Hi fellow readers, I have just come back from an excellent christian conference called SPRTE and mission in Nowra. When I get a chance, I will write a review. However, I preached on mission at Nowra Baptist, Greenwell Point and Culburra Baptist on Sin and God's Solution. So I'll thought I'll share it with you.
Point 1 – Our Human Problem
We have all heard the saying, “If you want to get it done right... you have to do it yourself.”
Or perhaps you have heard the saying “If you want something good in your life... you must get it yourself.”
Now, these sayings, which are focused on us and our abilities to make things right and good, are actually a reflection on the way our world thinks and acts.
Sadly, this kind of thinking, has also distorted people’s understanding of how we get right with God.
So instead of getting right with God through faith, people have actually added works, where good works is required to be in the right with God.
Now a few months ago back home on my university campus, I went around asking people that if they were to die and come before God, and God was to say “Why should I let you into heaven”, what would their response be?
And you know almost all of them said to me, Yeah, God should let me in because I’m a good person, I mean, I haven’t murdered anyone, I haven’t really stolen anything, there is a couple of times when I have lied, but really, lying isn’t that bad, doesn’t everyone do it?
Now, how might you respond to someone who thinks this way?
Would you agree with them?
Should they be allowed to enter heaven and be in the right with God?
Well, the book of Romans actually highlights a major problem with this type of thinking. The problem is that people, people like you and I, have rejected God and because of our rejection, we run away from God, not living his way but living for our own desires.
We see this in chapter 3 where it says that no one is righteous, no one is good, doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, doesn’t matter if you’re from Sydney or from Nowra, no, not even one, there is no one who understands God, no one who seeks God for all have turned away.
If God was to put the entire human race into his court room right now, would there be anyone who would be good enough to be right with God?
Would there be anyone who is not wicked?
Anyone who is not evil?
Have you ever lied?
Have you ever been greedy?
Have you ever been full of envy, or slanderous, or arrogant and boastful?
Well let me tell you that God’s sentence for rejecting him and not living his way is facing his judgment and his wrath and eternal condemnation.
Therefore our only response should be one of silence because we have nothing to say to our defence.
In the beginning of our passage that we read earlier in verse 20, we see this exact problem,
we see that when we compare our lives to the law, to God’s commands,
it shows us that we don’t actually deserve to be in the right with God because we don’t actually live for him, we have a problem with our hearts, a problem called sin.
Now, if this is the case, if indeed we are sinful, then how can we be right with God?
Well God has actually provided a solution for us and it’s a solution which is done completely at his own expense.
Point 2 – God’s Solution to our Problem
This brings us to our passage today/tonight,
now before we begin; let’s turn our attention to God in prayer asking that he will help us to understand the passage as we look at it together.
So let’s prayer,
Heavenly father, we give you thanks for making yourself know to us through your word and we ask you now to clear our minds of any distractions and we ask you to change us by your spirit to live for you. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Amen.
Now I hope you have your bibles open and let’s pick it up from verse 21. This is God’s solution to our problem,
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace”
Now last week, I want down at a conference in Canberra.
And one thing I noticed was that there were some blokes who actually wore the same shirt every day.
And by the end of the conference, these blokes actually had a number of interesting stains on their shirt,
they had pasta stains on one side, they had tomato source on the other and they had pen marks as far as the eye could see.
In a similar way, our sin is like a filthy shirt that just never wants to get cleaned.
Even when we try to wash it with good works, it just doesn’t want to become spotless.
But you know God has actually provided a solution,
he has justified us which means that he has declared us right before him and he does this by removing our filthy shirt and replacing it with a spotless one.
Now if God’s a holy God who is angry at sin,
how is it even fair or just that he could forgive a sinner like you and I and declare us right before him?
Wouldn’t that make God immoral?
Wouldn’t it make sin seem like it’s not that bad?
Well if we read verse 24 again, it says that,
God has “justified us freely by his grace, as a free gift, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood.”
God did through Jesus what we could not do,
because of God’s mercy he wills to forgive sinful people, to forgive you and me and to declare us right before him,
but to do this, God had to deal with our human problem,
he had to deal with our sin,
and he dealt with it through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Now the word redemption is actually a commercial term borrowed from the slave marketplace.
It was used when talking about slaves who were purchased at a price in order to be set free.
So how does God rescue you and redeem you?
Well it’s because God has payed a price,
the price was his son who came to give his life as a random for many.
And he did this in order to set you free from your bondage to sin so that you may be free to live for God.
How did God do this,
well, God presented Jesus on the cross as a sacrifice of atonement for our sins.
