His Righteousness Alone Part 2 (Romans 3:21-26)

and so just so you'll know what we're going to do today is in a sense pick up where we left off. next week and I want to set some things up for you were going to read this passage together. We're going to be in Romans chapter 3 starting in verse 21 will go through verse 26 together. This week I had coffee with the Springfield one password. So I was sitting with Bob Cassidy and Seth were a couple of other guys were sick not able to make it and we were just talking just we just talk live talk Ministry talk family. Just a good time for us to be together. Well as pray for each other we pray for each other's churches is a it's a really it's an amazing thing to be a part of the big church. And so just hearing about what God is up to and them hearing what God is up to in their churches was fun. And Seth was was talking about the Glendale Christian their annual live nativity that they have and they set it up it so it's a weekend thing every Friday Saturday Sunday and they set up their parking lots with these different stations or scenes of The Christmas Story the birth of Jesus and they set that up throughout the parking lot. So guests go in the parking lot and they drive in this configuration and they go past each one of these seems there's another church Are there done that before and so last week with the the rain and the potential for ice and snow in those kinds of things they decided the coordinators decided we can have to have an inside. Let's go ahead and have it inside and wouldn't you know it of course then some of that bad weather just get right around us. That's kind of how it happens. They go inside and they set up their gym or their Auditorium which serve the same function. They set it up all the stations throughout the gym. And so that people go and still enjoy that they would just do it on foot as families instead of staying in their cars and driving through and Seth said that they said they're Fourier with some cookies and hot drinks and Seth was there to welcome people. He was kind of standing off to the side and so people were coming into the doors of the Fourier and and and just as soon as you walk in there was a lie just as well not alive, but it does little nativity set there and that you baby Jesus and straw in a little manger and maybe an animal or something like that just off to the side so that people would see this This is kind of a welcome when they came in. Enter one couple. He said came in man pushing a stroller. They they came in together and they looked down at that little cut that little manger. He said their faces just went blank. They come in the cold wind and the drizzle and they look down and he said their faces went blank.

And he said their faces had written.

Is this it?

This is it. We braved the cold. This is the life that we come in here and that's it.

I thought I told you should have offered that let him hold baby Jesus and you'll get a picture made that people get their pictures made sets at at them.

He just had that he said they just had this this look on their faces of this is all you've got.

And we just we talked about how sometimes.

That is kind of the demeanor and can even be the sentiment that we bring into hearing. The same message over and over.

That's it. I'm thankful for this time of year. I'm thankful that each year. We're reading essentially the same scriptures were singing these songs together. That's not the only time that we need to be thinking about the Incarnation of Jesus. God becoming flesh taking on human form. but I'm thankful that there's a year in in which it saturates much of our culture to at least on our minds and hearts and then it it is it has the potential to become something that other people in the world think about but the gospel can be the same kind of thing. Sometimes we can hear the gospel. We can even hear the word gospel. We can hear about the story we can think about the cross and the resurrection we can think about Encarnacion and we can kind of have the same sentiment that the dad has pushing the stroller. That's it. That's all you got. I seen that before heard that before and that's it. And I believe that that's why in the letter to the Romans Paul is over and over throughout the whole letter emphasizing the gospel. He does this and every one of his letters. Remember the New Testament much of the New Testament are the letters of Paul Peter James. They're the letters John that they're writing to churches who already heard the gospel. Believe the gospel received it and have put it into practice and yet they need to hear the gospel again. Because they're there are there problems things keep coming up in their churches. And so Paul sit down to write a letter to a church who's facing specific problems, like the one in Rome with the Jews and Gentiles not getting along thinking well, maybe maybe because we've been saved we can just live. Anyway, we want to live and and Paul is addressing that because what they need to hear again is the gospel the very same gospel that they've heard before. Last week I I mentioned. That we have to hear this over and over. It's one of the reasons why since we've had our Bible classes that started in September with gospel in life that the study by Tim Keller and enrollments is a part of that is accompanying that now Romans is going to continue even after the class is gone and done like in the next coming weeks, but we need to hear this gospel over and over from a variety of angles with concentration in the passages. That fall has forced Tim Keller points out that the default mode of the human hearts the default mode of the human heart is works right now. He borrows that phrase in a sentence from Martin Luther. Martin Luther is the one who said we have got to hold on to this gospel and that we need to we need to know it we need to teach it and then he says we need to beat it into our heads. It's obviously this this pretty Stark way of saying from Martin Luther this way of saying we have got to get the gospel deeply embedded in us so that the gospel identity becomes that real identity and then we begin to live and gospel practice. But it begins with having the gospel deeply embedded in trenched in our lives. So let's read. some of this explanation of the Gospel together in Romans chapter 3 starting verse 21 But now a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ or another translation through the faith of Jesus Christ to all who believe there's no difference. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are freely justified by his grace. through the Redemption that came by Christ Jesus God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement. through faith in his blood he did this to demonstrate his Justice because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. Did it to demonstrate is justice? at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

