Declared Righteous

Alba 8-15-2021

Declared Righteous

Romans 3:27-31

We come together today sharing the grief we have as a church family. This is a time of deep sadness for us all. There are no words to fully express what we feel. The shock. The tragic loss. The questions – “Why?”

The Bible calls death the last enemy. Our hope is in the fact that one day even death will be destroyed. At times like these, all the more, our hope is in Jesus.

Last week we looked at Romans 3:23 that exposes us for what we are. Sin is a problem for us all. We are all sinners. And without Jesus there is no hope.

I heard a story about a burglar from Belgium who was surprised while he was robbing a house. When he heard the homeowners returning, he fled out the back door.

He then climbed over a 9-foot wall, dropped down on the other side, and found himself in the city prison! It is impossible to run from God because you’ll eventually be imprisoned by your own sins.

There are people who say that it’s not fair that innocent people go to Hell. I agree. Actually, no good person has ever gone to Hell because the Bible says no one is innocent and everyone is guilty!

We all deserve damnation. The truth is, God is far more holy than we realize, and we are far more sinful than we recognize.

Yet God's Word teaches that through what Jesus did for us on the cross, He will not give us what we deserve – that’s mercy. In addition, God is willing to give us exactly what we don’t deserve – that is called grace.

So the apostle Paul asks the following question in Romans 3:27

“27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.”

Then he continues in verses 28-30 saying: “28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too?

“Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.”

We might wish to boast of the many good things we have done. And

certainly each one of us could make a fairly long list, I am sure. Nevertheless, anyone who is privileged to share a place in God's heaven will not be able to boast about what they did to get there.

I’m reminded of the preacher who was really burnt out from ministry, and one Saturday afternoon, not wanting to stand up and preach again the next day, he decided that he’d tell a little white lie and call in sick, having his associate minister preach for him.

He, instead, would spend that Sunday morning on the golf course. Sunday morning dawned and the day was absolutely gorgeous, perfect for golf.

The minister arrived a little early for his tee time, and on the driving range, he was long and straight; his practice wedges were accurate; everything seemed right for a great day of golf.

But things got better. On the first par 3 he approached; he used his 7-iron, the ball landed on the green, took two bounces, and plunked right into the middle of the cup. A beautiful hole-in-one if there ever was one.

Observing all of this from on high were a pair of angels, Gabriel and Michael. “Can you believe that?”, asked Gabriel. “That scoundrel of a preacher lies about being sick, skips church, heads to the golf course, and promptly hits a hole-in-one. How can God allow that? That is so wrong!”

“Oh, I think God knows what He’s doing”, said Michael. “Yeah? How’s that? God lets this skunk get a hole-in-one playing hooky from church? Why would God do that?”

“Easy”, replied the wise angel. “Who’s he gonna tell?” Michael understood human nature; the fun of getting the hole-in-one isn’t so much in sinking the ball in the hole, but in letting everybody know that you sunk the ball in the hole!

Why? Because we love to boast about ourselves! Some of us may do it in a more modest fashion, rather than in a boisterous way.

Btill we all naturally want other people to like us, to think highly of us, and frankly, we want to think highly of ourselves. So one of our bad habits is boasting.

But scripture here makes it clear that we have nothing to boast about concerning our salvation no matter how many good things we have done.

Imagine a person being brought to trial for several charges of shoplifting. It would be useless for that person to appeal to the judge by saying: "Don't forget all the good I do. I’m sure that all my good actions outweigh my bad."