The Unmatched Superiority of Faith In Christ
Romans: Unashamed - Building the Church through the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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ENGAGE
A man slid over the side of a cliff and was able to grab a branch at the last second. He hung dangling over the precipice, hundreds of feet from the ground below. He screamed out with a loud voice, “Help me! Somebody help me!”
A voice came out of the sky, “Do you believe that I can help you?”
The man responded, “Yes, I believe. Please help me!”
The voice came out of the sky again, “Do you believe that I have the power to help you?”
“Yes, I believe! I believe! Please help me!”
“Do you believe I love you enough to help you?”
“Yes, I know you love me. Please, oh please, HELP ME!”
“Because you believe, I will help you. Now let go.”
After a brief silence, the man said, “Is there anybody else up there?”277
[Double-mindedness; Risk]
Matt. 19:16–22; Luke 6:46; James 1:6
Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 97–98.
Review Sermon Theme - Unashamed - Building the Church through the Gospel
Review last weeks passage -
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.
What did we learn from this text? God is Your Biggest Problem and Your Greatest Solution!
What’s next? Look at the text!
ENCOUNTER
Big Idea: The Way of Faith is Way Better than Any Other Way!
Big Idea: The Way of Faith is Way Better than Any Other Way!
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Congratulations! You all exercised faith this morning! How? You sat down in one of the chairs!
There are three “ways” in the big idea of this text to remind you of the three rhetorical questions that Paul asks and answers in these verses.
First question - Can anyone boast about their standing with God?
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
The Jews had a problem. A problem that Paul lumps himself in. What is the problem? Well, they thought they were right and so they boasted about it!
Paul thought he was right so much so that before he was a Christ followers he was a Christian killer!
“Our way is the right way!” “You must be a Jew!” “You must follow the law like we follow the law!” “You must be one of us because God gave us His Holy Word!”
Romans Original Meaning
Paul wants every person to understand that God’s way of justifying people—by grace—absolutely excludes any possibility that we may take credit for our salvation. But another possible identification of this person is more specific: the Jew. Paul used this same language of “boasting” or “bragging” about Jews in 2:17, so he may be reminding Jews that they can no longer brag about their superiority to Gentiles. God justifies both Jew and Gentile on the same basis (see vv. 29–30).
But the reality for the Jews - Paul included - was they had no right, no reason to boast. The law of works doesn’t work. It doesn’t save.
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Salvation is through the “law of faith.”
What is the law of faith? What does Paul mean by this phrase?
Think of it this way, the word “law” here is the idea of principle. So, Paul is saying that no one, including the Jews have reason for boasting because the law or principle of works does not save. You cannot do enough work to make yourself pleasing to God.
So, it isn’t a law of works that saves, it is the principle of faith.
Romans Original Meaning
His primary concern continues to be to show that Jews need the gospel, for by demonstrating this, he will have shown that all people need it.
Salvation from eternal Hell. Salvation to eternal Heaven is by faith and faith alone.
If salvation came through our works, we would have reason to brag about it. We have no hope to work our way to heaven therefore no reason to boast. Our only hope is what God accomplished for us through Christ. And if we trust Christ’s finished work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead by FAITH, we will experience salvation.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Faith and works are separated when it comes to salvation.
We are not saved by our works, Paul has made this abundantly clear. But we do prove our salvation by our works. James, the brother of Jesus makes this point clear in...
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Genuine saving faith changes the character of a person. Paul will address this more fully in Romans 6.
Here’s the point of Paul’s first rhetorical question - no one will stand in heaven boasting about how they got there.
Give examples of fools boasting in heaven
The only boasting we will do in Heaven is boasting about Jesus.
31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Transition - No! No one can boast about their standing with God because our standing with God is by faith alone! We cannot be declared righteous by our works, our righteousness come through Christ alone by faith alone.
So, you can see by answering this first question with a difinitive NO, that...
The Way of Faith is Way Better Than Any Other Way!
Now, let’s take a look at the second rhetorical question Paul asks...
Question 2 - Is God the God of the Jews only?
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Here we go again! Yet another rebuke for the Jews from the Apostle.
And Paul could get away with this sort of rebuke because He was once of the same mindset before God grabbed ahold of his heart!
Salvation was never just for the Jews.
And this goes all the way back to the former gentile himself, father Abraham!
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
The Jews! The children of Israel - were to be a beacon of hope to all the people around the world.
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
The Jews failed to remember their own Scriptures and reach out to the nations around them.
Remember Jonah the Prophet? He was supposed to go to Nineveh, that great city of GENTILES and preach a sermon to them. “Repent or Perish.”
He finally did and they did as well! They repented! And Jonah was ticked off about it!
God desired to save the Ninavites! The Gentiles gain the hope of faith through the Jewish people. And, by the way, the Ninavites responded to the sermon of Jonah BY FAITH!
It’s always been about faith. There is no other hope of justification for anyone otherwise.
Dr. Douglas Moo says this...
Romans Original Meaning
Verse 28 is a famous statement of the doctrine of justification by faith, and, under the influence of Luther, many of us almost automatically add an “alone” after faith. The word is not, of course, found in the verse. But it legitimately brings out the sense of what Paul is saying (long before Luther, the Roman Catholic theologian Aquinas had also added it). For in denying that even the best human works can justify us (e.g., Jewish obedience to God’s holy law), Paul is, in effect, denying that anything a human being does will ever justify one before God.
God did succeed however, through the best Jew of them all!
Who is the best Jew? Jesus!
