Title: Justification by Faith
Text: Rom 3: 24 - 31
Date: 9-16-07
Introduction:
Paul has beat us up pretty good so far. He has made a very strong point of telling us not only that we are not righteous, but just how unrighteous we are. He has pointed out to us that no one lives a perfect moral life and he more than adequately laid out God’s case against us.
God sees and understands our hearts, every single thing that’s there – all our impure thoughts all of our anger our bitterness our unforgiveness all of our unrighteousness. As a result, no one is able to stand on their own righteousness in the presence of God, but all stand condemned. Yet the book of Romans is a book of good news. Paul began in Ro 1:16 by saying, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. NASB
Even though there are none righteous, God made a way, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to justify all the unrighteous, which includes us all.
I want to talk a little more about justification this morning. It’s a very important doctrinal teaching of Scripture. It is the doctrine that inspired Martin Luther and launched the Reformation. So we need to be aware of it and it’s importance.
Last week I rushed through the end of the sermon but I want to reiterate the truth – The only reason God can justify sinners is because Jesus Christ shed His blood in our place on the cross.
Ro 3:24-27
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
NASB
I explained briefly the three words Paul used to describe our justification or more accurately how we are justified and I want to go over those again. Understanding these words are important in helping us understand what God did for us.
1 Redemption
The first was redemption. “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” Redemption was a term referring to the slave market where slaves that were bought or redeemed by a blood relative for the purpose of being set free. It was also used metaphorically to the people of Israel who were redeemed from bondage in Egypt in Ex 15:13, and again from Babylon in Isa 43:1.
The point Paul has made is all humanity is in bondage to sin and because of our own unrighteousness we are unable to liberate or redeem ourselves from that bondage. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, through the shedding of His blood on the cross redeemed us from that bondage. I mentioned that in no way does redemption mean God in any way negotiated with Satan or paid any kind of ransom to Satan for our redemption. That’s very important to understand because some “Christian” cults understand redemption in that way. Satan is a powerful enemy make no mistake about that, but he is not on any kind of equal footing with God that God would negotiate with him. God did not appease nor accommodate Satan on behalf of humanity through the cross. As a matter of fact we understand from Scripture Satan did not want the cross to take place. That’s what he was doing with Jesus in the wilderness, trying to get Jesus to avoid the cross. The redemption price paid on the cross was not a ransom paid to Satan.
The cross of Christ was the cost of judgement on sin. Rom 6:23 is pretty straight forward, the wages of sin is death. Christ redeemed us in this slave market of sin by His own blood.
An important aspect of this use of redemption is that the redeemed slave could never to be put up for sale in any slave market again. The person who has placed their faith in Christ is redeemed, set free from sin and free to live a life pleasing to God in the power of the Holy Spirit. The precious blood of Jesus, made it possible for a righteous God to justify a believing sinner on the basis of justice satisfied.
2. Propitiation
The second word was propitiation. Last week I mentioned the word translated here as propitiation, in the Septuagint, refers to the Mercy Seat, the golden covering of the Ark of the covenant and is also used that way in Heb 9:5 in the New Testament.
The mercy seat was where God manifested His presence with His people, particularly on the day of atonement and it is where on that day the High priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice 7 times to make atonement for the sins of the people and turn away God’s wrath (Lev 16:14ff).
Here is a place where we understand the truth that words have usage and can’t just be translated by definition. In its classical Greek form this word referred the act of appeasing the gods by means of a sacrifice to buy off the anger of the particular god and buy his/her love. That meaning is obviously not carried over to the of the New Testament. We know based on the overall teaching of the Scripture God’s love is not for sale.
The word as used in the Septuagint (LXX) which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, is understood as atonement or reconciliation, rather than appeasement.
It refers to the act of getting rid of the sin which has come between God and man. In the New Testament it means the blood of Jesus satisfies the just requirements of God's holy law which mankind broke, thereby paying the penalty for man, and removing both sins guilt and penalty.
In the death of Christ the demands of God for justice against sin are fully met. In a manner of speaking Christ becomes our mercy seat, the place where we meet God. It is through His propitiation or atoning that righteous God and unrighteous man find reconciliation.
Propitiation is necessary because God’s wrath is directed and falls on sin. It differs from the pagan concept because God Himself does the propitiating. In pagan religions man brings the offering to appease or placate the god. Even in the Old Testament sacrificial system the sacrifices themselves are considered gifts from God. For us God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ presents the sacrifice. The entire act is from God, his love, his purpose, His initiative, His gift. God Himself, gave Himself, to save us from His own wrath.
This is the basis by which a righteous God can make the unrighteous righteous without compromising His righteousness.
3. Demonstration
The third term was demonstration. Paul used it to explain why God did what He did. Why Christ came into the world and died on the cross and rose from the dead. It was to demonstrate His justice.
Paul wrote that in the past God did not pour out his full wrath on mankind for their sins. Instead He was patient and merciful. In other words God did not bring complete judgement against the sins of former generations because He was patiently waiting for the fullness of time when He would punish these sins in the death of Jesus Cahrist.
However, in Jesus atoning sacrifice on the cross God demonstrated, or gave evidence of His justice, not only by showing His grace toward sinful man, but also through His wrath towards sin. He directed the full force of that wrath which we deserved, towards Himself, in the person and work of Jesus on the cross, that He might be just in not compromising His righteousness or condoning sin. In Christ God became both the just and justifier. He was just because He was the sinless perfect sacrifice and was justifier, because by His shed blood He alone is able to justifysinful men.
