Romans 3:21-31
Righteousness Through Faith
(21)But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (22)This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, (23)for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24)and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (25)God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— (26)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.
(27)Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. (28)For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (29)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. (31)Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Question – Does every person who believes in Christ gain the righteousness that will get them salvation? NO.
(21)But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (22)This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
“Righteousness from God comes through faith and belief in Jesus Christ”
We read in the bible about the devil tempting Jesus while in the desert. I think it is pretty clear that the devil believed that Christ was for real. Did the devil gain salvation through that belief? No! Why?
Because you have to have not just belief but FAITH in Christ also, faith in who He is, faith in what He stands for, faith in that what He did on the cross was for us and faith in what He asks of us.
Faith is a powerful thing, especially when it is strong faith. The type of faith that gains you your salvation must be strong and true. You must be sure in your faith in Christ and what He has done for you. Your faith must be a life changing faith.
Some say that God is a loving God and everyone goes to heaven. Well they have the first half right, God is a loving God and it does not make Him happy to send those that do not come to faith to hell.
Luke 13:23-25
23Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, 24"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ’Sir, open the door for us.’ "But he will answer, ’I don’t know you or where you come from.’
So my question to you is this, how strong is your faith? How strong is your faith? Well Jesus gives us a parable that I think works well with this question.
Mathew 13:3-8 The Parable of the Sower
3"A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
What kind of soil are you?
Are you just a path that the seed of God has fallen on and being it was just on the surface of you got eaten by birds?
Are you a rocky place where there is not much soil and when the sun hits the struggling sprout it dries up and withers away?
Are you like the soil that is amongst thorns that when Gods seed starts to grow it just gets choked out by these weeds.
Or are you the good soil that when Gods seed is placed, it produces a crop a hundred, sixty or thirty times over.
If you are the good soil, and I pray you are, then you will produce a crop many times over. You will be productive in building Gods kingdom and you will play a key role in drawing Gods people to him. And those that you help draw near to God will like you be saved by Gods grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Justified by grace
(23)For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24)and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (25)God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— (26)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.
Christ suffered tremendously for my sins. Christ suffered tremendously for your sins. He suffered beyond anything I know I could imagine. Then God put Him on display to show the world that the sins of those who would have faith in Him would no longer have them used against them in condemnation. The payment was made in full.
Isaiah 53:3-6
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
God is a just God, and someone had to pay the price for our sins, and it was a heavy price, and the only one who could have accomplished this was Christ.
But we must bare the responsibility of this. We must take personal responsibility for the suffering, for the pain, for the torment, of the One who loved us enough to die for us. It was my sin that killed Him.
John Piper said
“If God were not just, there would be no demand for His Son to suffer and die. And if God were not loving, there would be no willingness for His Son to suffer and die. But God is both just and loving. Therefore his love is willing to meet the demands of His justice.”
God’s law demanded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” But we have all loved other things more. This is what sin is – dishonoring God by preferring other things over Him, and acting on those preferences. Therefore, the Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We glorify what we enjoy most. And it isn’t God.
We are for sure sinful people. And God does love us very much; even after all we did against Him, to still send His Son to die on the cross for us who would believe in His Son Jesus Christ.
I guess that’s why He is God and not us. I can’t imagine after someone raking me through the coals like that time after time and then sending my son out to save that person and in doing so knowing that my son was going to die while doing it.
God does not care who you are or what you have done; all He cares about is you coming to faith in Christ. That is what God cares about.
(29)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.
(31)Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Remember it was the law that God had given us to show us our sin and draw us to Christ. Once there now the law is on our hearts to follow with a true desire, not that it will gain us anything, we do it not perfectly, we do it just because we now have a desire to be more like Christ.
We are all imperfect; we are all undeserving of any love that God gives us. But just know that Christ’s righteousness was put in place of our unrighteousness because we are loved.
