Romans 3:21-26

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Romans 3:21-26

Notes
Transcript

Intro:

In an effort to make a political point about how everyone in America ought to be able to take any matter to court, In September of 2007, State Senator for Nebraska, Ernie Chambers, filed a legal lawsuit against God
-Chambers lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.
-The lawsuit accuses God "of making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent." It says God has caused "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects and the like."
-The case was eventually dismissed due to the failure of Ernie Chambers to subpeona, to notify, God
-Since God does not have a home address, He could not have been legally notified, and therefore the case was dropped
While Ernie Chambers was trying to make a political point, he actually represents well what we as humans often think about God
-We as sinful humanity often think we can put God on trial, thinking that He somehow owes us something
-But the Bible is abundantly clear, it’s not God who is on trial before us, it is that we are on trial before Him
Vs. 9-18
Vs. 19-20
When we stand before God and His holy law, we all stand hopelessly condemned
-The purpose of God’s law is to shut the mouth, to take away excuses
-We are liars, thieves, adulterers, blasphemers, coveters, idolaters, those who dishonor parents
-By the law of God, we understand sin and our own guilt before the King of the Universe
-We all stand on trial before Him, and we are shown to be guilty

VS. 21

“But now, God’s righteousness apart from the law is revealed”
-remember, God’s righteousness can speak of 1 of 3 things
-The attribute of God — God being righteous
-A standing before God — God making us right with Him
-An activity of God — God working on behalf of His people to make them right with Him
This instance here probably has more to do with the latter 2:
What Paul is saying, is that 2000 years ago, everything changed!
-For so long, God’s people had been waiting for God to intervene in human history and make things right!
-They’d been longing for God to act on behalf of His people
-Under the Law of God, they were constantly sinning and being made unclean
-Then they would go to the Tabernacle or Temple to make an atoning sacrifice for their sins!
-And they’d sin again under God’s law, and then they’d offer a sacrifice, and sin, and sacrifice, and over and over again
And they’d read the Law and the prophets, passages like:
Zechariah 13:1 NKJV
“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
Deuteronomy 18:15 NKJV
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
Ezekiel 36:26–27 NKJV
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Isaiah 42:1 NKJV
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
“when will God intervene on our behalf and make all this right?”
And now God has!!
-God has definitively acted on behalf of His people, and made a righteousness available apart from the Law!
This would have been scandalous to any Jews listening!
-And that’s exactly what Paul says in:
1 Corinthians 1:23 NKJV
but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
the word for stumbling block is the Greek word “skandalon” and means hindrance or offense
Why is “apart from the law” a big deal?
-Because, that’s what the Jews lived by and took such pride in!!
-They had God’s Law, written by His own hand on Mount Sinai
-They had the ceremonial laws, the sacrificial system, the instructions for the Tabernacle, etc.
-Anyone who wanted to come to God had to convert to Judaism in their mind!!
-You had to get circumcised, then follow all God’s laws
But this righteousness is apart from the Law!
-You don’t have to be a Jew, or convert to Judaism, or get circumcised!
Would God just abandon His law??
-no, they just didn’t understand that the whole Law pointed to Jesus!
“being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” doesn’t just refer to some of the explicit passages that I just quoted
-Jesus said:
John 2:19 NKJV
Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The temple pointed to Jesus as the place where God meets with man
The sacrificial system, pointed toward the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
Even the ceremonial laws and circumcision pointed to the need of God’s people to be clean and undefiled by God in a permanent way
And now it has arrived!
how?

Vs. 22

this righteousness that comes apart from the Law comes through faith in Jesus Christ!
-This is how it is apart from the Law
-the way to attain this righteousness is completely apart from any works that we can do!
-No work of righteousness will give this to us
-It only comes through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son come in the flesh
and notice who this is for:
“to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference”
-This righteousness is made available to all, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of socio-economic status, regardless of religiousity, etc.
-Some of us may think “there’s no way that God would accept me. If He knew what I’m like, what I’ve done, there’s just no way”
-He does know, and you can be made right with Him
-You don’t have to have grown up in church
-You don’t have to have been a religious or moral person, you don’t have to be cleaned up!
-It’s made available for all people, Jew or Gentile, man or woman, filthy and messed up, or moral and cleaned up
God is not a God of favoritism!
Deuteronomy 10:17 NKJV
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
Isaiah 49:6 NKJV
Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

Vs. 23

As we’ve already seen, all people stand guilty before God!
Every single person has sinned
but . . .

