Alba 8-15-2021
Declared Righteous
Romans 3:27-31
We come together today sharing the grief we have as a church family. This is a time of deep sadness for us all. There are no words to fully express what we feel. The shock. The tragic loss. The questions – “Why?”
The Bible calls death the last enemy. Our hope is in the fact that one day even death will be destroyed. At times like these, all the more, our hope is in Jesus.
Last week we looked at Romans 3:23 that exposes us for what we are. Sin is a problem for us all. We are all sinners. And without Jesus there is no hope.
I heard a story about a burglar from Belgium who was surprised while he was robbing a house. When he heard the homeowners returning, he fled out the back door.
He then climbed over a 9-foot wall, dropped down on the other side, and found himself in the city prison! It is impossible to run from God because you’ll eventually be imprisoned by your own sins.
There are people who say that it’s not fair that innocent people go to Hell. I agree. Actually, no good person has ever gone to Hell because the Bible says no one is innocent and everyone is guilty!
We all deserve damnation. The truth is, God is far more holy than we realize, and we are far more sinful than we recognize.
Yet God's Word teaches that through what Jesus did for us on the cross, He will not give us what we deserve – that’s mercy. In addition, God is willing to give us exactly what we don’t deserve – that is called grace.
So the apostle Paul asks the following question in Romans 3:27
“27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.”
Then he continues in verses 28-30 saying: “28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or 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.”
We might wish to boast of the many good things we have done. And
certainly each one of us could make a fairly long list, I am sure. Nevertheless, anyone who is privileged to share a place in God's heaven will not be able to boast about what they did to get there.
I’m reminded of the preacher who was really burnt out from ministry, and one Saturday afternoon, not wanting to stand up and preach again the next day, he decided that he’d tell a little white lie and call in sick, having his associate minister preach for him.
He, instead, would spend that Sunday morning on the golf course. Sunday morning dawned and the day was absolutely gorgeous, perfect for golf.
The minister arrived a little early for his tee time, and on the driving range, he was long and straight; his practice wedges were accurate; everything seemed right for a great day of golf.
But things got better. On the first par 3 he approached; he used his 7-iron, the ball landed on the green, took two bounces, and plunked right into the middle of the cup. A beautiful hole-in-one if there ever was one.
Observing all of this from on high were a pair of angels, Gabriel and Michael. “Can you believe that?”, asked Gabriel. “That scoundrel of a preacher lies about being sick, skips church, heads to the golf course, and promptly hits a hole-in-one. How can God allow that? That is so wrong!”
“Oh, I think God knows what He’s doing”, said Michael. “Yeah? How’s that? God lets this skunk get a hole-in-one playing hooky from church? Why would God do that?”
“Easy”, replied the wise angel. “Who’s he gonna tell?” Michael understood human nature; the fun of getting the hole-in-one isn’t so much in sinking the ball in the hole, but in letting everybody know that you sunk the ball in the hole!
Why? Because we love to boast about ourselves! Some of us may do it in a more modest fashion, rather than in a boisterous way.
Btill we all naturally want other people to like us, to think highly of us, and frankly, we want to think highly of ourselves. So one of our bad habits is boasting.
But scripture here makes it clear that we have nothing to boast about concerning our salvation no matter how many good things we have done.
Imagine a person being brought to trial for several charges of shoplifting. It would be useless for that person to appeal to the judge by saying: "Don't forget all the good I do. I’m sure that all my good actions outweigh my bad."
Or "Remember I'm better than most people." Or, "Most of the time I'm an upstanding law-abiding citizen.”
No, the offender must be judged according to the offense, not according to previous good actions of which he can boast. If justice is to be done, someone must pay, and that someone should be the offender, unless another is allowed to bear the penalty instead.
That's exactly what Jesus in His love did for sinners, which we all are. We are saved by faith in what Christ has done on the Cross not by what we do on our own. Experiencing God’s grace shifts the center of boasting from self to the Savior.
Imagine for a moment that heaven was full of people who had earned the right to be there, rather like a political dinner where supporters pay $1,000 a plate just to eat in the presence of the political candidate.
Can you picture the arrogance and boasting that would fill heaven?
One person would say, “I am so proud that I had the insight to realize that choosing to be in heaven was better than slipping into hell.”
Another would say, “I am the only person in my family who was smart enough to become a Christian!” Or someone could say, “I can’t believe that so many people were so stupid that they could not choose heaven!” Or, “I'm so glad that I am so much better than other people!”
As soon as I say those statements, you know that they sound ludicrous. If anyone got into heaven by his or her own ability, then heaven would not be heaven at all.
No. When we get to heaven, we will hear this instead, “I am so glad that God extended his grace towards me.
“I am a sinner who deserved to go to hell. I deserved God’s wrath and judgment and condemnation. But, instead, God forgave me and gave me His salvation. Thank you, God!”
There will not be a trace of boasting for the simple reason that entrance into heaven is limited strictly to those who have been justified by faith.
When we come to Jesus in obedient faith for our salvation, we are justified. All our sins are forgiven, and we are fully accepted by God.
We experience this tremendous spiritual benefit on the basis of Christ’s perfect life and sacrificial death as full payment for our sins. We don’t deserve this substitutionary act. We can’t work for it. We can’t pay for it.
Yet those who place their faith in Him are, as it says in verse 24, “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”.
Justified. Look how many other times that word and similar words are used in this chapter. In verse 20 it says, “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight.”
Verse 26 says that God will“be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” And in verse 28 it says, “a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”
And it says in verse 30 that God “will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.”
Justification by faith looks to God for salvation. No one will be able to congratulate themselves as they contemplate the way of salvation.
