Preached at Gateway 3rd March 2013
Romans 3.9-26
Romans 3.9-26
Focus
verse – ’Justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that came by Christ Jesus’, v24
Main
theme: Jesus is sentenced in your place.
Introduction
This
image of the Court of Law comes to our minds because of the word ‘Justified’
that is used frequently in Scripture. To
stand in a Court of Law and to be ‘Justified’ means you are not sentenced but
instead you are free to go. So
‘Justification’ is a legal term. So what
is the verdict, what is our legal standing before God? God is the Judge of all people, Hebrews
12.23.
1)
Verdict: Condemned/Guilty –
all have sinned
In
our passage, in Romans 3.9-26, the apostle Paul has been describing up to v20 the
situation. It is dire. There is only one verdict declared by the
Judge, God himself, regarding his holy law...guilty! Paul argues this out, it begins in
Romans 1. It is a devastating critique of humankind,
with Romans 3.9-20 a summary. To
compound matters, Paul is re-announcing what the Bible has already stated. For example, v9-18 is a series of quotes from
the Old Testament. There is nothing new
about the verdict that Paul announces, e.g. v10, “There is no-one righteous,
not even one” (Ps.14). This is backed up
by Jesus who said, in Mark 7.20-23, that all sorts of evil comes out of our
hearts. We must understand the bad news
in order to be glad for the good news.
We all need the Saviour, for there is no-one
righteous – not even one. Sir Conan
Doyle (the guy who wrote all the Sherlock Holmes stories), knowing this human
weakness that we have all done wrong things in our lives, once played a
practical joke on 12 so-called respectful people – he sent each a telegram with
the words, ‘Flee at once, all is discovered’.
Within 24 hours all had left the country!
The
apostle Paul argues that some people are just plain unrighteous and failed to
live up to their knowledge of God that is clearly seen in Creation. These are the pagan lot. Others are just plain self-righteous and failed
to live up to their knowledge of God that is clearly seen in Scripture. These are the religious lot. The thing is this we’ve all been or still are
on one side or another. So whether it’s
the unrighteous or the self-righteous, the apostle Paul declares there is another
kind of righteousness – it’s the righteousness of God. It is that righteousness which we must seek
for and obtain. A righteousness from God
has been made known and is readily available, indeed it is inaugurated a new
era, a new chapter in history, indeed it’s a new beginning.
‘But now a righteousness from God apart from
law, has been made known, to which the Law and the prophets testify’ v21.
So
this righteousness, which is what you all need, and by the way it implies a
radically new change and transformation of your life, is not some random act on
God’s part. It’s not some kind of
accident, like some asteroid hurtling from space. It’s been building up though out time, as the
Old Testament (OT) has revealed. The OT
summed up as the Law and Prophets has been pointing to this for centuries, even
millennia’s, and then it arrives onto the scene in this altogether new way in
Jesus Christ...more about that in a moment.
But it’s not about keeping the law of God - sitting down and ticking all
the boxes of the 10 commandments. We’ve
already seen that with our series on the 10 commandments – we’ve each broken
each one of them in a variety of ways. Romans
3.20 underlines this!
‘There
is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ v23.
Yes,
of course, murderers and rapists fall short, but so do you. As Bishop Handley Moule once said, ‘they
stand at the bottom of a mine, and you are on the crest of an Alp; but you are
as little able to touch the stars as they’.
It refers to a question about whether murderers and rapists who repent
on the deathbeds can be forgiven. If you
think they won’t be forgiven because of their status – well remember that it
makes no difference to our standing before God– because we’ve all fallen
short. It doesn’t matter whether you are
of pagan stock or religious stock – everyone lacks the glory of God in their
lives. No one can reach and touch the
stars!
When
you sin, it is an offence to God. You
are violating the moral order that God has established. I’m not talking about some petty insult or
being rude to someone, I’m talking about breaking the law of God, which
therefore must be dealt with. So this is
another angle on understanding the cross of Christ Crucified – it’s understanding
it in legal terms.
You
may ask why can’t God just forgive sins, past, present and future – without
this talk of the death of Jesus Christ?
Why can’t God just ‘sweep it all under the carpet’ and have it over and
done with. The problem with that is that
the seriousness of sin is undermined. It
makes a mockery of justice, as if it doesn’t matter whether we upset God. Imagine a grotesque crime taking place in
this community, a child is horribly tortured and murdered, or an elderly couple
are viciously beaten up in their own home.
Imagine then, if we all turned round and said to the families concerned,
oh it doesn’t matter – can’t we just move on and forget about! Let’s be easy on the perpetrator. The reality is that within us there is a
sense of justice, there is surely a price to be paid for committing such a
terrible crime. There are
consequences.
We
are made in God’s image, and that is why we have a sense of justice. That is one powerful proof for the evidence
of God. If there is no God, where do we
acquire this moral sense from, this distinction between right and wrong? On another level, what about offences against
God? Does this not require some kind of
consequence, just punishment?
There
are consequences to your sin, to having fallen short. God is Just.
Just as we demand justice when some evil crime takes places, how much
more so does God when he considers evil.
‘The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the
godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness’
Rom.1.20.
The
verdict is we are guilty. Is there any
hope? Yes there is. The status of ‘guilty’ can be reversed. A new verdict can be declared. Let’s look at the word ‘Justified’.
2)
A new verdict: Justified –
by God’s grace
The
term ‘justification’ has its origins in the Hebrew lawcourts, and is a
favourite term of the apostle Paul.
Essentially it’s the idea of the Judge in a lawcourt who decides in
favour of one party rather than the other.