Why is it important for us to understand what these words mean and how God justifies? Because the world will challenge your faith. You may not have to defend your faith in a debate or anything like that. But the world will throw all sorts of concepts and ideas about God and about spirituality and faith at you. Things that will challenge what you believe. It may not be a personal confrontation it may be an article or book you read or a speaker you hear. It may be something you do or don’t do that challenges your faith and causes your mind to question why or how could God accept me or justify me or make me right with Him, and hopefully you will be able to access the file that contains some of the things you heard and you can wait a minute that’s not right and you can meet the challenge head on.
When we closed last week we addressed the issue of The means of our justification: Faith v. 22, 25, 26,29
Ro 3:22-31
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. 31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. NASB
Remember justification is but one aspect of salvation. As we have already mentioned it is a legal term to denote our change of position from one of being condemned to one of being declared righteous. Our justification comes not on the basis of what we have done v. 28, but solely by what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Fundamental to the gospel message is the truth that the initiative for salvation from beginning to end belongs to God. We are justified freely by His grace and the avenue through which God’s grace operates is faith.
What is faith? I gave the definition last week, Faith is the leaning of your entire human personality on Jesus in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness. But what does that mean?
We talk about faith being a simple thing, a child can exercise faith. But we really struggle to understand what it is. Faith is simple yet it is complicated as well. Some people believe faith is nothing but a mental assent to a truth -- that if you believe something is true, then you are exercising faith. But faith is more than just believing something is true. There are people who believe faith is a feeling, a feeling of confidence. If you are confident, you have great faith; if you don’t have confidence, then you don’t have much faith. For them faith really depends on how much feeling or emotion you can generate. But that’s not genuine faith either, and that kind of faith can be deceptive. And of course there are those who think faith is nothing more than a form of self-deception - a way of believing something you know is not true.
Faith does have an intellectual aspect, it also has an emotional aspect and it has a volitional or willful aspect as well. I think that’s why James said If you really want to know what faith is, you have to see it in action. James isn’t talking about a works based righteousness but he is telling us faith is active not static. In other words faith isn’t just something we have, it’s also something we do.
I just gave a definition of faith but faith is not just about having a definition it’s also about living life in accordance with that definition. Faith isn’t locking ourselves away from the world, it isn’t knowing all the right terms, saying all the right words, carrying a particular version of the Bible or dressing in a particular way. Faith isn’t trying to obey and fulfill some kind of law. It’s not doing your best to try to live up to a standard that you think you ought to live up to. It’s not expecting God to accept and love you simply because you have tried your best to obey some standard. Faith is about believing there is a God and that God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that who so ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life and asking Him to give you everlasting life. Then faith is about doing something with that life by following him in obedience.
That’s justification by faith. Paul says this kind of justification, justification that comes by faith rather than works, eliminates boasting, this kind of justification is available to both Jew and Gentile. It’s available to rich and poor young and old, it’s available to most religious and the least religious. It’s available to all, but only appropriated by faith in Christ Jesus. We live in a pluralistic society and a post-modern world where we are expected to tolerate and accept anything and everything. We are to believe all religions lead to the same place we’re being even told that Allah and God are the same and all that is necessary for heaven and eternal life is to believe in God. Let me first of all say Allah the god of Islam is not the Lord God almighty of the Bible. If you remember the video we saw with Ergun Caner the former Muslim who is now President of Liberty Theological seminary he addressed that issue and laid that notion to rest. And to say that just believing in God regardless of how you understand god and everything will work out is not biblical and is not compatible with Christianity! The Bible says we are justified, given right standing before God only through faith in Jesus Christ.
It does not make the Law void. The question was do we render the law vain and useless; do we destroy its moral obligation; and do we prevent obedience to it, by the doctrine of justification by faith? Paul’s answer is no justification by faith in fact establishes the law. Paul’s not talking about the Levitical law given to the Jewish people. I believe Paul is referring to the moral law found particularly in the Ten Commandments but also elsewhere in Scripture. Justification by faith is not license to sin it’s not a permit to break God’s moral law. As a matter of fact Jesus taught an even great obligation to the moral law. We still have a moral obligation to live righteous lives in this world.
Consider these passages:
Mt 5:16
16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. NASB
Eph 2:10
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. NASB
Col 1:9-11
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; NASB
1 Ti 6:17-19
17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. NASB
2 Ti 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. NASB
Tit 2:7-8
7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, NASB
Tit 2:12-14
2 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. NASB
Tit 3:7-9
8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. NASB
We have an obligation to obey God’s moral standards, but we are not justified by our obedience we are justified by faith and we obey God’s commands by faith. But what about those in the Old Testament? Men and women have always been justified the same way, by faith, there is no distinction between the Old and New Testament.
In chapter 4 Paul makes his point clear by using the example of Abraham. The Jewish believers knew and understood all about Abraham. In verses 3, 6-8, 9-10, 16-17 and 21-23 Paul says Abraham obtained righteousness or was justified not by works but by faith. His works or obedience followed his faith. The bible says Abraham believed God. We know he believed in God, but more important he believed God. We have an advantage over Abraham because we can look back to the cross. We have testimony to how God rectified the problem of sin, reconciled and justified sinners on the cross through Jesus Christ. Abraham looked forward and believed God would provide the lamb. We are both justified the same way by faith, we meet Jesus, the just and the justifier at the cross, and there is still room at the cross today for all who would come.