A Sudden Turn

Astronaut Jack Swigert on Apollo 12 reportedly contacted Mission Control with phrase, “Houston, we have a problem” when their spacecraft was disabled on the way to the moon. His actually comment was slightly less poetic, but equally calm. The phrase denotes a forced calmness in dealing with what could be a horrible situation.

Romans 3:1–8 NIV

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

If you try to follow God for any length of time, if you try to obey even just the Sermon on the Mount, in order to be right with God and walk closely with him, if you try for only a few weeks, you will quickly be radioing mission control, “Zion, we have a problem.”

You may have your Bible. You may know all the rules. You may breathe the traditions of the church. The Heidelberg Catechism may ooze out of your pours. You may wake up singing hymns or praise songs every day. But, if you try to earn your way to God, it won’t take long for you to realize that you have a problem.

Last week, we talked about the problem of sin for the Gentiles. They have all gone off and worshipped idols, other gods besides the one true God. And as a result, they have been handed over to depraved, broken, messed up, bodies and minds and now engage in all sorts of sins. But what about the Jews, they knew God, they worshipped God, are they all right you might wonder.

Just think about the list of sins Paul listed out for us last week in : How did it go not lying, not gossiping, not being greedy, living with no malice, obeying your parents, not worshipping any of the idols of our world. If you are still feeling pretty good, let’s glance through the Sermon on the Mount: did you hate anyone this week, speak ill of anyone, turn the other cheek when someone insulted or offended you, loved your enemy, gave generously and secretly… If you examine our lives honestly, we will all come to the conclusion that we simply cannot obey the commands of God well enough to avoid sin. The power of sin in our lives keeps us away from God. We are stuck.

This is the reality many religious people would like to ignore. We want to be worthy of God on our own. We want to be good enough or at least better than. Better than those people who protest during the national anthem or better than people who protest the people protesting during the national anthem. Or better than those people who do that thing we would never do. Or better than those people who never do that thing we never fail to do.

The Jews claim they have the Torah, the law of God, and that makes them right with God, in good standing. But, Paul points out, they still break the law, they still sin they still fall short of God’s standard. Even having been given the law, they have failed to live in such a way that the world might come back to God. Instead, they have used the law as a way to divide and separate from the world and push people away from God, rather than draw people to God. They have failed to fulfill their side of the covenant with God made all the way back in the time of Abraham and renewed at Mt. Sinai.

But, Paul had an insight many of them missed. The Torah and the prophets couldn’t save them. No matter how good they were, they still sinned. And, no matter how many sacrifices they offered, they still couldn’t be in the presence of God. They lived under judgment and separated from God all the time.

Well, not entirely all the time. There was one day when one person could be in the presence of God. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Day of Atonement

And in that way, we are not too different form many Jews in Paul’s day. They believed they were somehow better than, or at least closer to God, than those Gentiles. They had the Torah, the law of God, the first 5 books of the Old Testament, as well as the rest of the Old Testament. They had the sacrificial system to make them right with God again when they sinned and made a mistake.

Well, not entirely all the time. There was one day when one person could be in the presence of God: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

On the Day of Atonement the High Priest would take off his brightly colored and ornate clothes and put on a plain white garment as a symbol of repentance. Then he would go to the altar and sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for the priest and himself. Then he would take live coals from the altar of incense, put them in a censer, and carry them into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God. The censer would fill the room with smoke so that the Mercy Seat, the space between the two angels on the ark of the covenant, would not be completely visible to the high priest. God was still hidden in smoke. Then, he would sprinkle the blood from the bull he has just killed over the mercy seat and on the floor before the ark.

Except, for a day every year, on the Day of Atonement, known as Yom Kippur, the High Priest would take off his brightly colored and ornate clothes and put on a plain white garment as a symbol of repentance. Then he would go to the altar and sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for the priest and himself. Then he would take live coals from the altar of incense, put them in a censer, and carry them into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God. The censer would fill the room with smoke so that the Mercy Seat, the space between the two angels on the ark of the covenant, would not be completely visible to the high priest. God was still hidden in smoke. Then, he would sprinkle the blood from the bull he has just killed over the mercy seat and on the floor before the ark.

Then the priest would come out of the Holy of Holies back to the people. He would take two goats and cast lots over the goats. He would kill one of the goats and then take its blood back into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkle its blood on the mercy seat. Then he would come out of the Holy of Holies and return to the second goat. He would lay his hands on that goat and confess the sins of the people over the goat. Then he sent this scapegoat out into the wilderness to symbolically carry the sins of the people away.

But, it was only one person and only one day. The day after the Day of Atonement, no one could go into the Holy of Holies. The people were still separated from God, And every year, they had to go through all the ritual again for one person, for one day, to stand in the presence of God and not die. No matter how well they followed the law, all it u do was convict them of sin, it can’t really reconcile them to God.

And then Paul uses an image of a court of law and says that everyone stands before God with their mouth silenced, that is they have no defense. They are guilty. They know they are guilty. The audience knows they are guilty. The judge knows the are guilty. Because no one can follow the law perfectly, no one will be declared right by the law. The law serves rather to demonstrate and prove to us our sinfulness.

And so here we all stand, awaiting the verdict of a just judge for the sins we have committed. If salvation depends on our obedience to the law, our good moral behavior, we are all in a heap of trouble and without hope.

And then we pick it up today at verse 21. But before we turn to scripture, let us pray.

