McKendrick, Jim: Romans 3v20 ~ Rom 3v20

Okay, I'd like you to turn with me this morning to Romans in chapter three. The book of Romans in chapter three. Begin reading in verse twenty of Romans chapter three. Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. I believe that that passage has to be one of the most significant New Testament passages regarding the subject of salvation. We have mentioned in this passage redemption, justification, righteousness, the law, sin, uh, many of propitiation, I forgot that one. Uh, all of these things are mentioned in this small little passage. It is absolutely fraught with meaning. We, uh, last Sunday evening, we looked at the subject of propitiation, and we discussed a little bit the definition of propitiation being the turning away of the wrath of God. Propitiation is, in fact, the idea that God has been satisfied in what Christ accomplished at Calvary. And his wrath was expended upon Christ at Calvary, and because his wrath was expended on Christ at Calvary, it can be turned away from us who believe in him. This morning I'd like to discuss, briefly, the, uh, the subject of justification. Justification is a legal term. The de- description of which, or the definition of which that I use is a declaration of God, whereby God pronounces a guilty sinner who believes on him righteous on the basis of the work of Christ at Calvary. The basis of salvation is the work of Christ at Calvary. That is the basis of salvation. It is what he accomplished there that, uh, gives me salvation. Justification is a declarative statement of God upon us. Consistently in the scriptures, it is used in this way, to clear the guilty. Now, one of the very first times, actually the second time that it's used in the, in the Old Testament is in the book of Genesis, and I think it's a very interesting, uh, um, use of the, of the term. It's in Genesis chapter forty four and verse sixteen. This is when the, uh, brethren of Joseph have now been brought before him, and they have come to the conclusion that Joseph obviously, or God by now, knows all about their sin, and uh, they have been put into a corner, uh, that they cannot get out of. And Judah approaches Joseph, and this is one of the most eloquent speeches of the Old Testament, uh, in in the idea of of confession, uh, of sin. And Judah says in verse sixteen, what shall we say unto my Lord, or what shall we speak, or how shall we clear ourselves? That word clear is the word that is most often translated to justify, or that, that kind of an idea in the Old Testament, to clear ourselves. God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are that my Lord's servants, both we and he with whom the cup is found. How can we clear ourselves? How can we come into a state whereby the guilt has been cleared? How can we accomplish that? That was a question that Judah poses to Joseph. It is the same question that Bildad the Shuhite in the book of Job in chapter twenty a- asks the same question. How can a man be justified with God? How can I be cleared of the guilt of my sin? And that is what Paul has done in the book of Romans. He has, he has pronounced the world guilty before God. He has taken three classes of people in the first three chapters, and at the end of those, i- each of those sections, he has declared us to be guilty before God. Guilty on the basis that once we knew God, that's a little different than evolution. Once we knew God and were not thankful, but rejected the idea of God and put up idols and finally came down to the idea where I'm worshiping a man and worshiping myself and rejecting the very essence of all that God is, and that is the pits, if you will, of moral degradation. He talks about the righteous man or the one who would assume himself to be righteous in chapter two, and discusses the fact that he also, even though he has not the law, i.e. the Jewish law, he has the law of God written in his heart, and he has fallen short of that. And his conscience condemns him as falling short of his own standards, because that is one of the, and uh, if you ever read the book by C. S. Lewis, um, oh, and I'm gonna forget the name of the book right now, but anyway, uh, his his great The Mere, Mere Christianity, there it is. Uh, if you've ever pick up that, ever find that book, pick it up and read it. It's an excellent, and it's an excellent little book. Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, and one of the statements that he makes in it is the fact that all mankind, every person, no matter what his cultural background, is born with an innate sense of what is right and what is wrong. Now, culture by culture, tribe by tribe, around the nations, around the world, there are aberrations of that, but in every tribe, the most primitive of tribes has an understanding of the fact that there are things that are right and there are things that are wrong. And we in our cultured society, at least in the United States, have come to the conclusion that there is no real right and wrong, it's just what it appears to you. And therefore we have, uh, relativism, uh, preached, uh, from, uh, uh, the the pulpits of the schoolhouses and and in our law system, and, and yay, from our pulpits on occasion as well. The reality is that there is right and there is wrong, therefore we are guilty before God. But how can a man be cleared of his guilt? Now, I want to tell, tell a story. I'm not the greatest of storytellers, and I had to make this one up, which even probably makes it worse. But assuming, let's assuming that, let, let's just say me as a, as a for instance. I come to this wonderful island of Spanish Wells, and I buy me a little