I think about these phrases just fix these things in our minds just as we did last week when he says but now he is talking about and in Breaking of the work of God. There has been this this has been the contact human sin has been rampant even with the law of God there but now something else has happened and that something else changes the course of history. It changes the world. It changes an individual human life, but now

righteousness from God not righteousness that is manufactured produced lived out by humans because he's already established the fact that that The Human Condition Apart from Christ left to ourselves left to our righteousness. We're in trouble. And this righteousness is from God. It's apart from law and other words. We're not going to be able to have the law there and Obey it and put it into practice because we've had it all along and those who is specially had it approved through the commands of God that the people of Israel they had it had the list didn't follow the list and and yet this righteousness his I've been testified all along because the prophets in the law have always pointed to head to the coming Messiah that coming Messiah is Jesus and the reminder that he gives is that everyone all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We got 323 down by the end of this series. I'm hoping that you'll have free 24 down. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are freely justified by his grace through Redemption that came by Christ Jesus. I hope that rolls off your tongue just as quickly even if you only get the first half and are Justified freely by his grace. If you can just get that fart, maybe the other part will come I'll get that first part and drilling it beat it into your head like Martin.

Now, let me get to the story that we were beginning last week.

Brian Chappell tells the story of a man

Who stands before the Gates of Heaven the angel Gabriel is there?

An angel says, alright, sorry, this is how it works. You need 100 points to get into heaven. And you're going to tell me your good deeds and according to the deed will assign a certain number of points. So the deed is really good. You'll get more points. And so you'll tell me all your deeds and at the end will add up all your points to see if you have a hundred you have a hundred you're in.

men Okay. Alright. Well I can do this first thing. Well, I was married to the same woman for over 50 years and I never was unfaithful to her not even in my heart. That's great. That's really really good. That's where three points. Is bit shocked by that three points has the best I had. 3 points Okay. Alright. Well, yeah, I was very faithful to my church. I went to church every time the doors were open and gave my service. I volunteer gave money. So every time that's good to have to work a point.

All right. Well, I opened a I open the homeless Ministry and in the holidays. I fed homeless people by the hundreds. Excellent that's worth two points two points.

That's six total Lunar his best efforts and he's got six points. Doing the math. You got 94 to go.

At this rate the only way I'll get in is by the grace of God. to which Gabriel says

Now let's talk about this little bit. On the one hand. This illustration is a very good illustration that reminds us. By the grace of God that allows us to come. It's God's goodness. Not our goodness. on the other hand

We mustn't get too caught up in the point system.

Because there really isn't a point system. Are there points being kept up with? There's not some kind of poly. And you've got 53.

That's not what happened. But let's just kind of for the sake of connecting this kind of think a little bit more about this scenario in about this example and about our human ways of thinking when it comes to appear before. Being counted as righteous being counted as to use the word that we talked about before being counted as faithful before God is not like it's not like taking a test. That's being graded on a curve. You know, you take the test you make a 67 on the test, but you get an 83 because somebody did better than you did.

That's not that's not how this works. And it doesn't work like this either. It doesn't it doesn't work like your your life and your good deeds and all the good things that you can stack up at the end of the day they reach you have asked for 30 and so your score 30, but you trust Jesus so Jesus gives you 70 points. And so now you're 30 plus his 70 or for those of you who've done little bit better in life. You're 60 plus his 40 make the 100 and now you can go in if that's not that's not the gospel. That's not how I righteousness is workouts.

To be holy and to be faithful to be righteous. Is to make a 100% 100%

if this is a test. You have to make a 100 on it. If faithfulness before God your entire life is about an exam.

You don't miss a point. You don't miss a question.

There's not a grading scale that says in which God says. Okay. I know there are I know they're Sinners. So I'm going to accept anybody who makes a 51. Which state would just accept anybody who makes a 51? 50/50 not quite good enough 51 will take it. So telling the Angels telling Gabriel. Okay, if anybody makes a 51 they can come in. That's not how it works. It 100.

You stand there with 100. That's what it takes. Now here's the problem with that. None of us make it hungry.

nobody nobody Can possibly make a 100?

accept Jesus

Who has by the way? made a 100 Who was faithful to the Covenant before God? Who was righteous who the Hebrew offer says was tempted in every way that we are yet without sin.

Paul says we are Justified freely by his grace through his Redemption through the Redemption that came by Christ Jesus. So when you accept or receive the faithfulness of Jesus. You are receiving his 100.

To put your trust in Jesus is not to put trust in your 51% and his 49% To put trust in Jesus is to put your trust in his perfect score. in his 100% achieve for you

So when you stand before God.

You don't stand before God with the best. You could do study my whole life. This is the best I could do. Make your own smiley face up there, but your own gold star on the paper. Hoping that it would dress it up a little bit know you don't stand before God like that when you stand before God.

You stand before God with a 100. That was achieved for you by Jesus. Darren Smith 100

that's trusting the faithfulness of Jesus But the default mode of the human heart in the way that we're trying to break this down today the default mode of the human heart is to always revert back. Do my own stack? A good things hoping that my stack of good things is taller than my stack of bad things. And did if this stack of good things isn't quite enough will surely Jesus will make up. That's Grace. No, that's not great. Grace is that Jesus gives you his score so that your test has his score on it, and it's not as if you cheated. It is what he has worked for you. You don't get to be counted faithful before God because you have done some good things in your life. God doesn't look at you as this pitiful measly little scumbag that he's going to let come in because you did a few good things and you tried your best. God doesn't look at you crawling begging along, right?