Now, in the Old Testament God introduced a sacrificial system where God’s people needed to make sacrifices regularly so that their sins would be atoned for,
however the sacrifice could never really atone for the sins of those people,
rather God introduced the sacrificial system to teach the seriousness of sins and that a payment had to be made.
However, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has fully payed the penalty for our sins because Jesus took the full anger of God that we deserved for our rebellion against him.
The NIV footnote for v25 also had more dept into what this means, that Jesus has turned away God’s wrath,
that he has pleased God’s wrath,
taking away sins so that we may be forgiven.
Now we have just talked about three big ideas, these being,
that we are justified, that we redeemed and that Jesus atoned for our sins.
But to make it easier for us to understand these ideas and particularly if you’re a person like me who likes pictures,
I want you to imagine three different locations. These being a law court room, a slave master place and a temple.
So, in a law court, we have a man who is declared guilty and a man named Jesus steps up.
He shouts out “I will pay his punishment for him”.
Jesus then takes his place and the person is let out justified, he is let out innocent and is reconcilled.
Secondly, in a slave market place, there is a man who is chained and is taken off to serve bondage to slavery.
Then a man named Jesus steps up again, he shouts out “I will pay his debt for him” The person is then ransomed, he debt is payed for and his is blessed by Jesus.
And thirdly, at a temple, where they make sacrifices, there is a man who is offering a sacrifice to God, he says “God, here is a cow; I know I don’t deserve it but here it is anyways.”
Jesus then steps up and say “You know, the cow doesn’t really cut it with God, the sacrifice isn't sufficent for your sins, but I can.”
So Jesus takes the punishment the man deserves and the man is filled with assurance that Jesus’ sacrifice fully pay for his sins.
So how do we get right with God?
Well it’s because God at the cross justifies us, he declares us right,
this is possible because God has redeemed us,
he has paid the price and the penalty for our sins by atoning for us by the shedding of his blood.
Now why did God do this, verse 25, “he did it to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
God in his forbearance left the sins of formal generation unpunished to show the seriousness of sin and in God’s own timing he sent Jesus to finally pay the penalty of sin,
the sins of the past, of the present and of the future,
why?,
well God did it to show his justice. That God is just when he forgives a sinner because he paid the penalty himself.
Point 3 – The call for faith in Jesus
So how do we receive this righteousness from God?
Do we receive it by being a good person?
The people on university campus that I spoke to certainly thought this way.
But you know, three times in our passage, we see that this righteousness from God is made available through faith in Jesus.
Verse 22, “through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe”, Verse 25, “through faith in his blood” and verse 26, “God justifies those who have faith in Jesus”.
It is only by faith in Jesus, faith in his death and resurrection,
Faith that his death was sufficient enough to take the penalty for our sins, that we can be declared right with God.
Faith is the eye that looks to Jesus, it is the hand that receives this free gift of righteousness and the heart that receives his word and follows it.
So let me ask you.
How do you stand before God?
What is your plea?
Because if you do not have faith in Jesus, if you have not received this righteousness from God through faith,
then you’re actually much worse of then you probably think you are,
because there is no one who is good, there is no one who is right with God for we all have rejected God.
But as we have heard, God has provided a solution for us and he does offer this solution to you if you receive it by faith.
Now God is patient and he continues to wait patiently for you to trust in Jesus, for you to put your faith in him.
But be warned that there will be a day when Jesus will return to judge the world separating the wicked from the good and on that day it will be too late to turn to him in faith.
So how will you respond?
Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?
If not, why not? Why don’t you put your faith in him today...
If you do have faith in Jesus Christ, that’s great, because you’re actually much better off then you probably think you are since you stand before God declared right,
you stand before God as being good where no wrath can come near you, where no guilt can endanger you and you look forward to the day when Jesus will return to judge the world and to show his final justice.
Friends, it’s great that we are right with God,
so let’s not be ashamed of this great news,
but lets us go out to the world and tell others God’s solution to our problem and let’s remember that the Gospel, this great news,
is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes
Let’s pray,
Heavenly father, we give you thanks that while we were sinners, you sent your son to die for us so that we can be in the right with you, so that we can be redeemed. And that the penalty for our sins was paid by Jesus’ blood on the cross. Lord, we ask you that if we have not put our faith in Jesus, help us to do so and help us to do so knowing that when we put our faith in Jesus, we can be in the right with you because of what Christ did on the cross. Lord, we also pray that you might spur us to pass to message on to others. And we ask this through Jesus’ name.
Amen.
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