Text

Romans 3:21–26 NIV

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

All Under Judgment

Romans 3:9–20 NIV

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

The Faithfulness of Jesus

This is a pretty dense few verses so we are going to break it down a little bit today. So, following Torah can’t save us, but God is still faithful to his covenant, so he has another plan that the Old Testament already points to if we read it carefully enough.

Remember, the problem is that no one can obey the Torah, or fulfill the law, completely. Everyone keeps sinning or falling short. So the righteousness, the faithfulness of God is given through and here it gets tricky. It’s either having in Jesus Christ or the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The Greek is tricky so different translations take either option. The NET says:

Romans 3:22 NET

namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

That’s why Paul can say in that everyone stands in the courtroom of God with no defense. All are guilty. All will be convicted and punished for their sin. This is the natural state of affairs for both Jews and Gentiles, for both you and me.

I think the faithfulness of Jesus is the best choice because it is Jesus who is obedient to the covenant for us and then we believe or trust in God. But the key is that salvation is found in Jesus when we trust in God because all of us have sinned and fallen short. When we believe get justified, or made right with God. And now we are going to skip around a quick minutes before we come back to this being made right.

God is Faithful for Us

Atonement in Jesus

In , we read about the Day of Atonement, otherwise known as Yom Kippur.

Justified in Christ

The covenant with Abraham, and the Covenant at Mt. Sinai, both designed to bring the world back to God through the people of Israel have failed. Unless God will act to fulfill the covenant on our behalf.

Romans 3:21–26 NIV

Romans 3:22 NET

namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

Romans 3:22

We’re going to skip over a whole lot of and 3 this morning, but I want you to keep this goal in mind as we read the end of : God wants to reconcile all people to him. And this image of the high priest offering a sacrifice on the Day of Atonement in order to draw near to God for just one day And that verdict: all are guilty. Keep those three ideas in mind as we read our text for today form .

One New People of Faith

Romans 3:21–26 NIV

Romans 3:27–31 NIV

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain 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 only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Walking through the Text

Let’s just walk through this text bit by bit.

Romans 3:21 NIV

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

But now… Because of Jesus, in this moment, something has changed. We were all condemned. But the story has taken a sudden turn and we will see it is because of Jesus,

Apart from the law… The Torah and the prophets can’t do what needs to be done. They can convict us of sin, but not set us free from sin.

The righteousness of God.... or covenant faithfulness of God. The covenant seems like it has failed, but God has proved himself faithful to the covenant. He can be trusted.

has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify.

Romans 3:22 NIV

This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,

This righteousness… or the right standing of God in the covenant

is given through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ… now here there is some debate about how to translate the Greek. Some think it should be faith in and others faithfulness of.. you can feel free to have your own debate at home… I think it is best understood that we are given the right standing of God through the faithfulness of Jesus. He fulfilled the covenant on our behalf.

to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,

Romans 3:23 NIV

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

Romans 3:24 NIV

and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

and all are justified… or made right with God

freely by his grace… there is nothing you have to to do earn this new status. It is offered free of charge to any who grab hold of Jesus and trust him.

through the redemption… Jesus redeems us or sets us free from the punishment our sin deserves. He takes the punishment we earned so we can begin to live a new life as free people.

than came by Christ Jesus… it’s through Jesus, not the church, not right theology, not works, this new status of being right with God comes only through Jesus.

Romans 3:25 NIV

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood… Jesus is the goat sacrificed so we can enter God’s presence and he is the goat driven outside the city gates who carries our sin away. But his sacrifice is not effective for only a day or for only one person. It is available for all for all eternity.

to be received by faith… that’s it. Trust in Jesus. It is not more complicated than that. Those who trust in Jesus receive his standing before God, his righteousness.

Let’s finish it out from here.

He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished...

Romans 3:26–31 NIV

he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain 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 only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Romans 3:26-

Brothers and sisters, we come to the table today, no more worthy than little Jacob who was baptized earlier today. There is no room for boasting. There is nothing we have done or could do to earn the right to come into God’s presence and eat at his table. We come as one people bound together by our faith in Christ and God’s faithfulness to us.

This meal is a gift, freely given to all who have put their trust in Jesus.

Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Supper which we are about to celebrate is a feast of remembrance, of communion, and of hope.

We come in remembrance that our Lord Jesus Christ was sent of the Father into the world to assume our flesh and blood and to fulfill all obedience to the divine law, event to the bitter and shameful death of the cross. By his death, resurrection, and ascension he established a new and eternal covenant of grace and reconciliation that we might be accepted by of God and never be forsaken by him.

We come to have communion with this same Christ who has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the world. In the breaking of the bread he makes himself known to us as the true heavenly bread that strengthens us unto life eternal. In the cup of blessing he comes to us as the Vine in whom we must abide if we are to bear fruit.

We come in hope, believing that this bread and this cup are a pledge and foretaste of the feast to come, when with unveiled face we shall behold him, made like unto him in his glory.

Since by his death, resurrection and ascension Christ has obtained for us the life-giving Spirit who unites us all in one body, so we are to receive this Supper in true love mindful of the communion of saints.

All those who have confessed their faith in Christ are welcome at our Lord Table.

The Lord Jesus, the same night he was betrayed, took bread;

and when he had given thanks,

he broke it

The minister shall break the bread.

and gave it to them, saying,

“Take, eat;

this is my body which is given for you:

do this in remembrance of me.”

Lifting the cup, the minister shall say:

After the same manner also, he took the cup when they had supped,

saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood:

this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Related Media

Related Sermons