Like a wet muddy dog in the garage. That's how many of a sphere? Many of us feel like if we if we just bag as these pitiful creatures before God, he'll kill show Mercy.

Because when we stand in the righteousness of Jesus. We don't stand any longer is Poor Pitiful measly scump? Because when we trust the righteousness of Jesus the righteousness of Jesus is what he covers Us in. So that we stand they're not as the people that we once were because apart from Christ. I'm a pitiful measly scumbag. Loved by God completely loved by God. But a rebel an enemy a sinner depraved in every way. But when we trust in Christ, my unfaithfulness is taken away and the faithfulness of Jesus is transferred to me so that I stand before God. In the faithfulness of Jesus think about the words of this song that you sing. My hope is built on nothing yet. You can say it then Jesus blood and righteousness.

I do not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust in Jesus.

Trust the sweetest frame you won't trust. your structures your frame of mind door frame that you've built up with the Good Deeds to cover up schemes. You won't trust anything of your own you will trust in Jesus.

I think about this thing about these words come with trumpets in the sky. dressed in his righteousness alone all smashed and beautiful

rest in his righteousness alone.

And therefore dressed in his righteousness and not your own. You stand faultless. 100 before God

people it's the craziest thing that has ever happened in the world.

It's crazy. But this is the gospel love and grace of God. And so when he says to our free Leaf Justified by grace through Redemption that came by your good works your goodness your faithfulness to the know that came. by Christ Jesus It's the s n t Wright calls it. It's the best possible news.

Maybe we maybe we need to start calling the good news the best possible news. We live in believe receive Proclaim sing about declare the best possible news.

Now in a few minutes, we're going to sing a few minutes. We're going to sing. There's this version. But this version the Contemporary version that we just being singing together is missing the chorus of the original traditional song, which is the one we're going to sing in a few minutes. because that song that song has this on Christ The solid rock I stand what's the next part?

all other ground

Sinking sand. Let's put this in Practical terms.

your righteousness before God does not come from your devotional life. How much you pray how often are intensely you read the Bible how many Ministries are involved in how often you're a part of a gathering in a church? that's is sinking sand

your righteousness doesn't depend on how you feel about yourself today. How you feel about life? Depression is a part of your story. Being in that dark place. Is it very difficult part of your story your righteousness before God doesn't depend on how you feel about life the world. yourself and sinking sand Your righteousness does not depend on how you did in your area of sin struggle or addiction this week. Some of you had a great week. another week in years of sobriety and years of overcoming addiction some of you really struggle this week some of you struggling yesterday.

But your righteousness doesn't depend on how well you're doing. That is sinking sand. Your righteousness does not depend on your ability to dissect the deepest theological or doctrinal issues and get all the answers, right? Can you imagine standing before God depending on you having all the right answers to all the questions?

That is sinking sand. Your Righteous is not is not secure because you got your worship style rights or Sunday morning rights or your denomination rights that is sinking sand. Your righteousness is not based on your motivation or your best effort that is sinking sand. Your righteousness is dependent.

on the righteousness of Jesus the righteousness of Jesus that he has achieved for you on the cross through the resurrection his work for you. He takes your send and gives you his righteousness. Paul says it this way in 1st Corinthians 2nd Corinthians. 5:21. God made him who knew no sin the one who made a perfect 100. God made him who knew no sin. To be sin for us so that in him we might become anybody to the last part the righteousness of God. You become the righteousness of God. The one who is faithful to the Covenant so that when you stand before God when we stand before God he says. my faithful ones Come All Ye Faithful not your faithfulness, but the faithfulness of Jesus that you had trusted in that has then been transferred to you. Would you stand with me, please? And I'd like to invite our prayer teams to take their places.

In the aisle and down here at fronts.

Now, please do not see Paul had to deal with this and Romans he deals with this couple times. At once is coming up in chapter 6. When we begin talking about Grace inevitably there are a couple of people a couple types of responses one respond to his good. I can do whatever I want cuz there's Grace Paul says Shall we continue in sin that Grace might increase God forbid no way. But there's other people that goes yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Grace Grace Grace don't even say it.

Okay, that was a fun. So.

What we do is we say no. We're going to trust in the righteousness of God. We're going to trust in him.

in the end salvation does not come because you were faithful to God but because Jesus was faithful to God.

When we claim when we lay hold of the faithfulness of Jesus his faithfulness becomes our faithfulness. And so we stand before God Rest in the faithfulness. Rest in the righteousness of Jesus. His righteousness is not covering up filthiness. The filthiness has been removed the filthy garments that we hold out when we're depending on our own are taken away and the righteousness is what we are now closed in This is no disguise. It becomes the identity.

Covenant faithful people because of the fake ones you need to respond to this best possible moves.

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