Subjective Salvation: How Do We Make The Work of Christ Ours?
(Romans 3:21-24, 27-31)
Note: for 3:24-26, see my next sermon in my Romans series, "Celebrating the Victory, But What Was the Battle? based entirely upon Romans 3:24-26)
1.I love to read Perry Mason mysteries...and the TV shows. He excelled at his job, convincing others.
2. Now that Paul has convinced us that we are lost, helpless, and in need of salvation, we are ready to hear the Good news. This is an important sequence: unless we are convinced that we are lost, we will not see our need to be transformed by the grace of God, or saved, for short.
3. When it comes to the doctrine of salvation (soteriology), we can subdivide this study into two sections: objective soteriology (How did Christ provide salvation for us) and subjective soteriology (How do we make the work of Christ on the cross EFFECTIVE for us?).
4. Today we will look at Romans 3:21-24, 27-31, which addresses SUBJECTIVE soteriology. Next week, we’ll look at the verses sandwiched between this section (verses 25 & 26) and OBJECTIVE soteriology.
5. It is worth noting that much of the Reformation was about SUBJECTIVE soteriology.
Conservative Catholics and Conservative Protestants – the original version of each camp – agree that Jesus paid for our sins by dying on the cross; they both agree HE arose a victor. But HOW are the benefits of the work of Christ applied to us?
Whereas most of the leaders of the Reformation concluded that a person is saved by grace through personally trusting Jesus Christ—faith, Roman Catholics taught that people were saved by partaking of sacraments and earning grace through good works. The text before us makes the case that it is by faith…not sacraments or good works…that we can be made right with God. Good works follow salvation, they do not effect it.
6. Respected Bible scholar Dr. Leon Morris writes of this paragraph we are looking at over the next couple of weeks, that this may be, “possibly the most important single paragraph ever written.”
MAIN IDEA: If we are to understand how salvation can be applied to us, we must grasp the idea of IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. Four concepts will help us to understand its nature.
I. The Source of Imputed Righetousness is ___GOD______ Himself (21a)
Imputed righteousness means that the righteousness of Christ is credited to our account
1. This is different from God helping us to act righteously; that is called _____sanctification__.
2. This is not something we __earn___. It is a gift, a wrapping, a being clothed in white…
3. Salvation results in removing the negative and crediting us with the positive…
Imagine a man who was up to his neck in debt…..he can declare bankruptcy and hopefully get back up to zero (that’s forgiveness); but if his rich uncle dies and leaves him millions, he not only can pay off his debt, but live in luxury…..
4. When we turn from our sin to Christ, He not only forgives our sin, but He gives us the Righteousness of Christ…
II. The Law and the __Prophets__ Testified of this Righteousness (21b)
1. Jeremiah 23:6, predicting Christ, says, “In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.”
2. Isaiah 53:11, “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied ; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”
3. Here is a simple picture of what Justification means:
Zech. 3:1-5, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"
Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
4. Isaiah 59:16, 20, “16. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to ntervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him…"the Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD.
III. This Righteousness Comes by ____Faith_____ (Personal Trust) (22-24a)
1. What does faith entail? (22a)
(1) a word can be defined out of its true meaning…
(2) Remember when the Flintstones used to have a gay old time?
(3) The word faith, believe, or trust are all English translations of the Greek word, “pisteuo”
(4) the best definition of saving faith is that it embraces Jesus Christ with the whole person…
---intellectually, we understand the Gospel: Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself, paying our penalty on the cross; He arson the 3rd day a Victor, and He did this for ME
---emotionally, we embrace Jesus Christ with our heart
---volitionally, with our will, we choose to depend upon what Christ did to make us right with God, and we want Jesus Christ in our lives….
---repentance is included in the term faith, because repentance is wanting God to save you from your sins….it is WHY you choose to believe
(5) We saw last week that such a faith in unnatural to the sinful man…it takes a work of God for this Gospel to become attractive, for the God of the Bible to be embraced
(6) The cross is an incredibly ugly event; to believe in God the Father allowing His Son to go through such agony---and the worse agony of taking our sins upon Himself…many people do not like a God who is so Holy and views sins so seriously, because it means that we have such ugliness within us…requiring the death of Jesus for our forgiveness…that’s why the NT describes the cross as a scandal, and the work of Christ as a stumbling block to unbelievers
2. To ___all_____ who believe (22b)
3. Because the need is ____universal_____ (23)
(1) Illustration: If we were to go the lowest elevation on planet earth or climb Mt. Everest, we would be no closer to the stars…when the Bible says all have sinned, and all have fallen short, it’s not that some are close; some just haven’t fallen as short as far, but all are distant….
(2) all “have sinned” (aorist)= in Adam or our cumulative past
(3) and fall short (miss the mark), continuous present (our routine)
(4) sins of commission, ommission…
4. We are justified FREELY by His Grace (24a)
Grace and free go together; the cost of grace is FREE to us, for another has paid our way. Jesus gave Himself so we could be justified. Grace means “favor,” or “undeserved merit.”
5. Through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus….THIS Takes us into next week’s sermon, the OBJECTIVE BASIS of salvation, and I’ll deal with the term “redemption” then…
6. Since God sent His Son to die for us, are we then justified at birth? No, that’s why we need to be born again. God brings us to spiritual life so that we believe the Good News that Jesus bled and died for our sins, then arose a Conqueror.
IV. Since This Righteousness (& Salvation) is Completely from __God___, We Have NOTHING at All About Which We Can Brag (27-31)
1. It is not that we should not boast, but that we __can____ not, because we did not lift a finger.
2.God saves people in a way that He gets all the glory…this is crucial to understand…
3. If I contributed to my own salvation, then I would deserve at least some credit…
4. In order to be saved, I must believe I am a lost sinner, that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins and rose again. I then turn from my sin to Christ. Even that faith I believe with and that attitude of repentance is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit working on me, so I cannot even take credit for the decision I made to believe.
5. God provides salvation for whoever will turn from their sin and repent; but, unfortunately, most people are unappreciative of God’s grace:
A Post Office worker, at the main sorting office, finds an unstamped, poorly hand-written envelope, addressed to God. He opens it and discovers it is from an elderly lady, distressed because all her savings -- $200 -- have been stolen. She will be cold and hungry this Christmas.
He organizes the postal workers, who dig deep and come up with $180 to donate. They get it to her by special courier the same morning. A week later, the same postal worker recognizes the same handwriting on another envelope. He opens it.
"Dear God, Thank you for the $180 for Christmas, which would have been so bleak otherwise.
P.S. It was $20 short but that was probably those thieving workers at the Post Office."
(source: Sermoncental)
CONCLUSION
1. God has provided the opportunity for you to have your sins forgiven and to be given the righteousness that comes from God.
2.Why not receive this gift right now? Pray with me…