Vs. 24

You, Christianity is the most inclusive religion and the most exclusive religion at the same time
It’s inclusive in the sense that anyone can obtain God’s righteousness!
Every single person, though sinful, can be made right with God
No person is better off in their standing before God in Christianity
It is available to all people!!
But
It is the most exclusive in the sense that there is one way and only way to have a relationship with God
-And that is through Jesus Christ
-You cannot be righteous with God through your works, through your morality, or through any other religion or person
-It’s not through Buddha, it’s not through Muhammad, it’s not through the Hindu God’s
-Whether it’s Ghandi, Mother Teresa, or Adolf Hitler, all must come through Jesus Christ
Now these verses probably would have been shocking to anyone who knows their Old Testament
Proverbs 17:15 NKJV
He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.
Is God justifying the wicked??
Hold that thought, because Paul is going to explain how this works in verse 26

Vs. 25

“whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood”
-the word here for propitiation is “hilasterion” which is the word used for the mercy seat in the Greek OT, and in the only other use of the word in the NT
-The mercy seat was the place where the blood of the yearly sacrifice for the atonement of the people was to be brought and sprinkled
-the High Priest was allowed to come into the Holiest of Holies on this day, and sprinkle the blood there
-the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible defines propitiation as “turning away of anger by the offering of a gift”
-Now, this really bothers some people
-There’s a lot of religions and myths and lores that have to do with placating the anger of some god
-offering a child sacrifice or throwing a virgin into a volcano to appease some angry and selfish god
-While propitiation does mean to turn away the wrath of God through a sacrifice, the reason that this is so vastly than those other scenarios is that first, we have sinned and rebelled against the Most High King of the Universe
-We stand guilty and condemned and have broken His law. It’s not that we have upset some moody and childish God, but we have sinned and rebelled against a perfectly just and righteous God, and shaken our fists in His face
-But even more than that, the reason that this is different than those other scenarios is that God Himself has provided the propitiation!! He has provided the atoning sacrifice to turn back His own wrath
what an amazing God we serve!
“to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed”
Now what does this mean?
-there are 2 possible interpretations of this phrase
-What does it mean that God passed over sins previously committed?
-the first is that this refers to the sins a believer commits in his life prior to salvation
-God passing over these sins committed before having the righteousness applied to him or her
The second interpretation, and the one I deem to be more likely, is that God, in His forbearance, passed over sins committed before the death of Christ
-How could God forgive David, a murderer and an adulterer?
-How could God forgive Abraham, who in a moment of weakness, chose to have Ishmael with Hagar?
-How could God forgive Moses, who failed to obey God in front of the nation, and struck the rock?
People who know these accounts might be tempted to think that God is unrighteous and unjust for passing over these sins
-But He’s not! He was just incredibly patient and gracious!
-Now we can see how God could seemingly let those go!
-He wasn’t unjust or unrighteous, He was merciful and gracious

Vs. 26

Here is the answer to the question we asked earlier!
How can God justify the wicked when Proverbs 17:15 declares that to be an abomination?
Is God unjust or unrighteous for doing that?
No!!
-God Himself provided the way to avert His wrath
-All the wrath of sin and the punishment of that sin that you and I deserved, God poured it all on Jesus!
-Christ went to the cross, being completely and totally righteous, having never sinned one time!
-And on the cross, the righteous One was condemned and the wicked justified
-And the answer to the question “is God unjust” in declaring guilty sinners as innocent?” is forever declared to be an authoritative no!
-He gave our punishment to Christ and gave Christ’s righteousness to us!
-This way He can forever be righteous, and also declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus
My friend Dr. Roy Gustafson has the finest illustration of justification I have ever heard. It seems that there was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, “I’m having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?” Well, the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his holiday.
As you can imagine, the fellow was wondering, “How much is this going to cost me?” So when he got back to England, he wrote the people a letter and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: “Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce.” That is justification!
W. Wiersbe
I know that though in doing good I spend my life, I never could atone for all I’ve done; But though my sins are black as night, I dare to come before Thy sight because I trust Thy Son.
In Him alone my trust I place, come boldly to Thy throne of grace, and there commune with Thee. Salvation sure, O Lord, is mine, and, all unworthy, I am Thine, for Jesus died for me.
- Martin Luther
His robes for mine: God’s justice is appeased. Jesus is crushed, and thus the Father’s pleased. Christ drank God’s wrath on sin, then cried “‘Tis done!” Sin’s wage is paid; propitiation won.
When Satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within Upward I look, and see Him there who made an end to all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died My sinful soul is counted free For God the just is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me To look on Him and pardon me

Application:

How does this grand theological truth help me?
-If you’re here, and you’re not saved, you need to come to Christ
-No one is too sinful or guilty to Him
-And no one is so good and moral that they don’t need Him
Maybe you’re a Christian and you’ve been beaten down with your sin and guilt and shame
-maybe you think that you can’t come to God because you’re too sinful
-you’ve gotta clean yourself up before coming to God
-You have been cleaned up in Christ, and have access to Him always on the basis of Christ’s righteousness
-Come to Him, because He has already made a provision for you
When Satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within Upward I look, and see Him there who made an end to all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died My sinful soul is counted free For God the just is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me To look on Him and pardon me
-Meditate on the Gospel. Let it saturate every part of your life and soul to where witnessing to unbelievers and encouraging believers in it becomes second nature

Conclusion:

When accusing God in his court case of causing "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects and the like."
Chambers says God "has manifested neither compassion nor remorse”
Nothing could be further than the truth
-God has provided the way of sacrifice: the death of His own dear Son
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