GOD S GLORY, V. 24] THEY ARE FOUND INNOCENT BY GOD S GRACE AS A GIFT. GRACE ALONE.

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1 1 11/4/12 GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR HEAVENLY FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. The text is Ro 3:19-24 and I ll quote it as we go. So, the Pharisee and the Tax-Collector both go into the Temple or, let s say the upright citizen and the drug dealer both go into a church and the upright citizen talks to God about how grateful he is that God made him such a good person. But the drug dealer hangs in the back and just says, GOD, HAVE MERCY on slime like me. In that case, according to Jesus, it s the drug dealer who goes home justified! Which means it s the drug-dealer who gets found innocent. And the upright citizen gets convicted. Which is a surprise, especially to the upright citizen. And what might also surprise him is to find out that the two of them in that church were, in reality, defendants in court. We all are, and not just in church, but everywhere. That s a surprise to most folk, too. You see, every day we go to work or school and then go home or to a restaurant or to the movies or wherever and most of us think mostly about what happened to us and whether or not we liked it. Which would be okay if we were just like pets that stuff happens to. But we re human beings. We exist to reflect V. 23] GOD S GLORY, on a small scale, by loving Him with all our might and loving everybody else as if they were us. So every single day and night, too the first question isn't, "What happened to me and did I like it?" No, it s "What did I do and did God like it? And THE LAW says, What did you do? V. 23] You FELL SHORT. You SINNED. That s what the LAW s for, above all. God sent the LAW to take us into CUSTODY. V. 19] WHATEVER THE LAW SAYS, IT S SPEAKING TO PEOPLE WHO ARE UNDER THE LAW, to people that the LAW s in charge of, to people who are in CUSTODY. Tons of folk hear God s commands and say, Thanks for the suggestion.

2 But the LAW says, I m not making suggestions. I m taking you into CUSTODY. That s why, V. 20] NO ONE WILL BE FOUND INNOCENT BY KEEPING THE LAW. That s not what it s for. ON THE CONTRARY: THE LAW MAKES US KNOW THAT WE VE SINNED. You re not being counseled; you re being arrested and indicted. WHATEVER THE LAW SAYS, IT S SPEAKING TO defendants in court. God is on the bench and ALL THINGS LIE OPEN AND BARE BEFORE His EYES. And every minute of every day, the biggest question is, What is God s verdict on me? If God finds you guilty, nothing else that happens can make it better. Because whoever dies guilty, serves the sentence, and the sentence is like a nightmare, only you never wake up. And even before that, you re just a prisoner on death row. But if God said today if God finds me innocent I mean, I know He sees all the evidence, but if God somehow said, Case dismissed! If He said, Whoa! Well done! If He said that, nothing could spoil my day. Whatever else happened in my whole life, if that s what GOD says about me, I m okay forever. What is the Judge saying about you and me? Most people can t hear. Because they re too busy talking. V. 19] WHATEVER GOD S LAW SAYS, IT S SPEAKING TO PEOPLE THAT IT HAS IN CUSTODY, TO SILENCE EVERY MOUTH AND LEAVE THE WHOLE WORLD READY FOR SENTENCING. But most people will not stop talking. Like that upright citizen Pharisee, who insisted on appearing as his own character witness. That doesn t work in any court. But then a lot of people, as I say, are totally oblivious as to where they are and whom they re in front of. When they hear the LAW, they talk as if they were at a testimonial dinner in their honor. The LAW says, YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL AND MIND AND MIGHT, and they say, Okay, you re right; I guess I do. THE LAW says, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF, and they say, Thank you for noticing. Some folk, like 2

3 that Pharisee, seem to think they re at the Academy Awards: I give all the credit to God. Thank You, Lord, for making it possible for me to give such a great performance. And all the while, they re in CUSTODY! And some people, who know they re in CUSTODY are just mad about it: They stand in front of the Judge and say, I don t want to hear the charges, thank you very much. I am sick of hearing about my socalled crimes. I do not recognize this court! I am not listening! And lots of people, including you and me, offer excuses and mitigating circumstances: Yes, I broke the LAW, but I really wanted to, or I was tired, I was blue, I was under a lot of stress, I was tempted, I was fed up, I was The LAW says, SILENCE in court! Some of us have even said, But everybody breaks that law! Everybody spoils their kids or rebels against their parents. Everybody sleeps around or lives together. Yes. That s why they re all in CUSTODY or in Hell. And lots and lots of people stand in court saying, I m sorry, I m sorry, I ll be good, I ll be good, I m sorry, I ll be good, I m sorry. And while they talk, they can t hear what the Judge is saying. Before the Reformation, 500 years ago, every Christian knew that this world is God s courtroom. But everybody was talking so loud that nobody could hear God. They all knew He was the Judge, but everybody had something to say. Almost everybody was trying to use the very LAW that had them IN CUSTODY to get off. Yes, I committed adultery, but I always go to Church! Trade you a 3 rd Commandment for a 6 th. Doesn t that balance out? Or, Yes, I skip Church, but I never commit adultery! Or, True, I commit a lot of sins, but I do give a lot of money! Or, True, I never give anything away, but I do keep my nose clean! Doesn t it cancel out? Imagine a thief in court who hears the LAW: "Thou shalt not steal!" and he says, "But your Honor, I never watch porn"? Or worse yet, a thief who hears, Thou shalt not steal! And says, "Thank you, your honor! That s a great idea!" 500 years ago, almost the whole Church was saying, God will save you if you re good. But what good is that when 3

