God’s Plan for Your Good
Romans 3:9-24 9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
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.
Introduction
-Several years ago a new product called “Disposable Guilt Bags” appeared in the supermarkets. It consisted of a set of ten ordinary brown bags on which were printed the following instructions: “Place the bag securely over your mouth, take a deep breath and blow all your guilt out, then dispose of the bag immediately.” The amazing thing about this is that the Associated Press reported that 2,500 kits had been quickly sold at $2.50 per kit.
-Wouldn’t it be great if we could dispose of our guilt so easily? Unfortunately, though, there is nothing on this earth powerful enough in itself to dispose of our guilt. We cannot fix ourselves, which is what many are trying to do. [Borrowed from Freddy Fritz, Sermoncentral.com]
-So today, I’d like to take a fresh look at God’s plan to fix us, picking up the broken pieces of our lives and making us whole again. Let’s look at God’s plan to make us right with Him.
1. Everyone is guilty before God (9-18)
-Paul begins this chapter by asking if there is any advantage to being Jewish, and answers Yes, it has its privileges. However, as he shows in these verses, that does not mean that Jews are superior to Gentiles. We are all under sin. We are all lawbreakers who stand guilty before a just God.
-Remember what the situation was in the church at Rome? Paul was dealing with the power struggle between the Jews and Gentiles. Some of the Jews considered themselves light years ahead of the Gentiles in their spirituality and closeness to God and His law. Gentiles had provided leadership for the people of God at Rome for 5 years while the Jews were forbidden to enter Rome. But when the Jews came back, there was conflict about what role the Gentiles were really qualified to play.
-Paul is arguing that one’s ethnicity has no bearing on a person’s standing with God. To me this is huge! One thing this shows us is that God is not a racist! Our American culture has grown more tolerant over the years, but many people continue to devalue others simply because they are different.
-So Paul tosses the race card and says, “We are all under sin!” We have nothing to brag about! There is not a single human being, except for Jesus Himself, who is righteous on his or her own account. Nobody is blameless.
-To strengthen his point, Paul cites 5 verses from the Jewish Scriptures in vv. 10-18. The Jews cannot deny these because they are from Scripture and pertain to Jews as well as Gentiles. We’ve all gone the wrong way! We all have sinned and are not qualified or equipped to see God’s glory.
-The Jews believed that a mortal human could not see God and live. We are so weak and frail that God’s glory would overwhelm us. All of life flows from Him and we cannot handle His glory – unless He changes us by breathing His immortal life into us! But by ourselves, without God’s grace we are vv. 10-18.
10-12. None is righteous… no one does good, not even one (Psalm 14:1-2)
13. Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive (Psalm 5:9)
14. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness (Psalm 10:7)
15-17. Their feet are swift to shed blood… the way of peace they do not know (Isaiah 59:7-8)
18. There is no fear of God before their eyes (Psalm 36:1)
-These verses describe mankind doing life without God. Our best efforts do not even come close to preparing us to meet God! So we are all sinful and guilty before a holy God, and as we’ll see in this next point, this is a problem we can’t fix ourselves.
2. Nobody can clear themselves (19-20)
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
-We can’t fix our own sin problem. We can’t make it go away! The law of God helps us see that we have a problem, but it does nothing to help solve that problem.
-The best defense lawyer in the world could not get us off the hook because God, the Judge, knows all things! No slippery defense! No bullying the witnesses! I am guilty of failure to comply with the righteous requirements that come from God.
-In the story of the prodigal son, the youngest son reaches a point of desperation. His money was gone, his friends were gone, his expensive lifestyle was a dim memory. He was feeding pigs but made so little that even the pig slop started looking good to him.
-So even though he had shamed and disappointed his father, he said, I’ll go back and see if he will at least let me work for food. I can’t undo the way I treated him, but maybe he’ll at least allow me to have enough food to stay alive.
-But much to his surprise, when he arrived home and tried to make a deal with his Dad, his Dad ran out to meet him, gave him a bear hug, and threw a celebration for his lost son who had come home and was now found. He reinstated him with all the rights and privileges that came from simply being his son. And that leads us to the next point.
3. Only God can make us right with Him (21)
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
-The prodigal son was not able to earn his way back into his father’s good graces. He was not able to erase his failures or recapture the portion of his life or his inheritance that he had wasted. But, there was one who could forgive him and take away the shame of his failures. His father took what appears to be a lame, yet strategic attempt at repentance (I’ve sinned against heaven and against you), and restored him to favor.
-He didn’t deserve it! And that really ticked the older brother off! He was a quitter, a waster, and a loser! Why was Dad giving him the royal treatment? Isn’t that like rewarding evil? “Dad! Look at all I’ve done for you! And you haven’t thrown a party for me!” Wah, wah, wah!
-But even though the lost son didn’t deserve to be restored to his Father’s favor, His father was quick to do so, and with flair! Why? Because the son believed that his father could and would provide for him- even though he had failed so badly. “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known.”
-Jesus paid for our failures with His death on the cross! And the Law and the Prophets predicted or foretold this hundreds of years in advance. God had a plan from before time began to make us right with Him and restore us to His favor. How does that plan work? I’m glad you asked!
4. Trusting Jesus brings life and forgiveness (22-24)
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.
-It might seem real complicated sometimes, but God kept it pretty simple for us so that even a child could understand. When we put our faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross for our sins, God gives us His righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
-So by believing and trusting Jesus, we are freely made right with God because of what Jesus did for us by dying for our sins.
-We’ve all messed up pretty bad! We’ve all sinned! We’ve all been self-seeking. We’ve all gone our own way and turned our backs on God. But He loves us and continues to call us into a life-filled relationship with Him.
Conclusion
-R.C. Buckner, a big, bold and brash man, lived about 100 years ago in Texas. This imposing figure had a very tender heart for children, starting Buckner’s Children’s Homes all across the state. The children affectionately called him “Papa Buckner” and would run up to him every time he visited. He would always take the time to pick up each and every child and give them a hug.
-One day he was visiting one of the homes and was hugging all the children gathered around him when he noticed a little girl who was standing with her face against the wall. He discovered that she had been seriously burned in an accident, and had a terrible scar on her face. He went over to her and asked, “Sweetheart, don’t you want Papa Buckner to hug you?” Without turning around she snarled, “No, I’m too ugly.” Papa Buckner knelt down, picked her up in his burly arms, turned her face gently toward his, looked right into her eyes and then planted a tender kiss right on the burned portion of her face. After he kissed her, he said, “Sweetheart, you are beautiful to me, and you are beautiful to God.”
-Folks, the holy and awesome God of the universe bent down and kissed the scars of our sin when He sent the Savior to the world. In spite of our hideous deformities and our unholy depravity, He wraps His arms around us, turns our face toward His and says, “You are beautiful to me!”
• I’ve blown it, but I’m beautiful to God
• I’m flawed, but fully forgiven
[Borrowed from Brian Bill, sermoncentral.com]
-If you need to make things right with God today, there is no better time or place than here and now.
1. Everyone is guilty before God (9-18)
2. Nobody can clear themselves (19-20)
3. Only God can make us right with Him (21)
4. Trusting Jesus brings life and forgiveness (22-24)
-If you ask Him, God will take away your sin and no longer hold it against you. If you put your trust in Jesus, you will experience a change that begins on the inside, but that continues until it becomes evident on the outside!
