Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
If you have your Bible turn with me to Romans 3:19-26.
If you don’t have a Bible—we have Bible here for you.
Our passage starts on page (23).
Or you can use the Bible App to follow the sermon and take notes.
A watch looks simple enough when you look at it’s face.
But when you open it up it’s full of complexity.
There is so much more going on under the surface.
Salvation is like this.
Let’s read our passage this morning.
Takeaway: God’s grace works powerfully to save.
I. Purpose of Law, II.
Intervention, III.
Justification, IV.
Redemption, and V. Propitiation.
I.
The Purpose of the Law (19-20)
Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
The past couple of weeks Paul has been explaining the gospel.
Which is the good news that Jesus has come to save people from the judgment of their sin.
And Paul has been showing us from Scripture how we are unworthy to receive it.
This gift from God is grace.
Story of my son getting a treat and not deserving it.
But man’s sinful heart doesn’t want grace—we want to earn salvation.
And so the law often becomes an “opportunity” for us to be “good enough” —That’s certainly what the Pharisees thought.
But Paul is clear here.
The Law has 2 main purposes:
1.
Every mouth is stopped.
Mark 10 a rich young ruler comes to Jesus and wants eternal life.
Jesus lays out the commandments and the ruler says, “I’ve kept all of these commandments from youth.”
Maybe here the man expected to receive the gift of eternal life.
But the text says Jesus loved him, so he told him a hard thing.
“Go and sell all your possessions, give them to the poor, and follow me.”
Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.
And then give your life to follow me.”
This man did not kept the law perfectly from his youth.
The law touches every part of the human heart and where we may be excelling in one place we are dropping the ball somewhere else.
The law is vast because God’s holiness is vast.
In Leviticus 21:8 God calls us to “be holy as he is holy.”
The law shuts every human mouth because it calls us to be as holy as God himself is—and we all fall short.
2. That the world may be held accountable.
God the good judge will not let any sin go unaccounted for.
In our world people get away with horrible things.
There are terrible injustices that never made right because human eyes and human courts never see them.
But God sees all things.
Every single sin that is committed in this world will find itself exposed to the light of God’s justice at the end of days.
All mouths will be shut at their boasting—all sin will be held accountable and judged.
The law is not a glimmer of salvation for us—a ladder so that we can escape the guilt of our sin.
The law is a magnifying glass that shows us just how desperate our situation is.
This is what Paul has been showing us!
Now as we continue in our text we turn the corner from the bad news of the gospel and we see the riches that are within salvation.
Paul wants us to see under the hood so to speak.
I just recently had the privilege of leading someone to Christ and when they had accepted Christ I told them, “You’re saved.
An angel isn’t going to descend from Heaven and fire works aren’t going to go off.
But you are changed.”
A lot is going on behind the scenes is that moment when someone turns from death to life and Paul wants us to worship God and marvel at what he does.
First treasure of the gospel...
II.
Intervention (21a)
Romans 3:21 “But now…”
There are many glorious words in the Bible.
Majestic depictions of God’s glory.
Powerful pictures of his might and power.
But the most glorious words in all of the Bible are right here.
“But now.”
We’ve been studying how deep the wound of sin goes in the human heart.
And it’s deep.
The beginning of verse 21 tells us that God did not leave us in this way—He did not leave us as those who cannot seek him—with hearts that are far away from Him.
God has done for sinners what they could not do themselves.
He did not leave us in our helpless state.
God has been promising and talking about his rescue of his people from the very beginning.
Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””
And throughout redemptive history we see God give his people pictures and symbols of the coming messiah.
The ark.
The Paschal lamb.
The lifted serpent.
One of my joys in reading scripture is when I see a new picture of Jesus that I hadn’t seen before.
All of these pointed forward to Jesus—and here in Romans 3:21 we see that the substance of what these types and shadows, ceremonies and symbols pointed to has come!
What did the OT saints look forward to?
What do you look back to?
All the eyes of God’s people throughout history look to the cross.
And on the cross we see that Jesus justifies us.
III.
Justification & Redemption (21-24a)
Romans 3:21-24 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
The law stands to condemn, to shut mouths, and hold the world accountable.
But God shows us that righteousness—which we need to be in right standing before God—has been shown (manifested) apart from the law.
They point to it, but they don’t accomplish it.
The human heart makes an idol of self.
We want to save ourselves.
We want to be the hero.
We want to owe nobody.
We want to be beholden to no one.
The creature screams against the creator for creating Him.
but Paul is clear here, “the righteousness of God (is) through faith (belief in the promise) in Jesus Christ (and this is) for all who believe.
“Our salvation is not by works, but by faith that God has worked for us through Jesus.”
We are justified in Jesus.
So, what is justification?
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