1. READ THROUGH vv9-20 -- By the time we come to v9 here in CH3, the Holy Spirit wants us to understand something…
a. Everyone, everywhere is in need of God’s wonderful grace.
b. No matter what spiritual background you might have…
c. No matter what national background you might have…
d. No matter how good you are, how much you give, how religious you might live.
e. Nobody is better than anyone else… we are all equally charged and convicted as GUILTY before God!
f. ALL people that have ever lived have failed to meet God’s standard of rightness… --
NOW after reading through this section the question remains:
• How does someone get to heaven?
• I mean if being good won’t do it.
• AND no one seeks after God.
• AND being religious doesn’t do it.
• AND trying to obey God’s Law doesn’t do it.
• AND trying to make God happy doesn’t do it. THEN HOW?
NOTE: How a person answers that question will determine how they will spend their life here on earth and on into eternity.
• And yes, there are countless answers but only ONE is correct.
• Paul makes it clear… Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved!
WHAT? I’ve heard about this church & I’m a little surprised that you’re so narrow minded… there are a lot of good religions out there! – BUT LISTEN, what IF Jesus IS the only way?
• What if He answers every one of your objections…?
#1 – I’ve never seen God so I really don’t believe in a God.
• Well… Paul tackles that in CH 1 when He says, oh yes, you’ve seen God… look at His creation! (Look back at 1:20)
#2 – Well there are billions of people on the earth that don’t even have a Bible. Your God isn’t fair making Jesus the standard.
• Well, in CH2 Paul says the Gentile has God’s word… it’s written on their hearts! You know the diff between right and wrong!
• Look at 2:14-16
#3 – Well, I’m very religious even though I don’t believe in Jesus.
• So now here stands the Jew thinking, I’m circumcised, I keep the law, all 613 of them, doesn’t that get me to heaven?
• But see, no one keeps the Law, we’ve all fallen short…
• Religion & religious activities aren’t the way out… Jesus is!
So IS John 14:6 really a narrow minded statement OR a way out of my empty earthly existence to holy happiness with my Creator?
• So how does one get to heaven?
• You want the right answer to that question.
IT WOULD BE LIKE asking someone for directions because you were in a new town and you’re not familiar with the area.
• If they gave you the wrong directions you’re lost!
• And the longer the journey, the more you get lost!
• SO WHEN YOU ASK FOR DIRECTIONS on how to get to heaven, you better be right!
• And that’s the first direction Paul gives us…
• We’re all condemned under sin…
• SO THAT GOD might freely give salvation to anyone who places their trust in His Son, Jesus Christ!
I. (3:21-26) RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REVEALED
1. (21) But Now…
• These are wonderful, life giving words because none of us can keep the law.
• These 2 words mark a major transition in Romans.
• We move from the wrath of God to the Grace of God.
• The righteousness God demands is the very righteousness God provides!
APP: We come across this word “BUT” a lot in the Bible.
• Just as great doors swing on very ordinary hinges, so too dramatic changes in the Bible often hinge on this simple word.
• Sometimes it begins a downward spiral…
1 Kings 11:1 (NKJV) 1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—
2 Chronicles 26:16 (NKJV) 16 But when he (Uzziah) was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Exodus 8:15 (NKJV) But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.
• Other times it’s beginning of something wonderful & great!
Genesis 6:8 (NKJV) 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Luke 15:20 (NKJV) 20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
• FLIP OVER TO EPHESIANS 2:1-7ff
• God breaks in to help! He’s full of, rich in, mercy!
• So many times there is a darkness in life that tends to blind us from the reality of God & His faithfulness.
• YET as dark & difficult & dreary as things look now… BUT GOD!
Many of you are here right now, listening in JUST TO BE reminded of God… who is rich in mercy!
• It’s hard finding a job, making ends meet… BUT GOD.
• I’m struggling in my marriage… BUT GOD.
• My kids aren’t walking with the Lord… BUT GOD.
• I’m sick and body is shutting down… BUT GOD.
• I can’t overcome this, or that… BUT GOD.
