Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Romans

Romans 3:21-31 Part 2

INTRO: Lillie Baltrip is a good bus driver.  In fact, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of June 17, 1988, the Houston school district nominated her for a safe-driving award.  Her fellow bus drivers even trusted her to drive a busload of them to an awards ceremony for safe drivers. Unfortunately, on the way to the ceremony, Lillie turned a corner too sharply and flipped the bus over, sending herself and sixteen others to the hospital for minor emergency treatment.
    Did Lillie, accident free for the whole year, get her award anyway?  No.  Award committees rarely operate on the principle of grace.  How fortunate we are that even when we don't maintain a spotless life-record, our final reward depends on God's grace, not on our performance!

EXP:  Salvation does not depend on our performance. But it does depend on performance. It depends on the performance of  the One Faithful Israelite JC. Who through perfect faith, wholly pleased God and who through his sacrificial death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin,  releasing us from the power of sin and death.  This was all done as Rom. 5:8 says 'But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' That's grace.

TRANS: Today we will examine 5 of the 6 key themes found  in Rom. 3:21-13. Bible expositor James Montgomery  Boice came up with what he calls the Salvation Triangle'.  I will use his visual aid to help explain what Paul is talking about in Rom. 3:24-25 this morning.

            -Expiate means 'to wipe out the stain of sin.' How? With the blood of JC.   Why blood? Lev. 17:11 'For the life of the
             flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to   make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood  by
             reason of the life that makes atonement.' The death of Christ on the cross, the shedding of His blood is the way God
            does away with our sin, not symbolically as in the OT, but in reality , perfectly, and completely. The Believer's sin has
            been removed from the presence of God, for all eternity.

         Heb. 8:12 has God saying 'I will remember their sin no more.' Jesus is the subject of the work and God is the object. The Believer is not a part of this work. That is why the arrow points from Jesus to God.

2. Redemption Line:
    Links Jesus to mankind. He redeems us. There are three Greek and two Hebrew words that contribute to the theme or doctrine of redemption in Scripture.

    Greek:
        1. Agorazo: to buy something in an open marketplace. Something that has been clearly marked with a price and that
            price was paid.
       2. Exagorazo: Same as the previous word but 'ex' is added  which means 'out of'. To remove from further sale.

APP:  Together they suggest we are purchased by Jesus not to   stay in  the worlds marketplace, but to be taken out of it.
          To be with Him. No longer to go back.

       3. Lutroo:  'to loose' or 'to set free'. As in removing or loosening the bonds or shackles on a prisoner. To pay the
           price to set a slave free from bondage.

APP:  Suggests Jesus death on the cross paid the price to free us   from the bondage and slavery to sin.

Hebrew:
        4.  Kopher: 'Ransome price' . This word is used with the redemption of a person who, apart from that redemption
             would die.

APP:   Sinful  mankind, because of their sin deserves the wrath of  God and His sentence of death. But Jesus' death on the   cross paid our ransom price so that we would not die but   have everlasting life. (Jn. 3:16)

        5. Go'al: To redeem; Go'el: Kinsman redeemer
            -If a Jew lost their share of the land because of debt  or death of a spouse, a near relative could be their kinsman
             redeemer. Remember  Ruth and Boaz. The requirements :
                   -He had to be a close relative.
                   -He had to be willing to assume the responsibility.
                   -He had to be able to pay the debt.

APP: Jesus is our kinsman redeemer because
           -He was born human, making Him a close relative.
           -He had a great love for us and was willing to assume our    debt to God.
           -By His death He was able to pay the price of our debt.

        Bottom line: He, JC, owns all Believers. And we will never be owned by anyone or anything else again. Because Redemption is Jesus' work and not ours  the arrow points from JC to the Christian. Jesus is the subject of the action and we are the object.

3. Justification Line:
     Links God the Father with the Christian. God, because of JC and His work on Calvary, declares believers in JC  righteous and justified. The English words 'Justified' and 'righteous' are the same Greek word 'dikaiosune' It means 'to be viewed and treated as righteous or just.' An easy way to define this is ' God now, because of our belief  in Christ, sees us 'just as if we had never sinned''.

    A more formal definition is given by Chuck Swindoll.
 'The sovereign act of God whereby He declares righteous the Believing sinner while he is still in his sinning state.'

    God is the subject of the work and we are the object.

Lets pull this together.
     Jesus Christ stands between God the Father and the Believer making the salvation of those called by God secure and certain.

Note: The Believer is not the subject of any work here. We, in no way initiate or appropriate our salvation. We are the recipient of God's free Gift. And all this is a result of the grace of God.

ILL: Martin Lloyd Jones said ' there is no more wonderful word than grace. It means unmerited favor or kindness show to one who is utterly undeserving. it is not merely a free gift, but a free gift to those who deserve the exact opposite and it is given to us while we are w/o hope.'

      Why grace? It's because of His great love for us. Rom. 5:8 says 'But God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' God's free gift is only possible by the great love He has for us.  His love for us was publicly displayed  in JC.

Conclusion:

ILL: A young man came forward in a Gospel meeting, earnestly asking, "What can I do to be saved?"  Knowing the man thought he had to do something by his own efforts to be saved, the preacher responded, "You're too late!" "Oh, don't say that, I really want salvation; I'd do anything or go anywhere to obtain it."  "I'm sorry," replied the preacher, "you're too late for that.  Your salvation was completed many hundreds of years ago at Calvary.  It's finished work! All you have to do is simply receive Christ.  Then the blessed gift He offers will become yours through His merits.'Realizing his great debt was paid, the young man found peace by looking to the Savior and resting his all upon the grace of God."

     Have you rested your all on the grace of God? Have you accepted His free gift of salvation. If not, consider this.

1. Since salvation is a free gift from God you can be saved now.
    You don't have to wait till you reach some high level of religiousness or goodness.
    2 Cor. 6:2 says Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation.'

2. Since salvation is a free gift  of God, then it is certain. If salvation was possibly by human works or ability then it could be
    possible that human works can un-do it. You could never be certain you were saved. But since salvation, from beginning to
    end, is a free gift from God, and not a human work, then it is sure and certain simply because God is sure and certain and
    faithful. You can know for sure you are saved.

    The racing  season at Monmouth Park is over tomorrow. But allow me to let you in on a secret...there are no sure things to be found there. But there is a sure thing to be found in the free gift of salvation to those who believe in JC.  Open you hearts and  accept the free gift of His life, given for you.