So it’s about being declared, in the sight of the court, not guilty, to
being put in the right - vindicated.
The
word ‘justified’ is a word that we don’t often use in our everyday
language. We might be more familiar with
it on our computers where we ‘justify’ the text. It’s the idea of lining up the words. Hold onto that image, because what we mean
here is that Jesus is able to line up our lives straight with God. In his sight our lives are crooked, morally
we are all over the place. But if we put
our trust in Jesus we can line up our lives perfectly with God. Why?
Because Jesus is perfect and has a perfect relationship with God, so
therefore in him we too can be put in a right relationship with God.
Jesus,
speaking of his relationship with God, said in public, “I always do what pleases
him” (John 8.29). On another occasion he
stunned a hostile religious crowd into silence, “Can any of you prove me guilty
of sin” (John 8.46). He said another
time of the Devil, “He has no hold on me” (John 14.30). Jesus revealed his complete mastery over
temptation.
Jesus
never had a conscience plagued with guilt.
Jesus never blushed with shame.
Jesus never regretted anything he said or did. Jesus never had to say sorry. Jesus never wished he could turn over a new
leaf or turn back the clock. Jesus never
had to pray for forgiveness. Jesus never
sinned, he was outside the jurisdiction of the law.
So
the word ‘justified’, although it is a legal term, at its root it’s a matter
concerning relationships. Remember,
‘justification’ has its origins in the Hebrew lawcourts. The issue of justice at least in Israel – OT
times – was a process that was very personal.
It was a case of the accuser arguing it out with the accused before a
judge. There was no team of lawyers or a
Crown Prosecution Service. The judge
would decide either the accused was wrong or right, and was therefore condemned
or justified. So if the person was
condemned, especially for a serious offence, then the person was shunned,
indeed banished from the community, with even the death sentence being
pronounced. Relationships were severed.
But
if the accused was justified, then the person was restored. The person was integrated back into the
community, and relationships were put straight.
That’s the picture of your relationship with God. When you are justified, you are put right
with God. The good news of Jesus Christ
is that, although you have broken God’s laws, you can be justified. This is by God’s grace, his undeserved love
for you. Your status can be changed from
guilty to not guilty. How?
3)
What makes the difference? Faith in Jesus Christ / in his blood.
How
does it work? Romans 3.21-26 tells
us. Remember, that ‘justification’ is
free. You don’t have to do anything,
there nothing you can do anyway! You
‘are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ
Jesus’ v24. Jesus Christ represents
humanity. Yes, he is the Son of God, he
is from God, but he became human. Jesus
is all that we are, yet without sin.
‘God presented [Christ] as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in his blood’ (Rom.3.25). So Jesus death diverts the wrath of God from you,
but at the same time Jesus himself absorbs the punishment on your behalf. So Jesus was this sacrifice of atonement –
literally a propitiation – therefore turning aside God’s wrath from you by
bearing the suffering himself instead of his people. John Stott, famous preacher, once said, “God himself,
gave himself, to save us from himself”.
So
you can be justified, just-if-I’d-never-sinned, and it is through faith. This doesn’t mean your faith is the objective
of justification – otherwise you are justifying yourself. Rather, it is the objective of your faith –
Jesus – who justifies. Faith is the
channel through which the benefits of Christ flow through to you.eg peace with
God. ‘Therefore, since we have been
justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’,
Rom.5.1. ‘Since, we have now been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath
through him!’ Rom.5.9.
So
you cannot justify yourself before God based on your own merits. Rather, you are justified based on what
Christ has achieved. If your faith is in
Jesus Christ, if you are trusting in him, then you can share in the benefits of
what Jesus has accomplished or achieved.
This faith in Christ is a gift from God.
It’s not something you deserve or have earned, rather it’s God grace –
his amazing love. You ‘are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus’ v24. So you are not justified by doing good, but
because you are justified freely, that you long to do good. Doing good is your response to God’s
grace. Doing good is the result of
justification, not the cause.
Conclusion
To
summarise. We are guilty before God
because of our sin. But in Christ we can
be justified. The gospel, the good news
of Jesus Christ, is this...Jesus died in your place. He is the substitute. We deserve the sentence, we deserve eternity
without God, but Jesus bears the sentence so that we can have eternity with
God. It is only Jesus who is the reason
of our justification. There is no other
saviour.
1
Cor.6.9-11, ‘Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived: neither the
sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes now
homosexual offenders not thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers
will inherit the kingdom of God. And
that is what some of you were. But you
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God’.
To
be justified is like having the recording of your life wiped clean from all
sin.
Examples
of heroes from movies Star Wars, Lord of Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Indiana
Jones – illustrating we need a real hero.
Jesus is our ultimate hero – Lord of all – and all will confess this one
day in the future. In the meantime –
we’re to demonstrate his Lordship. “Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” , Romans 8.1
Jesus
is sentenced in your place. You
are ‘Justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ
Jesus’, v24
Opening questions for Q
& A: Do you consider yourself justified before God? If so – on what basis?
Prayer of commitment &
faith:
Lord
Jesus, I have done a lot of things wrong in my life. I am sorry for going my own way instead of
your way. I am sorry for the life I have
led without you. Thank you for dying on
the cross to forgive my sin, so that I might be justified,
just-if-I’d-never-sinned. I believe that
you paid the price for my sins. Thank
you that you are able to wipe clean my record of sins and that I can have a new
life, a new start. Please come and take
first place in my life and make me the person you want me to be, filling my
life with your redeeming power and sacrificial love. Amen.
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