4 we re all already in CUSTODY? Nevertheless, we heard God s LAW and said, Okay, we ll get right on it!" But the LAW says, SILENCE! I am not giving you advice! I'm reading the charges against you, to LEAVE you SILENT AND READY FOR SENTENCING!" But if we stop talking, what would we hear God saying? Martin Luther didn't want to hear. On the outside he was a fabulous Christian, certainly better than me. But inside him were the same things that are inside you and me and that come out. Some of the time, Martin was on top of it, and then he was proud of that, and then he was sorry for being proud, and then he was proud of how sorry he was: He knew he was in court and READY FOR SENTENCING and he was trying like mad to be a better Christian before God gave His verdict. But, in fact, God was already giving His verdict, only Martin couldn t hear. He was too busy talking in court. And what he was saying was, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I m sorry! And I'm never sorry enough, and I'm so sorry!" And GOD S LAW shouted, "SILENCE! You re sorry for yourself and sorry is not enough! What you need is INNOCENCE and you haven t got it." And Martin Luther didn't have a thing to say. Years later, somebody said about him, "One man spoke and set the world afire!" But that's not true. What happened is that one man shut up and heard God. SCRIPTURE ALONE. WHAT GOD S LAW SAYS, IT SAID to Martin until he was SILENCED AND READY FOR SENTENCING. And in the silence, he finally heard the Judge say, "Not guilty, son. Innocent! Case dismissed! And Martin Luther said, "What?!?" But it was right there in God s Word: There is V. 21] INNOCENCE FROM GOD, APART FROM THE LAW. You see, ALL HAVE SINNED. And V. 23] SINCE ALL HAVE SINNED, any INNOCENCE would have to be APART FROM THE LAW. So, SINCE ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF 4

5 5 GOD S GLORY, V. 24] THEY ARE FOUND INNOCENT BY GOD S GRACE AS A GIFT. GRACE ALONE. And then Martin opened his mouth wide and shouted the impossible thing that Moses and THE PROPHETS had been shouting all along: V. 22] INNOCENCE FROM GOD THROUGH TRUSTING JESUS CHRIST TO EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES. FAITH ALONE! INNOCENCE THAT HE GIVES AS A GIFT TO EVERYBODY WHO BELIEVES, V. 24] BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS CHRIST PAID TO SET US FREE. THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE WHITE AS SNOW, since Christ has been scarlet with blood. AS FAR AS EAST IS FROM WEST, SO FAR HE HAS REMOVED YOUR SINS FROM YOU and laid them on His mighty Son once for all. We just sang Luther s hymn: The Son of God has come to earth adorned with gifts and graces. Our works and actions have no worth; they are but vain devices, once you re in CUSTODY. By grace we see God s only Son and all the works which HE has done! He is the blessed Savior! CHRIST ALONE! In fact, God sent the LAW in uniform to put us IN CUSTODY so we wouldn t get away, so we d have a chance to hear the impossible verdict. God sent the LAW to indict us, till we haven t got a thing to say but, O GOD, HAVE MERCY. Yes, and it is written GOD HAS ARRAIGNED THE WHOLE WORLD IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, IN ORDER TO HAVE MERCY ON ALL. God sent the LAW to get us all in court and SILENT, so we could hear God say, Not guilty! Innocent! and award us His Holy Spirit for a new life. He even says, Well done! How can He say that to you? BECAUSE He s looking at WHAT JESUS CHRIST PAID TO SET you FREE. Oh, wonderful courtroom, where we get the credit for Christ s innocence! Oh, beautiful courtroom, where God says, I love you, child. And we need Reformation all the time, so that we know that we re in that wonderful courtroom wherever we are. We need God s LAW to SILENCE us, so we can hear Christ s Father say, BE

6 STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, AND I HAVE REDEEMED YOU so that even the LAW now we get to meet the LAW when it s out of uniform. Suddenly the LAW says, Can I help you? The LAW says, Oh, this is the way you want, since you re innocent, since you re justified, since God finds you well, when Jesus covers your sins, all that God finds is you at last, and finds you innocent every day into Heaven, which is justification by Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Which is simply, Scripture alone, and I quote: 19] WHATEVER GOD S LAW SAYS, IT S SPEAKING TO PEOPLE THAT IT HAS IN CUSTODY, TO SILENCE EVERY MOUTH AND LEAVE THE WHOLE WORLD READY FOR SENTENCING BY GOD. 20] SO NO ONE WILL BE FOUND INNOCENT BY KEEPING THE LAW. ON THE CONTRARY: THE LAW MAKES US KNOW THAT WE VE SINNED. 21] BUT NOW, AN INNOCENCE FROM GOD, APART FROM THE LAW, HAS BEEN MADE KNOWN. [Moses] AND THE PROPHETS TESTIFY TO IT. 22] IT S INNOCENCE THAT COMES THROUGH TRUSTING JESUS CHRIST INNOCENCE FROM GOD TO EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES. AND THERE S NO DIFFERENCE AMONG US. 23] SINCE ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF GOD S GLORY, 24] THEY RE FOUND INNOCENT BY GOD S GRACE AS A GIFT, BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS CHRIST PAID TO SET US FREE. Amen. 6