God s Way to Make Us Right Lent 2019 Series: The Greatest Letter Ever Written Romans 3:20-31

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1 God s Way to Make Us Right Lent 2019 Series: The Greatest Letter Ever Written Romans 3:20-31 Rev. Michael D. Halley March 24, 2019 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia Third Sunday in Lent ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Continuing through Romans, which has been called the greatest letter ever written, 1 we come to chapter three. Paul, the author of this book, gives us a detailed and systematic presentation 2 of the doctrines of our Christian faith. Let s look at some key words in this passage and do some definitions. First, in verse 20 and 21 he talks about the righteousness of God. What does that mean? Paul has already said that we lack the necessary righteousness to stand before God, and then in verse 21, Paul says, But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known. All that God is and all that God does is righteous. God is righteous as part of his nature, and God does righteousness. Righteousness is the ultimate moral standard of the universe 3. Righteousness has to do with a right relationship with God. Righteousness is that which God requires of humanity and which God gives as a gift to the person of faith. 4 The fact that God is righteous means that God keeps his word and will do what he says he will do. When Paul says apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, he is saying that the law... the Mosaic law, typified by the Ten Commandments and the law as set forth in the book of Leviticus... the law can only show us how far short of God s glory we come.

2 The Law is like the check engine light on the dashboard of your car. It can tell you there is a problem, it can even diagnose the problem, but it is helpless to fix it. The light s function is to prod you to take your car to the mechanic. 5 So righteousness does not come from our knowledge of the law. How do we get this righteousness God offers? Paul tells us, in verse 22: This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. It is given by God as a free gift and it comes to us through faith. Faith is belief, yes. But faith is more than belief. Faith is also trust. The story is told of Uncle Oscar, who took his first airplane ride one day. His friends were eager to see how it went. Uncle Oscar told them, It wasn t as bad as I thought it might be, but I ll tell you this. I never did put all my weight down! 6 Trusting God means that we don t trust our own ability to gain eternal life. To trust in God means that we lay it all on the line and give it to God. And it also means that we obey what God says. The Christian faith is not an intellectual exercise, it is a life commitment to trust God. Page 2 Look at verses 23 and 24:... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. There are three key phrases in those verses. First, all have sinned. The Greek word which is most often used in the New Testament for sin is the word hamartia (ha-marr-tee-uh). This word means missing the mark. I like to envision a Roman soldier who is practicing his bow and arrow skills. He lets the arrow go but it goes off to the right, missing the target. The target, for us Christians, is the righteousness of God. But we miss it every time. That s sin. Sin is the condition in which we find ourselves, and sin can also be individual acts of disobedience to God. All have sinned. This is a consistent message throughout the pages of the Bible.

3 Page 3 I remember Herb, a Navy chaplain friend, who told me about a sermon he preached at chapel one Sunday. It was a sermon on sin. After the service, the senior chaplain approached him and said, Herb, you shouldn t preach on sin like that, you ll make the people feel bad. Herb and I had a good chuckle over that story. Of course it makes us feel bad! It is not a pleasant subject. But sometimes we have to hear the bad news so we can get to the good news. We all have sinned. Then Paul says we all are justified. What does that mean? To be justified means that God treats us as if we had never sinned. It doesn t mean God pardons us. Based on the merits of our Lord Jesus, God allows us to stand in Jesus righteousness as if it were our own. There is an old story told of a man who took his Rolls Royce automobile on a trip through the countryside. He had car trouble and called the factory in England for assistance. They dispatched a mechanic, who fixed the car, and the man went on his way. When he returned home, he expected a bill to be in his mailbox, but none was there. So he called the factory to inquire and was told, There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce. 7 That s the essence of justification. Our record is declared clear. And Paul says we are justified freely. Justification is a free gift to us, but it comes at a very high price, the very life of our Lord Jesus. Then Paul says, by his grace. Grace is God s free favor given to us. We don t deserve it, we don t do anything to receive it, there is nothing in us that would prompt God to give us grace, except that it is a free gift. Yet, we must also add, a free gift at the cost of the Son of God.

4 Page 4 Then Paul says, through the redemption. Does anybody remember S&H Green Stamps? 8 They were a reward program, and when you bought groceries or gasoline, you would get some stamps. Then you went home and pasted the stamps in a little book. When you filled in the stamp book, you did what? You redeemed the stamps for merchandise. The stamps were the price we paid for the merchandise. In our redemption, God pays a price to free us from the slavery of sin. Fanny Crosby 9, the famous hymn writer, wrote, Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed thro his infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am. How do we receive these wonderful gifts? By faith. Faith is the means of receiving what God has to offer us. Author C. S. Lewis 10, whom many of you have read, said this: When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. 11 Hear these words of Paul from 2 nd Corinthians: In the Scriptures God says, When the time came, I listened to you, and when you needed help, I came to save you. That time has come. This is the day for you to be saved (2 Corinthians 6:2, CEV 12 ).

5 Page 5 Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed thro his infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am. Please pray with me: Our Father in heaven, you have been so gracious, so kind, so generous, and so loving, to have sent your only-begotten Son to take our place and redeem us from our sin. By faith we take hold of this gift of salvation and will live lives of faithful obedience to you. Bless all who have not yet found this faith and bless those who struggle with faith. Let your love surround them and us, as we seek your Holy Spirit s guidance. We pray this in the name of our Saviour Jesus. Amen. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome!

6 Page 6 1. This was suggested by John Piper in his own series of sermons in Romans, John Stephen Piper is an American Reformed Baptist pastor and author who is the founder and leader of desiringgod.org. 2. S. Lewis Johnson Jr., Discovering Romans: Spiritual Revival for the Soul (Zondervan, 24), p. 20. Dr Johnson (1915-????) was a professor of Bible at Dallas Theological Seminary for many years. 3. Quoted from Justification by Grace Through Faith (2), by J. Ligon Duncan, September 24, 2000, 4. Righteousness, by Marion Soards, in Holman Bible Dictionary, edited by Trent C. Butler, From Justified by the Returning King, by Mike Leake, 6. From Trust, 7. There are many variations of this story in the internet. This one is adapted from Justification, at 8. S&H Green Stamps were a line of trading stamps popular in the United States from the 1930s until the late 1980s. They were distributed as part of a rewards program operated by the Sperry & Hutchinson company (S&H). Wikipedia 9. Frances Jane Crosby van Alstyne ( ), was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was one of the most prolific hymnists in history, writing more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs. Wikipedia 10. Clive Staples Lewis ( ) was a British writer and lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University and Cambridge University. Wikipedia 11. C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, The Inner Ring (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, MI, 1965), pp Quoted at Contemporary English Version (CEV), copyright 1995 by American Bible Society