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Since Adam and Eve, every person was born a sinner; therefore, everyone sins. What can you do with that sense of guilt, knowing that you have done wrong? The bad news is that you can do nothing. You and I are guilty. The good news, the wonderful news, is found in today's lesson! Even though we can do nothing, God, Himself, has done something! Romans 3:21-31 brings us to the heart of this book and the heart of salvation. In all the world there is nothing more important than the teachings contained herein. There are four main points: A. God has provided a righteousness of his own for men and women, a righteousness which we do not possess ourselves.B. This divine righteousness is ours because of God's grace. C. It is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in dying for His people, redeeming them from their sin, that has made this grace on God's part possible. D. The righteousness which God has provided becomes ours through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The issues of eternity hang upon these truths, and we must be faithful to them. Christianity is categorically different from every other religion. All religions have their distinguishing points; some emphasize one path to God, some another. But all, except for Christianity, suppose that there is something human beings can do for their salvation. Only Christianity humbles us by insisting there is nothing we can do, salvation is all of God. No man would make up such a religion. It is nothing of man but all of God. (Of course, once we are saved, we have the obligation and privilege of doing much, since Jesus calls us to discipleship. But we are not saved by discipleship.) We see the principle of God's provision in Genesis 22:6-8. In obedience, "Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, 'Father?'" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and the wood are here," Isaac said, "But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." God Himself did provide the lamb for Abraham (Genesis 22:9-13), and God Himself also provided the Lamb for our redemption, Jesus Christ upon a cross at Calvary. Paul wrote about a "righteousness from God...being made known...through faith,...(imparted to us) freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:21-24) Though the prophets knew about this way of becoming right with God, it was not fully made known or revealed to them as it is to us. God tells us about the Lamb's purpose in 1 Peter 2:24 and 2 Corinthians 5:21. "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed." "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Righteousness, a gift to us, was paid by God through Jesus Christ. How does one receive this righteousness from God? Through faith in Jesus Christ. This is not faith in anything abstract, or faith in what you or I can do. Saving faith is receiving what God offers. It is not your faith that saves you, but it is Jesus who saves you. Righteousness from God is provided to all who believe in Jesus Christ. When we believe in Jesus as our personal Savior, God declares that we are right with Him. This means that God has justified us. Paul uses three great words to explain what Christ's death was about: justification, redemption, and propitiation. (Romans 3:24-25) The New International Version translates propitiation as "a sacrifice of atonement." We will examine each word to help us understand the full meaning of these doctrines. Let's start with justification which comes from the court of law. It describes the act by which a judge acquits an accused person. It is a legal term indicating the process of declaring someone made right with the law. Justification is not a synonym for amnesty, which is a forgiveness which overlooks, even forgets wrongdoing and declines to bring it to justice. When God justifies sinners, he is not declaring bad people to be good, or saying that they are not sinners after all. He is pronouncing them legally made right, free from any liability to the broken law, because He Himself in His Son has borne the penalty of their law-breaking. Faith is the channel by which justification becomes ours. Faith is not a good work. It is not a work at all. Faith is God's gift, as Paul clearly states, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) Faith is nothing more than receiving what God offers. Redemption means that Jesus paid the price for us so that we might belong to Him. Why did he have to pay a price? Because God demands a price for sin. It is a price we cannot pay. Only a perfectly holy, righteous person could pay the price. We needed someone to pay it, a redeemer. To redeem is to buy back. That is what Jesus did on the Cross. Jesus bought us back from sin and claims us as His own. The person who believes in what Jesus did now belongs to Jesus. Jesus cherishes and cares for you and me, His possessions. Propitiation presupposes the wrath of God against sin. (It is here that many people rebel. Many only consider the loving nature of God and never come to fully understand God's necessity of dealing with sin. However, it is because of God's holy character that His wrath must punish sin. Since God's wrath is against sin, we are separated from Him while in sin. If the wrath of God cannot be turned aside by someone or in some way, we are lost. God's wrath is not capricious anger. We seem to feel that the wrath of God and the love of God are incompatible, but the Bible teaches that God has wrath and is love at the same time. What is more, His wrath is not just a minor element alongside His significant and overwhelming love. God's wrath is a strong reality. God cannot ignore sin; sin must be punished.) Propitiation is the turning
aside of God's wrath. 'Propitiation' was translated "Mercy Seat" in the
Old Testament. As an illustration of propitiation, once a year, on the
Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place to make
atonement for the people's sins. He took the blood of a sacrificial
animal and sprinkled it upon the Mercy Seat. As God looked down, He saw
not the law which had been broken, but the blood of the sacrifice. He
saw that punishment had been meted out. Propitiation had been made. His
love could reach out to save all who came to Him, not on the basis of
their own righteousness or good works, but through faith in the
sacrifice. But this sacrifice pointed forward to the only sufficient
sacrifice, that of Jesus Christ who by His atoning death became the
true and final propitiation. (See Hebrews 9-10 for a fuller
explanation.)
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