house, and somebody gives me a job, and about six or eight months later, you notice that around town there's things that are missing. And, uh, this is quite prolific. In in in in places and in situations where nothing has ever happened this way before, and pretty soon this new fellow that's come onto the island, you know, is under scrutiny. And, and, and, and pretty soon these things that which have been stolen have been found, are found in, in my garage out back. And the point the ga- it comes before me, and I am the guilty party. And I come to trial. And I am discovered to be the guilty party. And the crime that I have committed is worth three years in Fox Hill. Now, I understand, I've never been there, but I understand that that's not a pretty place to be. That's a horrible place to be, from what I understand. And, and they do, I mean, that's just, I mean, that's just flat ugly. But you see Dudley over there. See him? He's, he's a big-hearted kind of a guy. And he's taken up with me since I've come. And he says, he comes up to me after that, he says, you know, sort of in the vernacular, he says, I love you, man. And I'm gonna go to Fox Hill. For you. I am going to take your punishment. I will go so that you don't have to go to that horrible place. Well, I suppose that the very first thing that would have to happen is that the judge, the law of the land would have to be satisfied that Dudley taking my place is okay. I mean, that would probably, in my estimation, that would be the first thing to have to happen. I mean, they would have to be content and satisfied that that would, what? Clear me of the charge. Now, so Dudley goes off to prison. And in Fox Hill, they don't feed him very well, and he picks up some horrible virus, and he doesn't survive. He serves a year and a half of that time, and Dudley dies in prison. Now I want to ask you a question. What would happen? Has the guilt been cleared? Has the debt been satisfied? Or would the law now still have a year and a half owing it? And therefore would come back to me and say, well, now Deadly's dead, you're going to have to finish it up yourself. But if he would survive the whole of the prison sentence, and he would come out of prison and come back to the island. Why, would the law ever be able to come against me? Now, I don't know what it is in Bahamian law, but I'm assuming that both Bahamian law and the United States law, which is based on English law, which is based on, on Roman law, going back in history, that it's the same thing in the United States as it would be here, that if I couldn't, they couldn't charge me for that crime since, since they have been satisfied wi- wi- wi- with that debt. You can't try a man twice for the same crim- crime. Now, say Dudley takes it one step further, and he says, when I get out of prison, I want you to come to work for me. I'm going to take you out crawfishing with me. And I'm going to teach you a trade, I'm going to be with you, I'm going to watch over you, I'm going to teach you how to be a moral and upright man. Now, what would you think of me if, number one, I would accept this and then go on living the way I was. Or if I would accept the that and wouldn't go to work crawfishing with Dudley. Hm? And in fact, I say, forget the whole thing, and I go back to my old, my old life. That would be a pretty horrible thing for me to do, wouldn't it? You would think that I would be very... thankful for him and for what he has done, and b- would be willing to be obedient to what Dudley would require of me so that I would be a different man in the future. Now, all of the things that I have said is included and seen within the biblical context of the word justification. For you see, it says here in, in, in Romans chapter three and verse twenty four, it says, being justified, declared right, freely by his grace. There is the motivation for su- justification. Now, now Dudley, he just came up to me and he said, man, I'll take your prison sa- I mean, what, I mean, what motivation would it be? There was nothing in me. He doesn't hardly know me. I've done these horrible crimes. There's nothing good in me. There's no reason. I have not earned in any way that love of Dudley's, have I? He has, from his own heart, saw fit by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth a propitiation. You see why I said propitiation was the foundation? You got to catch propitiation first, or you don't catch the rest of it. Because, in fact, God has said, when we talk about the subject of propitiation, that he is satisfied with what Christ did at the cross and will reckon the debt that I owe to be satisfied by what Christ did at the cross of Calvary, and therefore he can be just as far as the law is concerned in declaring me, to be clear of the guilt of the law. Now, we have in verse, in Romans chapter five in verse nine— Well, let's read verse eight. But God commendeth his love toward us. In that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Now there's two comments that I just want to make on that very quickly. Number one, here is the method, not the motivation, but the method that God has used to be able to justify me. How am I justified? The motivation is his grace. The method is his blood. Being justified by, through, if you will, dia, through his blood. It is the blood that we talked about, uh, when? Tuesday night, I'm forgetting this. On Tuesday night, we talked about it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. That's the Old Testament word. The New Testament word is propitiation, isn't it? Same thought. It is through the blood of Jesus Christ, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. And therefore, the method that Christ, that God uses in order to justify me is through his blood. Now, I want to turn to back a little earlier in chapter five. only I want to drop back a few verses into chapter four. Chapter four is one of the greatest chapters to describe what faith is in the New Testament. Now I'm going to say, well, what about Hebrews eleven? Well, that's, that's the illustration of faith, isn't it? And that, that gives us illustrations. Here's a theological definition of what faith is, is in Ro- Romans chapter four. Now, I want to begin reading at verse... Oh man, how far back do I want to begin here? Let's start, let's start at verse twenty. We're, we're, we're dealing with, with Abraham here. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his sake alone. I mean, that, that, I mean, the, the Old Testament history wasn't written for Abraham's sake only. It was written so that we would understand, because it is written for us also, verse twenty four, to him, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him, and I want you to notice this next phrase, if we believe on him that died on the cross for our sins. That's not what it says. And there's a very good reason why it doesn't say that. If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from amongst the dead ones, who was delivered up for our justifica- delivered up for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Now, how much faith do you believe that it would take for us to believe that someone died? That doesn't take a whole lot of faith, does it? Everybody does. What would it mean to our salvation, to our justification? If Jesus Christ, if we went over to Israel, you know, we have all these trips over to Israel, we go over there, and they take you to the tomb, and you go inside, and there's the body of Jesus. Sort of like the Muslims do when they go to Mecca, and they go to the tomb, and the body of Muhammad. Or the body of Buddha. Or the body of Confucius. You see, that doesn't make a lick of difference, does it? But we all die. Now, if Jesus Christ was still in the tomb, then I could agree with many of my liberal theologians who would say, well, Jesus came to show us how to live. Jesus came to start a new religion. Jesus came to be our example. And if we would follow him and his example of peace and love and these kinds of things, well then, uh, well, you know, that's what Christianity is all about. Folks, that's not what it's all about. That is not what it's all about. Jesus Christ didn't come to do miracles. Jesus Christ didn't come to show us how to be good. Jesus Christ didn't even come to show us how to love our brothers or our enemies, or anyone else for that matter. Jesus Christ came for one reason, and that was this, to die for our sins, according to the scriptures. And he was buried, just like you do to every other person that ever dies. Now, what, what would have happened if, if the disciples would have gathered around the tomb, which they didn't, but assuming they did, and they all held hands, in a circle, no less, and started chanting a mantra concerning if we believe, if we believe, if we believe, if we believe, then Christ will raise from the dead. If we just have enough belief, if we can say our mantra long enough, if we can do this exercise long enough, then maybe because of our faith, Jesus Christ will rise from the dead. Do you think that would have brought Jesus Christ from the dead? Absolutely not. Because my faith and your faith are all the faith of all the people in the world together. Cannot bring Jesus Christ from the dead again. It isn't my faith that I rest in. And that's precisely what the text is saying. It was God who performed. Abraham didn't stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but he counted him that he was able to perform. It wasn't Abraham's faith that Abraham believed in, it was the performance of God that Abraham believed in. And it wasn't written for his sakes only, but it was also written for ours, who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. He was able to perform. And what does the resurrection of Christ mean? That I am justified. You see, that was my little vignette, you know, and my little story at the beginning. What if Dudley died in prison? If he had died in prison, it wouldn't have satisfied the debt. And if the debt wasn't satisfied, then I cannot be cleared of that debt. But you see, Jesus isn't in the tomb. Jesus Christ is raised from the dead by the power of God, says Romans chapter one, and declared to be who he said he was, the Son of God, with power by the resurrection of the dead through the spirit of holiness. The justification is rests not only on the death of Christ, but squarely on the resurrection of Christ. If Christ is risen, then my faith is not in vain. He would, Paul would say in First Corinthians chapter fifteen. But if Christ is not risen from the dead, then we are of all men most miserable because we only have hope in Christ for this life. And I am not freed from the guilt of my sin, and it will banish me to a lost sinner's hell for all of eternity. But because Christ is risen from the dead, he has risen on account of our justification, that the law cannot condemn me. Because I'm innocent? Oh no. Oh no. I would never want to go back to innocent. Why would I ever want to go back to being innocent? That is no big deal, to go back to where Adam was in innocency, and then the next time I sin, I'm damned and doomed. Oh no, no, no, I don't want that. I don't want innocency. I want a declaration that the law has been satisfied. That, in fact, God will not twice demand. One at the hands