2021-03-31 Romans 3:27-31

Romans 3:27–31 ESV

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. 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. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

I. Your righteousness is not from you.

 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.

A. Humility is rightly understanding who you are and what God has done.

 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.

Illus: The book of Romans runs contrary to the way we approach life and faith. It runs contrary to much of what is believed in church. Churches in recent days have become self help centers. We are places where you can come work on your life. A place you can be a better person.

Most “Christian” books these days are written more to help your self esteem than they are to lead you to holiness.

Romans doesn’t worry about your self esteem. It is a book that lets you know that healthy habits, or self improvement can’t fix you.

There is a reason I think the American church has defaulted to this empty form of religion. The reason is that we have bought into a christless Christianity. We have bought into a self made religion where we use Jesus’ name but see no need for Jesus. It is all about being the best person I can be, or being spiritually fulfilled.

Truth be told this is why church feels so empty. Because you have become the center of your own self help religion.

Romans destroys the self help religion we have made. For three chapters it tells you over and over how sinful you are. It destroys any way that you can make yourself better.

Humility is rightfully understanding who you are, biblically understanding, and then realizing who God is.

Go back to Romans 3:23 and then build your faith off of that.

Romans 3:23–25 ESV

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.

B. Faith must begin in broken desperation.

 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.

Illus: Do you know what the best tasting food it? It is the food you eat when you are hungry.

Back before I broke my foot 2 times in 2 years at our church I was an endurance athlete. Friday mornings were set aside for long workouts. Jenn and I would drop off our girls and go run a dozen miles or more.

After the run we would get cleaned up and go to McDonalds. Now yes I know McDonalds is not known for having the best food... but follow me. We would try to make it buy the end of breakfast. I would order the big breakfast with hot cakes. To this moment my mouth waters at the thought of this fast food delicacy. Why? Because food when your hungry taste better than food when your full.

Yes, you could take me to the finest restaurant to eat a meal made by a Michelin star chef, but I probably would not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed that post run meal.

This is what has become of church and faith. We don’t live in broken desperation. We don’t live seeing the need of redemption in our lives. We see our selves as good folks made better by morals and church.

This Easter I want to take you to a desperate place. I want you to embrace your emptiness. I want you to feel the angst of not having your life together. Why... faith begins in the emptiness of desperation.

As longs as you thing you are good, you see no need for Jesus. As long as you see yourself as good, there is no reason for Jesus to die for you.

Once you get to a place of empty brokenness, you can turn your eyes to see Jesus and your desperate need for his eternity saving redemption.

Watch what scripture says about who you are.

Ephesians 2:1–9 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 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.

II. Jesus came so every person would be made righteous.

28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 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.

A. Your salvation has nothing to do with what you’ve done.

28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 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.

I’ve been using a lot of sports analogies as of late. I’ll just keep it going.

Let’s look forward to the 2021 LSU football season. On September 4th LSU opens up against UCLA. On that day you wear your favorite LSU shirt. LSU wins big. In your head you think... LSU won big don’t change anything.

So the next week you wear the same shirt, sit in the same place, eat the same meal, watch the game on the same volume and LSU beats McNeese. You think there might be something to this

So the next week you wear the same shirt, sit in the same place, eat the same meal, watch the game on the same volume and LSU beats central Michigan.

And the pattern continues till LSU holds the championship trophy up defeating Alabama in the college football playoff.

You did it. Your shirt, spot on the couch, game meal all have led to this win.

Boldly you proclaim WE WON.

But here is the deal you never once stepped foot on the football field. Never once attended a practice. In fact, you never actually went down to Death Valley to watch a game. You just wore a shirt and ate pizza in the same chair week in and out.

WE did not win. LSU won. You watched LSU win. You are not a member of the team. You will not get a championship ring for your efforts.

Follow me. You did not save yourself. No amount of church going, good works, or Christian culture saved you. You are simply a someone at home watching Christ claim the victory.

But Jesus didn’t simply die on the cross and claim victory. Jesus then turned and gave you the victory.

Let’s go back to the bad LSU illustration. Imagine after LSU wins the championship that coach O calls you up and in his deep Cajun accent tells you that you are now a champion and gives you the trophy. You did nothing to earn it, but it was given to you as a gift.

That is what Christ has done.

Paul in chapter 4 makes this connection by describing how God worked in Abraham’s life.

Romans 4:1–5 ESV

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

B. God will justify believers through the finished work of Calvary.

28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 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.

How did God work?... As this is passion week, I think it is important to understand how God works, specifically how he worked through Jesus on the cross.

When the Bible uses the word justify, it is pointing to a specific characteristic of who God is. God is just. God does not allow wrongdoing to be forgotten, but instead punishes the sin. No matter the wrong doing.

When God justifies us, it means that God’s punishment is met for us. It means that God sees the punishment we deserve, doesn’t ignore it. That punishment isn’t paid for, not ignored.

This is the story of Jesus. Jesus took the full punishment for you. When the Bible says we are justified... seen as people whose sin has been paid for... it means that Jesus willingly took that sin for us.

There is nothing we have done to pay for our sin. There is nothing we have done to earn Jesus’ forgiveness. There is noting we can do to make things right.

God is both just and justifier. He is both the giver of wrath and the recipient of wrath.

So faith is trusting that everything is paid for. It is a moment of freedom where you say, I am placing myself in God’s hands.

BTW, this was God’s plan all along.

Isaiah 53:3–7 ESV

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

III. Jesus’ righteous should lead you to want to follow God.

31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

A. Your salvation should lead you to want to follow God’s ways.

Illus: Let me summarize Paul’s logic to this point. You are condemned. Whether you grew up under the teachings of scripture or not, you are condemned. Everyone will face God’s punishment.

BUT Jesus came and willingly took God’s punishment so you would not have to. It does not matter whether you have tried to follow the teachings of scripture or not, Jesus died for you. He took what you deserve.

There is a false question asked. If Jesus took my punishment, that means I don’t need to worry about following the teachings of scripture. Right?

It is false logic. That’s kind of like saying if a police officer gives you a warning and not a ticket, then you didn’t really break the law, and don’t need to follow that law in the future.

The grace of Christ should lead you to want to live for him. To live out the teachings of scripture.

In fact, the proof that you are saved is that you love the things of God.

Over the last few months I’ve struggled with the idea that I need to convince people to come back to church. As if I need to show them why joining the body of faith is beneficial to them. It is something every church is walking through.

Hear me out. This should be an eye opening moment for us. No one should have to beg you to come to church, no one should have to convince you to live for Jesus, no one should have to guilt you into not sinning.

Why? Because all of those things are proof that Jesus is the treasure of your life. Of course you want to be with the body of Christ if you are of Christ. Of course you want to live for Christ if he redeemed you from your sin. It should be natural.

Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV

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.

1 John 5:2–3 ESV

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.