust in Christ. By virtue of this transfer, or the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to us, we are declared to be righteous while still sinners

Romans 6:23 LSB

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:8 LSB

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

(2) Redeemed

Romans 3:24 LSB

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

The Gospel of God: Romans What is Justifying Faith?

What is redemption? In New Testament times the noun ‘redemption’ or the verb ‘to redeem’ meant primarily to pay a ransom, to purchase back something that was being held in captivity or in bondage. Its original meaning was to buy back out of slavery, out of indebtedness or out of captivity. This is precisely how the New Testament describes the work of Jesus on our behalf. Jesus is our Redeemer. He is the One who paid a ransom for our souls.

We have to be careful here, for there are all kinds of theories about what Jesus did. One that has been very famous in the history of the church is that Jesus paid a ransom to the devil, in order to buy us back from Satan’s possession. But that’s an utterly unbiblical concept. The ransom or the purchase price is not paid to Satan. It is paid to God, for it is to God that we are in debt

1 Peter 1:18–19 LSB

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

(3) Propitiation

Romans 3:25 LSB

25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

“to propitiate” means “to satisfy the wrath of God against sin,” “to turn away God's wrath,” or “to offer a sacrifice that appeases God's just judgment and righteous anger against us and our sin.” And note, Jesus is not simply “the propitiator” but the “propitiation.” He is what satisfies the justice of God.

Romans 3:26 LSB

26 for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

(4) Boasting

Romans 3:27 LSB

27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

Ephesians 2:8–9 LSB

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, so that no one may boast.

(5) Justification

Romans 3:28–31 LSB

28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith, is one. 31 Do we then abolish the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

We are saved by faith alone in Christ alone but faith does not stand alone

James 2:17–18 LSB

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Benediction

The Savior who is tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, make you steady in trials, faithful in temptations, content with providence, and hopeful in troubles. Amen.

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 LSB

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.