Last week - we spoke about Atonement from the perspective of the Old Testament and the New Testament
This week we will take a look at Justification / Salvation from the very same Scripture
Atonement is the foundation for Justification / Salvation
Romans 3:21-26 (read from the Bible)
Francis Chan - two great lies
“You are a good person”
“Because God is a loving God He will not punish”
If these statements were true atonement / justification / salvation - unnecessary
We wouldn’t even have to give Jesus a sideways glance
Jesus would unnecessary
The cross would be unnecessary
Actually, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary would be a waste
Is the atonement / justification / salvation unnecessary because we are good people?
Is the atonement / justification / salvation unnecessary because God is a loving God and He will not punish?
Let’s look at the Bible!
God IS a loving God
Romans 5:6 NIV
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”
We were powerless to save ourselves. We were ungodly sinners. God is the God of Love demonstrated by His death IN OUR PLACE!
Romans 5:7-8 NIV
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Someone might die on the behalf of a righteous or a good person.
We were neither! We were unrighteous sinners!
Illustration - assassination attempt of President Reagan
I remember when the assassination attempt was made on President Reagan’s life. All of the Secret Service agents throwing themselves into the line of fire in order to protect the POTUS and that’s how it should be.
For a great man, for a great cause, noble individuals will lay down their life to preserve the great person or the great cause. Jesus turned all of that upside down!
We weren’t righteous, we weren’t good, we were sinners but here comes the sinless, perfect Son of God, the Creator of everything and He lays down His life for us! From the human level that’s just crazy.
God’s love for us is indeed on a level which we cannot comprehend!
Yet, at the same time God is just on a level which we cannot comprehend!
What does it mean that God is just? It means when someone sins there is a penalty for that sin and that penalty must be paid by someone.
If God just sat back and allowed sin to go unpunished He would, in essence, be a participant in that sin because He refused to hold the sinner responsible.
If your two year old child slaps you in anger and you do nothing about it you can be sure that they will do it again but with more force next time.
We can see God’s justice in judgment in extreme cases throughout the Bible.
Genesis 6:5 NIV
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”
Genesis 19:12-13 NIV
“The two men said to Lot, ‘Do you have anyone else here … who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.’”
Revelation 20:14-15 NIV
“Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
God is indeed just ... but …. God is also merciful!
Romans 3:25-26 NIV
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood - to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness …
“Because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
What sins did He leave unpunished?
- The sins of those alive at the time of Noah?
NO - the flood
- The sins of those in Sodom and Gomorrah?
NO - cities destroyed
- The sins of those written about in Malachi who were presenting lame and
blind animals as offerings of sacrifice?
NO - blind, crippled, diseased animals for sacrifice
So, what sins did He leave unpunished?
Those who lived by faith in God
Abram - offering Isaac
Job - in all of his testing did not curse God and repented
Psalm 24:3-6 NIV
“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.”
“They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, God of Jacob.”
Even though the blood of animals could never really be a satisfactory sacrifice for the sins committed before Jesus’ sacrifice God the Father did not punish the sins of the faithful but withheld His punishment until it could be carried out by placing it upon His One and Only Son. That is mercy!
OK. Let’s go back to the beginning of verse 25 and the end of verse 26
Romans 3:25-26 NIV
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood - to be received by faith … He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
What do we see in these verses?
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood …”
I know we talked about atonement last Sunday but this is one of the most amazing thoughts in the whole Bible; God the Father (or the Triune Godhead) presenting Jesus the Messiah, the only begotten Son of God as a sacrifice (to be put to death!) as an atonement (a covering, a payment of penalty or ransom) for our sin by the shedding of His blood! Can you believe it?
How do we receive this atonement? By faith. By believing. By surrendering our lives to the Lord out of grateful hearts. Amazing, isn’t it?
“He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time …”
Is there anything more righteous that you can think of than the all powerful, all knowing, ever present, Holy, Holy, Holy Creator of all things shedding His blood and giving His life to pay the penalty for lowly, sinful, created creatures?
“… so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
The only way God could be just would be to condemn the guilty and acquit the innocent. But since we are all guilty we were doomed. However … the only true sacrifice that could ever be made that would satisfy the requirements of a just God was paid by Jesus and by His act of self-sacrificing mercy we can be declared not guilty! Acquitted! Righteous! Hallelujah!
And, once again this justice is not by works of righteousness on our part but by faith in Jesus! Bu believing, by surrendering our lives to the Lord out of grateful hearts! Amazing, isn’t it!!!????
Now, here’s something we can’t miss. We are justified, acquitted of our sins by faith in Jesus. We are also saved by faith in Jesus.
Salvation is often referred to as justification. We don’t ever ask someone, “Have been you justified?” But, we may very well ask them, “Are you saved, born again?”
No one is ever justified without being saved.
No one is ever saved without being justified.
They both come by believing, trusting, having faith in Jesus by the grace of God.
If you’re not justified then you have not placed your faith in Jesus and you’re not saved.
If you’re not saved then you have not placed your faith in Jesus and you’re not justified!
They are both by faith in Jesus.
Jesus is the only means of atonement, justification and salvation and they are applied and activated by placing your faith and trust in Him.
Why does it seem that we talk about salvation by placing our faith in Jesus so much?
Why does it seem that we’re always talking about knowing the Scriptures?
Why does it seem that Jesus and His life on earth and His death on the cross and His resurrection and His intercession for us and His soon return is what we hear about so much?
1) Because THAT is the good news, the gospel that the whole world needs to heart so that they can place their faith and trust in Jesus!
2) Because that is critical to the survival of the Body of Christ on the earth.
Illustration:
Two powerful countries were taken over by atheistic communists, the USSR and China.
The church in the USSR was centered around huge cathedrals.
No one was encouraged to know the Scriptures.
No in depth study was done of the Scriptures when you went to church.
No one knew how to tell anyone else about the way to salvation.
For instance I went with my cousins several times to their Russian Orthodox church and the mass was said in Russian. Even though they knew the correct Russian Language responses they knew very little of what was actually being said.
When communism came to power and the cathedrals were closed there was very little anyone could do to worship and the Christian population dwindled.
Why? People didn't need to know the Scriptures because all of salvation took place inside the churches.
With no churches and no priests (who had been imprisoned or killed)
There was no one to hear confession
There was no one to baptize
There was no one to sanctify the eucharist
There was no one to hear confession
There was no one to perform the mass
No salvation and no knowledge of the Bible. No wonder the church crumbled under communism.
The church in China had been started by missionaries who taught the Scriptures to the Chinese people in their native dialect or the national trade language.
There were churches and there were pastors and the pastors passed their knowledge of God and His word onto the people of the church who would witness and share with others. (They made disciples for Jesus.)
Then Mao came to power and the churches were closed and the missionaries were killed or sent out of the country.
The church went underground, meeting in homes and wherever they could find a secret and hopefully safe place.
When Mao took over there were two million Christians in China.
When the country opened back up and Christians were once again able to assemble there were as many as eighty million Christians.
Many still worship in small cell groups because of governmental restrictions.
This does not include those in the Three Self Church which is regulated by the government.
Closing comments and invitation if the Holy Spirit prompts.
