Rom 3-Every Mouth Silenced
| Every Mouth Silenced! Romans 3:19-31
April 30, 2006(NLT) 19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring the entire world into judgment before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it.21 But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. 22 We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. 25 For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. 26 And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.29 After all, God is not the God of the Jews only, is he? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. 30 There is only one God, and there is only one way of being accepted by him. He makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 31 Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. PRAY➠ Prayer Walk Seminar – May 20Scripture memory: Romans 6:5 – (NIV) If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. Intro: Bill Phillips preaching at Ref’d Pres…1. An Old Pattern2. A New ParadigmThe Problem is really1. An Old Pattern (vv. 19-20)(NIV) 19Now 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. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. E Our desire to be earn our righteousness (salvation)We do not want a free ride – We want to feel like we deserve what we receiveThree Afflictions which show this desire:Ø Comparisonitus:We are constantly jockeying for position, so-to-speak – “At least I am not as bad as…”Ø Deservitus:We measure others in terms of their “goodness” as we perceive it…Ø Judgmentitus:We have a hard time really believing that certain people will EVER believe in GodOur 2nd problem is:E Our inability to earn our righteousnessGal. 2:16 – (New Century Version) Yet we know that a person is made right with God not by following the law, but by trusting in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be made right with God because we trusted in Christ. It is not because we followed the law, because no one can be made right with God by following the law. Two barriers (problems):1. God’s standard is perfection – no grading on a curve2. Even our attempts to live up to God’s standards are counter-productive.Romans Review: Why NO one can earn salvation:Romans 1 – We naturally suppress the truth. We like to think that we are pursuing God. However, when we are honest with ourselves we acknowledge that that is really pretty far from the truth. What is really closer to the truth is that we resist Him at every turn. We are like the people in the parable Jesus tells in Luke 19 – “We do want this man to be our king” (Luke 19:14)Q: What about the good things that people do? Our good deeds tend to be highly selective, not helping everyone, only ourselves or those like us. – Like the “family” on “the Godfather” – Like the Scriptures tell us, our hearts are very good at deceiving us. Romans 2 – 2. No one truly obeys God’s law When we are offended with other people, as we frequently are, we are condemning ourselves. We don’t even live up to our OWN standards, to say nothing of God’s!We ARE guilty and we show that we know this every time we are critical of someone else. Romans 3 – 3. We are “actively, consistently, thoroughly, and intentionally wicked.”(Boice) This is the message of these first 2½ chapters of Romans. Perhaps you came away from the preaching on these passages with a sense of your own spiritual inadequacy, if so, that is probably a good thing… at least it is a good STARTING point… Apart from these lists in our previous passage, and at the end of the first chapter, we might reluctantly admit that at times we break even the lowest possible standard for decent behavior and might say, “I don’t pretend to be perfect all the time.” But that is a far cry from admitting that we are thoroughly wicked in God’s sight. Until we truly come to grips with that, there is always the feeling that somehow (regardless of our admitted shortcomings) the good we do will be acknowledged by God and our standing in His Presence on the basis of our own achieved righteousness will at least be possible.4. God measures our hearts, not merely our actions.We can DO everything right and still be totally wrong – depending on the attitude of our hearts when we do it.This comes home to us when we are faced with the reality of death…E Giving answer for our sins – having no answer If you were to die and stand before God and He were to ask you…Some responses:Works:● I tried to do what was right… - Sincerity- Sincerely wrong is still sincerely wrong- Are we REALLY as sincere as we would like to believe?● I’m not a “bad” person… (comparisonitus)● I was active in my church… (“I paid my dues…”)Lack of Understanding● I have always been a “Christian.” (define term)● I don’t know what I would say… (don’t know the gospel? or…?● I’ll worry about that when I get there… (“I have plenty of time to think about it later…”)Here we have trials by our peers, sinners like us – It is amazing the results our courts have come up with… | | These items are for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place:Q: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?Q: The youngest son, the 21 old, how old is he?Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?Q: She had three children, right? A: Yes.Q: How many were boys? A: None.Q: Were there any girls?Q: You say the stairs went down to the basement? A: Yes.Q: And these stairs, did they go up also?Q: How was your first marriage terminated? A: By death.Q: And by whose death was it terminated?
Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse? A: No.: Did you check for blood pressure? : No.: Did you check for breathing? : No.Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy? A: No.Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor? A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless? A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.Our laws are imprecise and imperfect. Clever lawyers can often find loopholes. We can plead extenuating circumstances. And even if we lose our case, we can generally appeal to a higher court, and so on. Even if we are convicted and sent to prison we can still proclaim and even believe our innocence, we can still argue our case, perhaps write a book. We can refuse to be silenced.BUT before God every mouth will be silenced! Then we will know that we are not righteous and there is not a word that can be spoken in our defense.We will be unable to avoid admitting that it was all true. We knew we were wrong even as we made our excuses. But we hated and still hate the principle of righteousness by the blood of Jesus Christ. We will finally admit that what we want is our own way. We want heaven, but heaven with all of our needs, desires and whims met. We want heaven with ourselves on the throne. We want our own way.And for those who have rejected the gospel… The response will be hatred towards God and His irrefutable judgment, hatred towards Him for denying them what they want…2. A New Paradigm (vv. 21-22)21But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. 22We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.F But now… Ø Before, God’s wrath was being revealed (1:18), BUT NOW, the righteousness of God is being made known – a righteousness that is by grace alone, through faith aloneØ Before, all stood condemned, BUT NOW, there is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (8:1) – We had every reason to fear and perhaps even hate God, but now when we understand the gospel, we have every reason to be confident and to LOVE Him. Before, we were alienated from God, but now we have been adopted as His sons and are co-heirs with ChristØ Before, we were slaves to sin and death, BUT NOW, we have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God (6:22). We all serve something, whether we want to admit it or not…Before there was no one righteous. Now there isF Imputed Righteousness – 3:2121But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago.This Imputed Righteousness:Ø Is God’s Righteousness – It is provided BY Him and It is HIS – It is not natural to us. It something which comes from without – Matthew 22 – The parable of the wedding feast – The wedding garments are provided by the host of the feast, and yet some refuse…Ø The wedding garments were made by the bridegroom Himself. – The one who insists on keeping his/her OWN righteousness…Ø Apart from the law – a unique “religion” – This is not merely some system whereby we can overcome our fallenness… – Religion, in its essence…Ø By grace – “When a person is first presented with this pure core of Christianity, the reaction is usually revulsion. We want to save ourselves, and anything that suggests that we cannot do so is abhorrent to us. We do not want a religion that demands that we throw ourselves entirely upon the grace and mercy of God.” (Boice)Ø Through simple faith – Faith. Taking God at His Word. Believing what He has said. Trusting Him and Him only… – Join us this evening… If salvation is by grace alone, apart from anything we can do, then we can be saved NOW – invitationIf salvation is by grace alone, apart from anything we can do, then our salvation is certain. – The One who began this good work in us…If salvation is by grace alone, apart from anything we can do, then human boasting is excluded and all the glory goes to God. – Is this our desire? Summary / Review:It is natural for us to want to feel like we deserve what we receive. But God wants us to fully acknowledge our total inability to earn His pleasure. In fact He wants us to REPENT of OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! When we stand before His judgment seat, we will have no answer… and yet it is crucial that we understand the correct answer…When we stand before Him, we will indeed find all our excuses, all our rationalizations, all our justification for the things we have done or said or left undone or unsaid totally foolish and only compound our guilt.Are we prepared for that day? Have we acknowledged our total, just condemnation and have we humbly accepted the wedding garment purchased by Jesus Christ? Are we clothed in His righteousness alone?Are we confident in His love, trusting his promises, and longing to be with Him and to worship Him fully? A Truth to Remember: We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.A Challenge to Consider: Do we consciously, intentionally and daily repent of our own righteousness, preferring to be clothed with Christ? |