• Flip back to Isaiah 55.6-9
BUT NOW the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…
• This is the heart of the Gospel message… salvation to the undeserving… salvation to those who can’t…
• Man is guilty before God, dead in his trespasses and sins.
• But God, in His infinite love, reached down to us, giving us the opportunity to enjoy fellowship with Him.
Hebrews 2:9 (NKJV) 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
Ephesians 2:7 (NKJV) 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
THE TRUTHS OF GOD’S INFINITE LOVE & GRACE only become more sparkling, more wonderful, more settling, more powerful…
• After we understand just how much we need Him!
Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, didn’t come from man.
• It’s God’s plan from beginning to end and is unfolded for us throughout God’s Word.
1 Peter 1:20 (NKJV) 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
Jesus, the Messiah, doesn’t contradict the Old Testament, but rather He fulfills the Law.
• The gospel isn’t new… it’s not some human novelty.
• But its roots are deeply imbedded in the Old Testament Law.
REMEMBER: The Law was both MORAL & CEREMONIAL.
• The MORAL LAW was designed to uncover & reveal sin.
• When your life was measured by the moral law, you walked away knowing that you’re weren’t perfect.
• THE CEREMONIAL LAW was designed to provide temporary covering for the sin that was exposed.
• Although sin was covered, it was not completely taken away.
Hebrews 10:4-5 (NKJV) 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.
EACH TIME the priest would offer a sacrifice, God was giving the people a picture of the coming LAMB OF GOD who would take away the sins of the world.
When we think of Jesus coming to die for our sins, we think back to the prophet Isaiah… Look at Isa 53:1ff
• He both died as a substitute for us (v6) but also credited our lives with His righteousness by faith (v11)!
• The gospel isn’t a new thing… it has its roots in the Old Test.
• Flip back to Genesis 15:5… Abraham believed God.
• Look over now at Psalm 27… 100’s of years before it ever took place we read of crucifixion! It wasn’t even invented yet.
APP: We could never be RIGHT before God in our own RIGHTNESS.
• Some of you might be thinking that “I’m doing pretty good right now, doing some things for God, giving a little here and there.”
• God doesn’t accept you based on how good you’re doing.
• You’re not kept by how good you are. -- It’s the power of God.
• God wasn’t surprised with your life when you believed on Him!
• He didn’t think, OH MAN, Ed REALLY IS messed up!
• No He knew, and He wants me convinced that I have nothing good that I can offer God.
• God’s righteous, perfect standard has silenced us! (19-20)
And that’s the beauty of v21… But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…
• God rushes in to help… to rescue… to deliver us from ourselves.
• Mark that word, PROPITIATION… we don’t’ use it much.
• It literally means, “atoning victim’ or ‘mercy seat’.
• Jesus is our propitiation… you & I should have died, but instead He died and hung on that cross… He suffered for me. He hung in agony for me. He gave His life for me.
• Confucius didn’t hang on a cross, Buddha didn’t hang on a cross, Mohammed, Wayne Dyer, L Ron Hubbard, Dr. Phil…
• But my Jesus did and that’s why He can say, I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH & THE LIFE!
• That’s the whole heart, the whole idea… it’s not a narrow minded statement, it’s an accurate one.
• The cross of Jesus Christ is the place where you will find forgiveness and love and help with the sin that has so completely devastated your life.
What will you do with God’s perfect Son? Receive or Reject Him?
Turn over to Revelation 8:1ff for a moment…
• We’re standing before the throne of God and when the 7th seal is broken, there is silence in heaven for about ½ an hour.
• I can’t believe I’m here. I haven’t kept the law. I know my heart. I know my deeds. I know my mistakes.
• I don’t’ belong here. Wow God, your grace is so wonderful.
• God THIS is only your grace, it’s only by grace that I’m saved.
• It’s not because of my works. I can’t boast about anything Lord.
• Wow, I can’t believe that I’m here. I can’t believe…
• I can’t believe that THEY’RE here! Look at that, He made it!
• She’s here. IT MUST BE GOD’S GRACE!
It’s True… The cross of Jesus Christ is the place where you will find forgiveness and love and help with the sin that has so completely devastated your life.
• What will you do with God’s perfect Son?
• Receive or Reject Him?