The law of works is a belief that I can be kind enough, love enough, treat people right enough, and in short be good enough to gain a right standing before God.
The best of men are men at best. The best of our works are inconsistently performed and imperfectly done. Pride has no place in the life of the Christian; to the contrary, Scripture tell us that it is when we humble ourselves that the Lord will lift us up.
Justification is a legal term. It means that we are declared righteous. It signifies how God sees a man or a woman who has placed their faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins when He died on the cross. To receive God’s forgiveness, eternal life, and a right relationship with Him, what we need to do is cast ourselves on His mercy and trust Him to save us.
Jesus’ death on the cross paid the ransom that sets us free from slavery to sin and Satan. His crucifixion conquered the forces of evil and sets us free from the list of charges against us.
On the Cross, as Jesus bled and died, He received the punishment our sins deserved. When Jesus died for us He made it possible for us to become God’s children.
Yet when Jesus died on the cross it was for far more than to pay the penalty for our sins: He took our sin on Himself. He actually took the guilt of our sin on Himself.
And in doing so He has actually made it possible for guilty people (law breakers) that is you and me to be declared completely innocent in God’s sight. It is "Just as though we had never sinned".
Actually, the offer of Jesus as our sin substitute shows a greater love on God’s part than simply releasing us from the consequences of sin without payment being made. Jesus met the demands of the law.
To fulfill His justice, God’s love was so great that He gave His Son for us. Love and justice are not two separate attributes competing with one another. God is both righteous and loving, and has given what He Himself demands.
In His wisdom He showed He could be righteous and merciful at the same time by punishing Jesus in our place, thereby justifying the guilty without compromising His justice.
Only by understanding what Jesus did on the cross can we solve the mystery of how God can be both just and the justifier.
Through the death of Jesus on the cross as the willing substitute in our place, God has demonstrated His justice. Also God demonstrated mercy toward hell-bound sinners to save them in such a way that His justice is not compromised.
So God is just, because He has left no sin unpunished. And He is also the justifier, because He freely credits Jesus' righteousness to all who believe.
Notice how it says it in verse 28. We are “justified by faith.” So, while we are beginning to understand what being justified means. We also need to know what is meant by faith.
Biblical faith is more than a mental assent to say that something is true. No real faith is more. First it is a full, complete trust that what Jesus did on the cross is your only hope for salvation.
Once we realize our need to be forgiven because of our sin, and commit ourselves in faith to be followers of Jesus, real faith should be evident to all.
There are people who are morally good. But that doesn't mean that they have faith. Even having knowledge of the scriptures does not mean that a person has a saving faith.
Neither does religious activity. Remember that Jesus called the Pharisees white washed walls, meaning that they looked good on the outside but (as Jesus said), inside were dead men's bones.
A reliable evidence of saving faith begins with a love for God that results in repentance from sin and obedience to the Lord.
The true Christian often hates sin even while doing it, and always after it is done, because it is completely contrary to a new nature in Christ.
Even though a Christian’s humanness sometimes draws one into sin and, like Paul, does the very thing that one ought not to do (Romans 7:16), there will be no peace of conscience until one repents of it.
And still another mark of saving faith is spiritual growth which leads to obedient living. That does raise a question. Verse 31 asks, Do we then nulify the law through faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
You see, the law shows us what righteousness is. We need it to know what is good. If Christians don’t do “good things” they’re probably hypocrites aren’t they? Inherently everybody realizes that a holy God wants His people to do “holy things”.
But we are called to do good things because God declares us righteous when we are in Christ. Not because in some way it will earn for us our salvation. No, the Lord did for us what we could not do.
Praise God! He has done it all!
CONCLUSION:
Ruthanna Metzgar, a professional singer, tells a story that illustrates the importance of having our names written in the Book. Several years ago, she was asked to sing at the wedding of a very wealthy man.
According to the invitation, the reception would be held on the top two floors of Seattle’s Columbia Tower, the Northwest’s tallest skyscraper. She and her husband, Roy, were excited about attending.
At the reception, waiters in tuxedos offered luscious hors d’oeuvres and exotic beverages. The bride and groom approached a beautiful glass and grass staircase that led to the top floor—followed by their guests.
At the top of the stairs, a maitre d’ with a bound book greeted the guests outside the doors. “May I have your name, please?”
“I am Ruthanna Metzgar. And this is my husband, Roy.”
He searched the M’s. “I’m not finding it. Would you spell it please?”
Ruthanna spelled her name slowly. After searching the book, the maitre d’ looked up and said, “I’m sorry, but your name isn’t here.”
“There must be some mistake,” Ruthanna replied. “I’m the singer. I sang for this wedding!”
The gentleman answered, “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you did. Without your name in the book you cannot attend the banquet.”
He motioned to a waiter and said, “Show these people to the service elevator, please.”
The Metzgars followed the waiter past beautifully decorated tables laden with shrimp, whole smoked salmon, and magnificent carved ice sculptures. Adjacent to the banquet area, an orchestra was preparing to perform, the musicians all dressed in dazzling white tuxedos.
The waiter led Ruthanna and Roy to the service elevator, ushered them in, and pushed G for the parking garage.
After locating their car and driving several miles in silence, Roy reached over and put his hand on Ruthanna’s arm. “Sweetheart, what just happened?”
“When the invitation arrived, I was busy,” Ruthanna replied. “I never bothered to RSVP. Besides, I was the singer. Surely I could go to the reception without returning the RSVP!”
Just as Ruthanna and Roy could not go to the reception without returning the RSVP, so we cannot go to heaven with returning God’s RSVP.
In order to get to heaven we must respond to God’s gracious invitation by repenting of our sin and believing in Jesus Christ.
