Introduction:
Many years ago in a church in England, a preacher entered the pulpit and said: Brethren, before I preach, allow me to tell this story. Many years have passed since I was in this place. On that evening there came three young men, not only with the intention of scoffing at the minister, but with their pockets filled with stones to throw at the preacher. After a few words, one of them said, “Let us be at him now.” But the second replied, “No, let’s hear how he does.” The minister went on, when the second one said, “We have heard enough; now throw your stones.” But the third stopped them, saying, “He is not so foolish as I thought; let us hear him out.” The minister preached and ended his sermon without being interrupted. “Now listen! One of these three young men was executed a few months ago. The second lies under sentence of death in the city jail for murder. The third,” continued the minister, while the tears ran down his cheeks, “through the grace of God, is the one who is speaking to you now.” Paul could say much the same thing.
WBTU:
A. In our series through Romans focusing on grace through Jesus Christ, we come to two verses in the middle of ch. 1 that summarize what Paul is going to talk about throughout ch. 1-8.
B. Up to vs. 16 Paul has used the word gospel 4 times. One each in vs. 16 and 17.
The word gospel simply means “good news.” So much bad news, good to hear good news.
Last Sunday night we talked about vs. 16- the pride, power, pardon, and the people of gospel
Thesis: Let’s talk about the gospel from vs. 17
For instances:
The righteousness of the gospel
In vs. 16 Paul says the gospel is God’s power unto salvation. Vs. 17 answers the question as to why this is so. The source of the gospel’s saving power is “the righteousness of God.”
What is righteousness? Obedience and submission to a pattern or rule. When applied to us righteousness means conforming to God’s law or satisfying the requirements of God’s law.
What is the righteousness of God? God is the one who gave us a pattern, rules, and Law. To say that God is righteous means that his actions are always true to his nature. Righteousness when applied to God is God’s faithfulness to himself, to his own nature and to His own Word.
God will never act in a way that is contrary to His nature or His Word.
God must be true to His nature, and with this we come up against the idea that we are do not conform to God’s law or satisfy the requirements of God’s Law.
Galatians 3:10: All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
God is a holy God and He will punish sin. Romans 1:18
How can God’s eternal wrath be considered “good news”?
Martin Luther was one who had a great awareness of his sin, and because of this he had a great awareness that God would punish him. When he came upon the phrase, the righteousness of God, in this verse, he had a hard time because it is described as good news.
His life and heart began to change when he understood that this is not talking about the righteousness of God’s nature (which is true), but it is talking about something else. This righteousness is God’s saving gift to sinners.
The righteousness of God here is imputed righteousness. In other words, it is a righteousness established by someone else (Jesus Christ) and set down to our account and counted as our own. This results in a righteous standing or status before God.
God must punish sin, but here is the heart of the gospel. Jesus came as our substitute. Jesus kept the law, but suffered the penalty for us.
Galatians 3:13: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
God transfers Christ’s payment of the law’s penalty to the sinner’s account. This is how the sinner is justified, or counted righteous: he is counted as having already paid the penalty for his sins. In other words, I am justified not because God treats me “just if I’d” never sinned, but because he treats me “just if I’d” already paid my penalty.
The best way to understand this is to picture myself as a defendant standing in a courtroom before God as the presiding Judge, and to hear God pronounce His verdict: No penalty for you! Shouldn’t it be Not Guilty! No, we are as guilty as sin, but Jesus paid our penalty.
By this verdict, at a specific, instantaneous moment we are changed from being 0% forgiven to being 100% forgiven before God. We should not think that only some of our sins are forgiven, that we are 65% or 92% or 98% forgiven. That would not be enough. Thanks be to God, all of our sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 53:5-6: 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. 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.
NIV- The righteous will live by faith. What does justification and righteousness have to do with each other? a great deal. KJV- the just (justified) shall live by faith.
The Vitality of the gospel- The righteous will LIVE by faith
Vitality is “The capacity to live, grow, and develop.” Being alive
Without Jesus Christ and the gospel, we are dead in so many ways. Jesus said in John 10:10: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (abundantly).
Ephesians 2:3-5: All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
We are no longer in bondage to sin. We were made alive in regard to spiritual things, but beyond this, we are made alive forevermore. We have eternal life as opposed to eternal death.
Two deaths. The first death is physical death where the soul/ spirit separate from the body. The second death is eternal separation from God in hell. Jesus says in John 11:25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
“I want to really live.” If we want to truly live, we need the gospel and Jesus Christ.
John 4:14: the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Springs of Living Water- I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame, And nothing satisfying there I found; But to the blessed cross of Christ one day I came, Where springs of living water did abound. Chorus: Drinking at the springs of living water, Happy now am I, my soul they satisfy; Drinking at the springs of living water, O wonderful and bountiful supply.
The Faith of the gospel
The righteous (just) will live by faith.
Goes on to describe this faith even more in the phrase (NIV) by faith from first to last- Difficult to interpret and describe this phrase. English Standard Version- from faith for faith. KJV- from faith to faith. New Living- accomplished from start to finish by faith.
I like this explanation and it involves the three tenses of salvation. Remember conjugating verbs in English class, Past, present and future. Saved in the past through the cross of Christ, saved in the present through the plan of salvation and then living the Christian life, saved in the future on the Day of Judgment where we are pronounced, “No penalty for you!”
This is the way faith works in all 3 time periods. Our faith in Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins (past), our faith in the present that Jesus is helping us to deal with our sins through the plan of salvation (baptism) and then through the Holy Spirit after baptism, and our faith in the future that Jesus will pardon us at the judgment. Past, present and future.
Now, here is the matter that is a problem for many Christians. Jesus forgives us of all of our sins, past, present and future. I know that Jesus forgives me of my past sins, that was taken care of in baptism. However, what about my present sins, the sins after baptism. I have to confess my sins (1 John 1:9) and be repentant and then Jesus will forgive me of my present sins. If I don’t, then I am not forgiven of my present sins and my salvation is in question.
If this is the case, shouldn’t we also include baptism in this formula for forgiveness of present sins. The plan of salvation includes belief, confession, repentance, and baptism. Therefore, every time we sin, we also need to be baptized. This would be helpful when we consider that there are sins that we commit that we just forget about. All of us would need to be baptized every week and many of us every day. A problem, one baptism in Ephesians 4.
This kind of thinking contributes to Galatianism. This is why Paul wrote the Galatian letter. This idea is that we are saved by grace when we responded to the gospel in our past, but we stay saved by our works that we do in the present. Galatians 3:3: Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
There is only one set of conditions for receiving and retaining God’s grace. Everything we receive as fulfilling the 4 conditions (plan of salvation), stay with us after baptism through faith. We do not simply become justified by faith in baptism, but we remain justified by our continuing faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We can rest upon God’s promise that we remain 100% justified by our faith. Might be 50% holy, but 100% forgiven or justified.
From first to last or from start to finish it is by faith.
