OUR GIFT
Rom 3:21-31
• INTRODUCTION
I would like you to listen carefully as I read to you Rom 3:21-31
READ
If you really tried to grasp what Paul is saying there you probably worked up a bit of a sweat on the old grey matter. I know I find some of that pretty hard to understand!
Nevertheless, we will be looking at 2 themes mentioned in this passage:-
1. Our Sinfulness & what that means
2. The Gift that God offers us.
Firstly, lets turn attention to that which has almost become a swear word in todays vocabulary -
SIN
We will be looking at 3 aspect of sin:-
1. What sin actually is
2. That we are all sinners, and
3. The consequences of sin.
And firstly we need to understand:-
• 1. WHAT SIN ACTUALLY IS
Sin is basically doing that which is displeasing to God!
And I think Scripture presents 2 categories of how we sin. - The intentional & the unintentional.
By unintentional, I mean that sin which we commit without knowing, or at least we don’t do it on purpose. It could be a slip, a blunder or something that we didn’t even know was offensive to God. It could be ignorance of , but still a breaking of, God’s Law.
It may be an attitude of controlling our own destiny & not even being aware that in our life decisions God is the one that should have the final say, not us.
The other sin group - the intentional - are those deliberately committed. The times when we do something wrong just because we want to.
Lets be real!
Even Scripture tells us that sin can be great fun at first - it says that it is “pleasurable for a season”. I mean the very fact that we are tempted indicates the appeal it has & that we can get enjoyment from it!
The intentional category = the sins we do by a deliberate breaking of God’s law.
The Law is summed up in the 10 Commandments - which are found in Exodus 20, & you can read them for yourself in your own time. Don’t forget that Jesus taught in Matthew that the 10 Commandments apply to attitudes & thoughts as well as actions.
Now that we have established what sin actually is, lets move on to the fact that:-
• 2. WE ARE ALL SINNERS
You are a sinner (point to congregation) *Ooops 3 fingers are pointing back at me. We are sinners!
To the woman caught in adultery, Jesus said “ Let the one who hasn’t sinned throw the 1st stone at her.” Jesus was saying “You are all sinners, so look carefully at yourselves before you point the finger.”
And Paul tells us in the passage that we just read (vs.23) that “...all have sinned...”
John, in 1 John 1:18 says “That we live in, make believe land, if we say we have no sin.” He goes on to say that “We make Almighty God out to be a liar, if we say we have not sinned.”
And Paul says in Rom 1:18 that God’s wrath is poured out on those who suppress the truth - And isn’t that true! If you can’t see that you are a sinner, you will not see your need for Christ & will consequently go to Hell - because you wouldn’t believe the truth!
Listen to how CH Spurgeon (a famous 19th century preacher) came to see his sinfulness:-
TAKEN FROM “BASIC CHRISTIANITY” pg70
BY J STOTT
“I do not hesitate to say that those who examined my life would not have seen any extraordinary sin, yet as I looked upon myself I saw outrageous sin against God. I was not like other boys, untruthful, dishonest, swearing and so on. But of a sudden, I met Moses carrying the law ... God’s Ten Words ... and as I read them, they all seemed to join in condemning me in the sight of the thrice holy Jehovah”
Spurgeon was convinced of his sin as God convicted him through His Law.
If you are not convinced of your sinfulness as Spurgeon was, by the character of God as revealed in His Law - Then listen to what Jesus says in Mk 12:30. He says - this is the greatest of all the commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength”
Is there any part of you which is exempt from totally loving God all the time?
No! Every bit of you is to love God completely, or you have sinned!!! And Jesus isn’t talking about a one off thing - it is to be loving Him in this way every moment of the day, every day of your life!
Now that we have looked at what sin is, & established that we all are sinners, lets now consider:-
• 3. THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
The 1st consequence is :-
a) Sin alienates us from God
We reject God through our sinfulness & have pushed Him aside. And because He is perfect in Holiness & Justice, He cannot be intimately involved with us, who are so unholy & unjust. The ultimate consequence for us, is existence alienated from Him throughout eternity. “The soul that sinneth shall surely die”, & we have chosen death as opposed to life.
The 2nd consequence is:-
b) Sin creates bondage to self
Jesus said “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin”. It is not just certain wrong acts or habits which enslave us, but more so, the infection of evil from which they spring.