of his son, and secondly at my hands, the debt for my sin. And that is the most liberating reality of the Christian life. Believe me, that's the most liberating reality of the Christian life. If, if you ever come across a book, you, you ought to go out and find his book, and when you're over in the States, go to a bookstore and look up D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, an Englishman, English preacher, died probably in the nineteen fifties or thereabouts. Quite a prominent English preacher and wrote a number of books. Don't agree with his theology in a lot of points, but anyway, he wrote a book that I found fascinating. It was called Spiritual Depression. Its causes and cure. And we're not talking about physical depression, we're not talking about a clinical kind of a thing here, we're talking about spiritual depression. Folks, as believers who go around... not sure. Not happy. Insecure. And you know what he said? That the answer to that was, now this is a two hundred fifty page book, which I'm going to tell you the answer in one word, and then, you know, he spent two hundred fifty pages d- describing it. It was an excellent book. It was a lack of the understanding of the doctrine of justification. You see, one of my answers to those dear fellow believers of mine who want to go through the tribulation for some unknown reason. Why? I have no idea. But there are some brothers who, who would really like to go through the tribulation, get purified or whatever they're just going to do during the tribulation. But did you notice what it said in chapter five and verse nine? For if when we were... for much more than, being now justified by his blood, now I am standing in the state of justification, and his blood has justified me. What does it say? We shall be saved. Not past tense, future tense. There is a wrath of God coming upon this whole world, and you want to tell you, because I am justified by his blood, that wrath will never touch me. Why? Because I am justified. The wrath of God is past. There is not one ounce of judgment that God will ever bring to me. And man, I tell you what, that is a liberating truth if we'd ever grasp its, grasp it in its, in its reality. I am justified. I am a saint. I could try one on one, maybe I should. I, I get, I get, I get, uh... Anyway. I tell folks I'm not a sinner. And that'll shake a few of you up. Because you've been told that all your life. But I want anyone to convince me from the pages of the New Testament that someone who believes on Jesus is ever called a sinner. Now be careful. I know, I understand First John. Matter of fact, that's what I've been studying this last week. I understand First John. But First John will never call you a sinner either. We're saints. I'm justified. I'm born again. The wrath of God does not in any way, shape, or form, past, present, or future, ever lie upon me. Now, I'll admit that I do sin. Okay, just so that you don't walk home and the tape doesn't go someplace and somebody gets, somebody gets confused. You check it out for yourself. And we need to understand the reality of what we are brought into because I have been justified. Being justified, chapter five and verse one, being justified by faith, that's the connector. That's the means through which the justification of God reaches me personally. Being justified by faith, I have peace with God. Number one, Why? Because there's no clouds in between. We'll get to that eventually. And I have access into this grace wherein I stand, and what else? And I rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and that's why that when a believer comes into troubles and tribulations and difficulties in this life, he comes out better for it. That's precisely what Paul is saying in chapter five, verses two to five. because the love of God has been shed abroad in my heart by the Spirit of God. And when I come into tribulation, I glory or I boast because I know that this works patience, and patience works experience, and experience works hope. A hope that is not ashamed because that hope has been brought to me by the Spirit of God. And it is that reality that God's grace is sufficient in my practical life, in the tribulations and the trials of this life, because in fact, God works in a believer through those tribulations to bring him to spiritual maturity, to bring him into, and that's a whole series, by the way, bring him into the image of Christ. And that's why the book of Proverbs would say that when a righteous man, using the same word now, now I'm in the Old Testament, when a righteous man falls, he can fall seven times and he gets up again. But when an un- unrighteous man falls, he goes to destruction. Because you see, it isn't sitting in church on Sunday morning that tests your mettle. It's the tribulations of life. And in the tribulations of life, those who are believers in the Lord Jesus, those who have the Spirit of God, those who are justified, are brought to maturity through those things. And he will not fall, because Christ is able to present us faultless. Jude verse twenty five, before the throne of his glory with exceeding joy. Folks, that's the salvation that I have, and I surely hope it's the salvation that you've got, because believe me, that's the salvation that the Bible proclaims. And having said all of that, I want you to, I want you to, to quickly, and it'll have to be quickly, I want you to turn first back to Matthew chapter eleven. Excuse me, Matthew twelve. A Little phrase is really want to, I want to grab at here. The Lord is saying in Matthew chapter twelve. let me look at my notes, I think it is, yeah, Matthew chapter twelve. No, what