He represented the entire nation Israel and did what the entire nation failed to do - live out the law.
He, on the other hand followed the law perfectly.
And was then put to death on a cross substitutionally. He stood in the place of the nation of Israel and the nations of the world for that matter.
That whosoever, Jew or Gentile repent of their sin and place their faith in Christ alone, will be saved!
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
It doesn’t matter the color of your skin, the county you hail from, your IQ, EQ, gender, or if you like pizza or not!
None of that stuff matters. Paul makes this so clear in the book of Galatians...
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
The Jews were supposed to be a conduit of God’s grace to the nations. They were not. They failed.
So God sent the ultimate Jew to do what the nation failed to do. The ultimate Jew (Jesus) followed the law to the letter and died as the sacrificial lamb by their bloody hand, thus absorbing the wrath of God.
Although the Jews killed the author of life, God used their act as an act of salvation for all people!
God isn’t simply the God of the Jews! He is the God of all the living and desires for all the living to live forever with Him.
This is the purpose of Jesus’ coming! This is the purpose of the gospel!
I have to ask the question - Are you saved from your sin? Have you repented and placed your faith in Christ and Christ alone? Do you believe that He is the only way you can have the promise of Heaven?
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
My friend, Dave Sides
What about you? Will we celebrate the fact that you will be with Jesus in heaven when you leave this earth? You will not make it off this earth alive. You will go through the death process. It may be through cancer, a car accident, or simply old age.
But you will not make it out alive!
What will you do to ensure you have eternal life?
Transition - So, is God only interested in saving the Jews? Is He the God of the Jews only? Look at what this Jew named John wrote about this subject...
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
No, He is interested in saving Jews and Gentiles. He is interested/passionate about saving you! Will you, right now, fight off your pride and trust Jesus?
So, you can see by answering this first two question with a clear NO, that...
The Way of Faith is Way Better Than Any Other Way!
Question 3 - Does faith make the law worthless?
Paul, anticipating the accusation that if justification is by faith alone, then the Law serves no purpose, asks this last rhetorical question.
31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
So what does Paul mean by this statement, “On the contrary, we uphold the law.”?
How do believers not overthrow the law but actually uphold the law? The believer, because of faith and the fact that they are now filled by the Holy Spirit, actually can perform what the law demands.
This is what Dr. Moo affirms about this verse and idea...
Romans Original Meaning
Paul affirms the valid demand that God makes of people in the law, and that demand cannot simply be swept under the carpet. But one of the things Christ does is to fulfill the law on our behalf. We who are in Christ are therefore accounted as having fulfilled the law and been set free from its penalties for disobedience. It is, paradoxically, this very freedom from the law’s condemnation that puts us into a relationship in which true obedience, motivated and directed by the Spirit, can come about.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
No the law is not sin, it is not evil. It points out the evil in my own heart and life.
The Law is a perfect reflection of the holiness of God Himself.
If the Law were evil and sinful then so God would be evil and sinful. But it isn’t! It is good just as God is good!
And when an unsaved person becomes a saved individual, he or she has gone from death to life. And all things have been made new in their life.
The HOLY Spirit is now residing within the Christian empowering and enabling them to follow and keep God’s moral law - you can by the power of the Holy Spirit, actually uphold God’s moral law.
So, you have been freed from the punishment of breaking God’s law (his Ten Commandments) and are now free to live them out - thus representing Jesus Christ in the flesh.
You are now a follower of Christ - living out Christ to a world who desperately needs to see Christ.
By the way, a sign that this is true in your life is if you care when you sin.
Transition -
Remember the three rhetorical questions that Paul asks?
Can anyone boast about their standing with God?
Is God the God of the Jews only?
Does Faith make the Law worthless?
So, you can see by answering all three questions with a big fat NO, that...
The Way of Faith is Way Better Than Any Other Way!
EMPOWER
My friends! We are not talking about FAITH in just anything or just anyone. We are talking about FAITH in the ONLY one that can do something about the massive problem you have.
What is your massive problem? You are a lawbreaker - whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female - it doens’nt matter.
All have sinned and have fallen short of God’s glorious perfection.
And the result of this fact is another fact. Because you are a lawbreaker and have fallen short of the glory of God, God must punish you for all eternity! There is no escape from the truth, you can run from God but you cannot hide.
But the good news is He ran to you! In the person of Jesus Christ. God, because of His great love for you sent His Son to pay for your crimes. He, Jesus Christ, received capital punishment for every lie you ever uttered. Every item you’ve every stolen. Every grotesque, evil, lustful thought you’ve ever produced. Every item you’ve ever coveted. Every god you’ve ever worshipped other than the One true God.
Jesus broke none of these laws or any of the laws spelled out in the scriptures.
He was and is perfect, holy, and righteous. And the only proper, qualified candidate to pay your sin debt.
And that’s exactly what He did. 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ - the holy God/man was hung on a cross and cursed for your sins. He did this to rescue you from the horrific and eternal wrath of God. He did this because of His great love for you.
Do you understand this? Do you believe this? Do you trust what God’s word says about God’s rescue plan for you?
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This is the message of the Bible. This is the Jesus of the Scriptures.
Won’t you, by FAITH turn from your sin and turn to the only One that can save your from the penalty of your sin?
God will justify you by faith today!
Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.
Martin Luther
Connection Group Reflection Questions
1. What do these verses teach me about our character?
2. What do these verses teach me about God and his character?
3. Because these words are from God, they are TRUTH! What truth is he asking me to believe?
4. What do I need to do to obey him?
5. With whom can I share these truths?