We are not so much sinners because we sin, but rather, we sin because we are sinners.
Christians sin, but we are not slaves to sin. We have complete freedom in Christ. I can still choose to do wrong, but I can also choose to please God because I have been born anew & have Christ’s Spirit living within me. The non-Christian cannot please God for he has rejected Him from the start & is in slavery to sin.
I suppose an example of what I am trying to say came not that long ago at my work. A bloke while having a yak to me dropped a few swear words, as he often does, and he said “I’m sorry Dave, I don’t even like swearing, but it just happens, I can’t seem to help it!”
Now, I used to swear like a trooper - But now, thanks to the freedom I have in Christ, I don’t have to swear.
The swearing is not so much the issue - what it represents is - it represents wether we are controlled by the Spirit, or by our infected with evil self.
The 3rd consequence is:-
c) Sin creates conflict with others
As a result of our sin, all our relationships are complicated. Often parents have troubled times with their children. Husbands & wives can’t get on with each other when “the going gets tough”, or maybe just mundane. Employees & employers often seem to be in conflict, in fact any authority relationships seem to “get on peoples backs”. Governments often clash, etc, etc... Children often don’t get on with each other - at the time of writing this my daughter & her friend were having a barney!
It seems more natural for us to talk instead of listen & argue rather than submit.
We tend to be so self-centred, that it is often difficult to get on with others - some we despise, others we envy & others still, we hit it off with because they are like us.
Well, we have seen what sin is all about & that it is like a sickness for which we need an urgent cure. - Jesus said “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do; I came for sinners, not the righteous”.
So let’s move on to the gift that Paul talks about in verse 24 of Romans 3.
We will be considering 3 aspects of the Gift:-
1. What the Gift is
2. How the Gift was effected
3. A benefit the Gift brings
Lets look at the first of these points:-
• 1. What the Gift is
The gift is quite simply, rescue from the power & penalty of sin and restoration of relationship with God our Creator & Sustainer!
We can be free from sin’s slavery & we can be free from its consequences, and we can have a great relationship with the One in whose image we are made! The One who can give purpose & meaning to life!
But, you may ask, how can a Holy God accept us in our sinfulness?
Well, that leads to our second point:-
• 2. How the Gift was effected
Or how a Holy & Righteous God could bring about such a gift.
The answer is in the Lord Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
And Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no ones comes to the Father, but through Me” (Jn 14:6).
God demands that sin be punished. He has said “The person who sins shall surely die” and “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin”. And Paul says “... the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).
So how does Jesus satisfy God’s demand for justice? The answer is , He became the propitiation (as Paul tells us in verse 25) for our sins. Propitiation means to provide appeasement & satisfaction. To make things right!
It means that Jesus became our substitute. He died instead of us - He took our place. He became my sin-bearer! His blood was shed for me. He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins! He set His face to the cross, it was the very purpose of His coming.
Jesus Christ, the God man, the spotless Lamb of God, died once & for all, & thereby completely satisfied the Holy & Righteous character of God. Sin must be punished. And sin has been punished in the Person of our Substitute. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:24, that Jesus “... bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness...”
Paul says, that “He who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21)
We may ask, how could liars like Abraham, cheats like Jacob, adulterers & mass murderers like David, be counted as His friends, before Christ had even made this wonderful sacrifice!
The answer is, - God was able to accept people like them prior to Christ, because He knew that one day their sins were going to be punished in the Person of His Son - And, He knew that these people , by their walk with Him, would have placed their trust in Jesus.
3. A benefit the Gift brings
An old hymn puts it like this:-
“Because the Sinless Saviour died
My sinful soul is free
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Christ & pardon me”
We have peace with God through accepting His free gift. And we can spend now & eternity with Him.
Paul says in Romans 10:13 “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” For He is faithful & just to forgive us our sins & cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Christianity is the only religion in the world where good works are done as a result of salvation, & not to obtain salvation!
COMMUNION
Let’s continue to worship our Lord and Saviour as we partake in these emblems - the bread representing His body which was given for us (in our place), and the cup representing the precious blood which He shed on our behalf. Let’s take these emblems in remembrance of Him & what He has done for us. And remember that He rose from the grave & that one day we shall see Him face to face!!!! That we have been instructed to do this until He comes again.
AMEN
