SERMON GM16-071
SERIES: Renewal Through Romans: The Gospel Defined, Explained, and Applied
SETTING: North Kelso Baptist Church
SERVICE: Sunday AM (January 24th, 2016)
SUBTITLE: How to Be Right with God – Part 2
SCRIPTURE: Romans 3:22-26
SUBJECT: The Righteousness of God
SUMMARY: The righteousness of God which cannot be obtained by merit comes to all men through faith in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross which fulfills the law of God.
SCHEME: To enable my people to transcend present ecclesiastical understanding of righteousness by appreciating God’s benefits of the atoning work of Christ on the cross
Our theme is: God Provides Righteousness through Faith
Proposition: The righteousness of God which cannot be obtained by merit comes to all
men through faith in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross which fulfills the law of God
Interrogatory Sentence: How do sinners obtain the righteousness required by God?
Transitional Sentence: The passage before us suggests three (3) devices that enable the sinner to obtain the righteousness that is required by God; The Introduction to Righteousness, The Illustration of Righteousness, and The Illumination of Righteousness.
[Secondly, we see…]
2D The Stipulation of Righteousness
“…the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…”
The righteousness that God is requires is a righteousness that does not come by nor is obtained by doing the works of the law.
· Paul made it clear that the law could not rescue the Jews from their sin – it was never designed to do so
· Paul is making it clear that God’s righteousness is attained without any contribution from the Mosaic Law.
· Paul is saying that the righteousness required is not a legal righteousness. Later we will see it is by grace. What Paul refers to is a status of righteousness, having a righteousness that is satisfactory not the obtaining of righteousness by keeping the demands of the Mosaic Law. It is a righteousness that is a gift. It is infinitely beyond the capability of a human being to obtain this righteousness by any type or kind of work.
The righteousness required by God is revealed, it is made known; it is made visible. The tense of the verb suggests that the making known is made once and the consequences of it having been revealed or made known remains forever.
[So, the revelation of the righteousness of God is very significant because it gives hope to sinners, and the revelation of the righteousness of God suggests that this righteousness cannot be obtained by the law. Thirdly, we are able to see…]
3D The Substantiation of Righteousness
“…being witnessed by the law and the prophets
The OT scriptures substantiates the claim of Paul. This is important. Paul includes this to show that he is not making anything up. It is crucial that the church in Rome, particularly the Jewish segment does not think that Paul is adding something new to the mix.
The whole sacrificial system in the OT bore witness or substantiated the righteousness of God in Christ.
Every blood sacrifice reminded the Jews that they, testified to the Jews, shouted at the Jews that any human effort would to be enough to satisfy God.
[For example:]
When a man took his sacrifice as a sin offering to the Temple, and laid his hand on the head of the animal, confessed his sin, and then killed the animal, he was witnessing by that very act that he had faith in a righteousness that was not his own.
The prophets testified to or substantiated this type or kind of righteousness by such teachings as Isaiah 53:6
Isaiah 45:24 reads, “In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.”
The prophets of God testify to this fact – it is clear!
This is so important for Paul to get across. Even the scriptures, the sacred writings of the Jews did not teach that righteousness can be earned. As a matter of fact the OT writings, including both the law and the prophets was designed to teach the absolute opposite.
[Well, we are looking at the provision of God’s righteousness. We have begun this examination by way of an introduction to the righteousness that God requires. The first thing to take note of is the revelation of that righteousness.
We looked at the significance of the revealed righteousness, it gives hope to sinners, it tells salvation is possible, we looked at the suggested truth of this revealed righteousness, it cannot be earned, it is established without the works of the law, and thirdly we see the support or substantiation of the this revealed righteousness testified to by both the Jewish law and prophets. Fourthly, and finally…]
4D The Source of Righteousness
“…even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ…”
There are two very important truths in this phrase.
First – Paul is making sure that there is no mistake about what he is talking about. He is speaking about the absolute and perfect righteousness of God – not the imperfect and empty self-righteousness of human works.
Paul’s point is that the saving righteousness of God is received not my any form of legalism but it is built on God’s revelation.
Secondly – it is acquired strictly and solely by faith. His has always been God’s means of salvation – Hebrews 11 makes this very clear.
There is no mistake. Righteousness is required by God for salvation but it is given by God by faith in Jesus Christ.
A sinner is saved through faith in Jesus Christ alone, apart from anything else.
When we began I said that there are at least five truths contained in this long, single, run-on sentence of Paul that are essential in understanding this passage and the gospel.
And I hoped to show you that as Paul explains the basics of God’s righteousness, he will introduce us to the revelation, the recipients, the remedy, the reason, and the results that are contained in this argument which prove that God’s righteousness is through faith, and not by any human efforts or works.
We only got to examine the first truth in this long, run-on sentence of Paul, and that was the Revelation of righteousness. Next week Lord will we will cover the last four truths.
Our theme has been: God Provides Righteousness through Faith
Proposition: The righteousness of God which cannot be obtained by merit comes to all men through faith in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross which fulfills the law of God.
I have tried to answer the question, how do sinners obtain the righteousness required
by God by an providing an introduction of righteousness with shows that God has
revealed the righteousness that we need.
[What do you say we wrap this up?]
[CONCLUSION]
One ad for the U.S. Marines Corp pictures a sword, and beneath it the words: “Earned, never given.” If you want to become a Marine, be prepared to earn that slogan through sacrifice, hardship, and training. If you get it, you deserve it because not everybody can be a Marine.
But if you want to become a Christian, you must have the exact opposite attitude, for the message of the gospel is: “Given, never earned.” You cannot save your own soul, and God will not save anyone who tries to earn righteousness, but only those who will humbly receive the revealed righteousness of God as a free gift through faith in Jesus Christ.
If you get it, you absolutely didn’t deserve it
Let’s pray! J
1 comment:
As always I enjoy your semons, and this was no exceptions though a day late in reading. Wonderful post Gregg.
Yvonne.
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