"Crimson Cleansing"

October 5, 2025

FBC Baxley

am service

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Vision Statement: FBC Exists to Live & Share the Love of Jesus Christ, through worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry & Evangelism.

** I want you to know, GOD LOVES YOU!

*It’s ok however you’ve entered, we are all here seeking God’s will, way and plan.

Some rescued, redeemed, Some Saved….Some Not..

All Loved…

*Acts 4:12 (repeat)

*John 3:16

Crimson Cleansing – Justified by Faith

Romans 3:11–26

11 no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

13 “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 in their paths are ruin and misery,

17 and the way of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

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

24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

-Pray

Three Points:

The Ruin of Sin vv. 11-18

The Revelation of Salvation vv.19-22

The Redemption through the Savior vv.23-26

Main Idea: The crimson letters of cleansing/justification declare that God, through Christ’s blood, makes sinners righteous by faith alone.

Introduction Imagine…. a hospital floor filled with patients.

One is a businessman in his sixties.

Another, a young college student.

Another, a mother of three.

Another, a retired schoolteacher.

They all look different, they come from different backgrounds, but taped to the end of each bed is the same medical chart with the same diagnosis: Terminal.

That is humanity’s condition before God.

No matter who you are, no matter your achievements, no matter your background

—Scripture says the chart over every human heart reads the same: Terminal in sin.

“The diagnosis is universal: terminal in sin.

But the cure is available: the crimson blood of Christ.”

Romans 3 is like God’s courtroom report on the human race.

The verdict is clear: guilty.

But—oh, listen—the Judge Himself steps down from the bench, pays the penalty, and writes a new word across your chart: Justified.

“God’s courtroom verdict is guilty, but His gospel remedy is grace.”

I. The Ruin of Sin (Romans 3:11–18)

Paul says in verse 11:

“There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God…There is none who does good, no, not one.”

The message:

There’s nobody living right, not even one,     nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the wrong turn;     they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right;     I can’t find a single one. Their throats are gaping graves,     their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison.     They open their mouths and pollute the air. They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,     litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, Don’t know the first thing about living with others.     They never give God the time of day.

The Greek word for “none” (oudeis) leaves no exceptions.

Paul is piling up evidence like a lawyer before the jury. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

We love to compare ourselves with others. “I’m not as bad as him… I haven’t done what she’s done.”

—But Paul says stop. It’s like being in a cancer ward where every chart says “terminal.”

Some look healthier than others, but the disease is the same.

“Sin doesn’t make us sick—it makes us dead.”

“Stop measuring yourself against other sinners; measure yourself against God’s holiness.”

Adoniram Judson put it this way: “Sin has left its mark on every heart; the remedy is divine, the cure is not human.”

—hymn “sin has left a crimson stain…

Application:

Stop comparing yourself to others. The question is not, “Am I better than him?”

The question is, “Am I righteous before God?”

“Our chart doesn’t read: better than most. It reads: none righteous, no, not one.”

II. The Revelation of Salvation (Romans 3:19–22)

Paul continues:

“…that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe.”

The law shuts our mouths. No excuses. No defenses. Guilty.

But then Paul says two glorious words: But now.

Into the silence, God reveals righteousness apart from the law.

The key word is justified (dikaioō).

It means “to declare righteous.”

God doesn’t say, “Try harder, improve yourself.”

He slams the gavel and declares: “You are righteous because of Christ.”

“The law exposes our guilt, but grace declares our righteousness.”

“Justification is not earned by works—it is granted by faith.”

Illustration:

Imagine a guilty man in court.

The judge knows the evidence is overwhelming.

But instead of sentencing him, the judge pays the fine himself, then declares, “You are free. You are righteous.”

John MacArthur said: “Justification is not what God does in us, but what He declares about us.

It is a judicial act, whereby He declares the sinner righteous because of Christ.”

“God doesn’t grade on a curve; He gives righteousness as a gift.”

“The gospel is not about making bad people better—it’s about declaring guilty people righteous.”

Application:

Our hope rests in Christ, not in our performance.

Not in your morality, not in your attendance, not in your good works.

III. The Redemption through the Savior (Romans 3:23–26)

Paul sums it up with some of the most powerful words in the New Testament:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood…”

“All have sinned”—the ruin is universal.

“All who believe”—the remedy is available to all.

Paul says Christ is our propitiation (hilastērion).

This was the mercy seat in the Old Testament—the place where the blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement.

–Now Paul says: Jesus Himself is the mercy seat.

His blood satisfies God’s wrath once and for all.

“The Judge took the judgment.”

“The gavel of justice fell on Jesus so that the verdict of grace could fall on us.”

Illustration:

Back in the courtroom.

The guilty man stands condemned.

The judge steps forward, pays the full penalty, and the gavel falls—not with condemnation, but with justification.

W.A. Criswell said: “The blood of Christ is sufficient to wash the vilest sinner clean. There is no sin too great, no stain too deep, for the crimson stream to cleanse.”

“Christ did not cover sin temporarily—He cleansed it permanently.”

“On the cross, justice and mercy met, and love won.”

Application:

Because we are justified, we live with assurance, not fear.

We don’t wait for the verdict.

In Christ, the verdict has already been given: Justified.

Conclusion / Applications

So how do we live in this crimson cleansing? Three things:

Trust in Christ’s Blood, Not Your Goodness.

“On your best day, you’re not righteous enough; on your worst day, you’re not beyond His reach.”

2. Stop Comparing, Start Believing.

“The same crimson blood that saves the murderer saves the moral man.”

3. Live with Assurance, Not Fear.

“The gavel has fallen—justified, cleansed, free.”

Closing Word

The crimson letters of justification declare that God,

through Christ’s blood,

makes sinners righteous by faith alone.

The medical chart may say “terminal.”

But across the page, written in crimson ink, God has inscribed a new word: Justified.

“The crimson cleansing washes every stain—past, present, and future.”

Friend, if you are in Christ, you are cleansed and free.

If not, the invitation stands open today: Stop trusting in your goodness, and trust in His blood.

The crimson cleansing is enough. Believe it. Receive it. Live in it.