Romans Chapter 3 Verses 24-25 - Messages In Romans – Great Biblical Words We Must Know – Justification And Propitiation – How Can A Guilty Person Be Pardoned? Message 12 Series

ROMANS CHAPTER 3 VERSES 24-25 - MESSAGES IN ROMANS – GREAT BIBLICAL WORDS WE MUST KNOW – JUSTIFICATION AND PROPITIATION – HOW CAN A GUILTY PERSON BE PARDONED? MESSAGE 12

Paul has spent careful time showing that the whole world is guilty before God and there is not one who is righteous. He has brought the whole world in condemned before a righteous and holy God, a God who must judge and punish sin. Any iniquity of any kind can not abide in His presence. Now Paul leads us on the path out of that condemnation of sin, and opens the windows of light on two of the greatest words in Romans – JUSTIFICATION and PROPITIATION. We will look at each of these.

[A]. THE GREAT PINNACLE OF JUSTIFICATION BORN OUT OF GRACE AND REDEMPTION

{{Romans 3:24 “BEING JUSTIFIED AS A GIFT BY HIS GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS”}}

How wonderful it is in a court of law when a not guilty verdict is finally announced for an innocent person. But if a guilty person is tried in court and the guilt is real, what does it mean when a not guilty verdict is given? How can a guilty person be pardoned?

Well in man’s justice system we start thinking of a miscarriage of justice. How can the guilty be pardoned and excused? There must be some factor we are missing. What if the guilty person is standing before the judge and he announces, “You are not guilty. There is no record of your crimes. In fact they were never committed.” What do we make of that total lack of sentencing?

God has a record of sins stored up against the day of judgement that will most certainly be the great white throne of Revelation chapter 20. There the sins will be enumerated and judgement passed according to what is written in the books, and all there are sentenced. However for the Christian, there is no record of sin.

I spoke on this matter in a message from the Songs of Ascent – Psalm 130. That message is in the folder on SermonCentral in the folder of that name in my sermon series. Here are two verses from that Psalm – {{Psalm 130:3 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Psalm 130:4 But there is FORGIVENESS with You that You may be feared.”}}

The Lord marks iniquities and no one can stand, BUT THERE IS FORGIVENESS. Every single person is guilty every single day. However there is no record of the sins of a Christian because such a record does not exist. It did exist, once, but no longer exists. How can this be the case?

Here is the verse – {{1John 1:7 “but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and THE BLOOD of Jesus His Son CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN.”}} The Christian has his sins cleansed and forgiven. Forgiven sins are not on any record. They do not exist. We are made whole when we are converted and the blood of Jesus Christ washes us pure white.

There is not one sin that condemns a truly born again Christian to separation from God. In case you are wondering, when we enter God’s presence either through the Rapture or through the doorway of death, most likely there is some unconfessed sin in our lives but that will be dealt with immediately when we pass to be with the Lord. Nothing will condemn us. We do pick up some contamination from the world in our walk for not one is in a state of sinless perfection, but that is not a problem for salvation.

Now we will come to the process that makes this possible. Never forget the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is central to all aspects of our belief. Our sins deserved penalty and eternal death but the penalty that was ours was born by the Son of God when He became sin for us, and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Because the penalty was paid through the suffering of the Lamb on the cross there is no more penalty for us. That is a beautiful example of substitution.

When Abraham offered Isaac, there was a substitute there in the bushes and that ram died instead of Isaac. Christ died instead of us. How much we owe Him and yet, how often we think lightly of His sacrifice for us. That is one reason why the Lord wants us to remember Him in the Lord’s Supper weekly as was practised in the Acts. The reminder of the Lord’s crucifixion before us, is for our edification. Never think lightly of the Lord’s death for you!