I want is Matthew chapter eleven, isn't it? Matthew chapter eleven, that's the one I want. Matthew chapter twelve is good too, but Matthew chapter 1 is what it eleven is what I want. Verse sixteen. I was on the wrong page, and I knew I was wrong side of the, it was on the wrong side of my Bible, and I knew I couldn't have the right passage. Matthew chapter eleven, it says, uh, but whereunto shall I liken this generation? Verse sixteen, it is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows and saying, we have piped unto you and ye have not danced, we have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he hath the devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a wine, a man gluttonous and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. Now notice this, but wisdom is justified of her children. Now that's an, that has been a fascinating phrase to me, and and and I've had a long time trying to get my handle around that one. But you see, what, what he is saying is John came one way, I came another way, and you have not responded to either invitation. He's criticizing the the the, the Jewish nation for not having responded to John and his very dogmatic approach, or to Jesus in his very loving approach. I've come to you like Elijah, I've come to you like Elisha, going back to two Old Testament prophets describing these two things, and in neither case have you responded, but, he says, wisdom is justified, declared to be right in what it produces of her children. Justification by faith produces works. And if justification by faith does not produce works, then you've got to worry about the re- reality of justification by faith. And that's precisely what James is talking about in James chapter two. He makes a comment basically on this. And, and, and, and, and, well, maybe we better just quick, just quick. James chapter two. It says, faith without works is dead. Okay, we, we, we said this. Verse twenty. And it says in verse twenty one, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? See how thou, see how thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made complete or perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham was believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith standing all by itself. Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. That's chapter fifteen of Genesis. But chapter twenty two of Genesis, it says that Abraham was justified by works, and it's twenty— chapter twenty two that we're dealing with. And what happened in Genesis chapter twenty two? Abraham was obedient, had faith in God to the point of being obedient to what God told him to do, no matter what it was, even to offering his son upon an altar. And you know what God said in Genesis chapter twenty two? Let me read it to you. Genesis chapter 22 in verse 14, 12. And he said, that is the angel of the Lord to Abraham, saying, don't lay your hand upon the son, neither do thou anything unto him. Now, what does it say here? For now I know. Who is that? Who knows? There's nobody there but Abraham and Isaac. They're alone. Who knows? God knows. I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. Justification by faith will produce an obedience in the life. And if there is no obedience in the life, then there is no truth in the justification by faith. John, in his way, and in his words, six, five, five or six times over in the book of First John, says that if you say this and you do that, you're a liar, and the truth is not in you. For in reality, when I understand what God has done for me, and I, by faith, lay hold of him. It will produce in my heart and in my life Thanksgiving to God and obedience to him. And without the obedience of faith, it isn't truly faith. And in fact, Roman, uh, Hebrews chapter eleven will demonstrate that over and over and over again. Obedience to God demonstrates justification. To God, as well as to man. And therefore, I have no qualms in telling someone who says that I had an experience with God, but it hasn't made any difference in my life. As a matter of fact, would defend going on in the way I always went on, with no change in my life. And I have the authority of God's word to say that that man is a liar. I have the authority of God's word to say there has been no justification. He has not been cleared of his debt, for he has not accepted the offer to have someone else clear his debt. The reality of justification is based in the resurrection of Christ and in that resurrection power that is produced in me by the Spirit of God. He was delivered for our offenses, yes, but he was raised again for our justification, and that will produce an obvious and evident change in my life, where I will have peace with God, access into his presence, and the hope of glory at the end of the road, which will in fact cause me to grow in my Christian life through the difficulties and the trials that this life offers. May we understand the reality and the breadth and the depth of the great truth of justification. And may we ask ourselves this morning, am I justified? And do I live in the reality, in the dynamic of what it means to be justified by faith? Shall we pray? Father, we thank you this morning that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses from all sin. Our Father, we thank you that the debt for our sin, the guilt of our sin, has been cleared by the propitiation that is in Christ Jesus. Our Father, we would pray that we may live in the enjoyment and in the power and in the reality and the dynamic of what it means to be justified. And may we live in the hope of the glory of God. We would ask this in our Savior's name. Amen.