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ROMANS: THE GOSPEL OF GRACE (TALK 6/12: A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM)

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CONNECT: How can you ‘run to Jesus’ this week and remind yourself of our universal need for Jesus to save us?

WARM-UP Questions 1. Have you ever been rescued by someone? How did it feel to have to put your trust in someone? 2. What does it mean for you for Jesus to be your rescuer?

Read Romans 3:21-26 3. Paul begins this section with the two words ‘but now’. What shift in emphasis does this signal? 4. Can you give a summary of the various dimensions of the problem? (Try to take some time to identify

and discuss at least four aspects of the problem.) 5. What is meant by ‘all have sinned’? Do you think most people readily accept this? Why or why not? 6. What is good about facing the reality that we all fall short of God’s glory? 7. What are the various things about righteousness that we are told in these verses? What is the

significance and meaning of each? What is actually meant by “God’s righteousness”? 8. What is actually meant by ‘redemption’? What did the ancient process of redeeming involve? 9. To whom is God’s righteousness made available? By what means is it offered? 10. What is meant by Christ being presented “sacrifice of atonement”? How does this relate to the Old

Testament idea of the ‘mercy seat’? At what cost does it come to us and God? 11. How does God’s solution address each and every aspect of the problem earlier outlined? 12. How does anyone receive God’s righteousness? What sort of certainty does that give us? 13. What are the implications of being declared ‘justified’ through Jesus? At what point in time can we be

confident about that verdict? 14. How would you define ‘faith’? How is faith not about the quality of our trust, but the trustworthiness of

whom we place our trust in? How does this stop us from trying to earn salvation? 15. If you had one minute in a lift to explain how someone can be ‘right with God’, what would you say?

Read Romans 3:27-31 16. Why do we have no reason to boast? How can we be on guard against boating? 17. What does Paul mean by our role in ‘upholding the law’?

APPLY (this week): How can you grow in recognising Jesus as your only rescuer?

PRAY: Heavenly Father, we thank you that you sent your Son to die for us, in order that we may receive your righteousness and be saved. Thank you for your right and just character and the way that you have demonstrated your righteousness through your plans of salvation. Please help us to put our fierce trust in Jesus, relying on his work on the cross for our rescue from the power of sin and death. Amen

For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

ROMANS: THE GOSPEL OF GRACE(TALK 6/12: A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM)

GOING DEEPER RESOURCES Video • ‘Bible Basics – Justification” by Foothill Kids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Oq-uZHvPc8 • ’Justified by Faith’ by Tim Keller (Free)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sa18q3czo0 • ‘How can Unrighteous People by put right with the righteousness of God?’ by David Cook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J35-rKX8v0 • ‘Jesus’ by Ray Galea

https://mbm.org.au/bible-talks/jesus-4/ • ‘D.A Carson on Faith in Romans 3:21-31’ by Don Carson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIhza6IZzGY • Online Course (Six-Parts) on Romans with N T Wright (payment required):

https://www.udemy.com/paul-and-his-letter-to-the-romans-part-one/

Audio • ‘Why Trust in a Cross’ by Don Carson

http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-audio/carson/Rom_3.21-26_why_trust_a_cross.mp3 • ‘Righteousness through Faith’ by Beck Miller (Sermon number 4)

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/merri-creek-anglican/id945542079?mt=2 • ‘The Righteousness of God’ by Andrew Price

http://www.holytrinitydoncaster.org.au/resources/sermons/?sermon_id=2162 • ‘The Assurance of Salvation’ by Stephanie Judd

https://www.barneys.org.au/talks/the-assurance-of-salvation-5/

Helpful Books and Articles • ‘9. Study and Exposition of Romans 3:21-31’ by Greg Herrick

https://bible.org/seriespage/study-and-exposition-romans-321-31 • ‘What is Justification? What does it mean to be justified?’ from gotquestions.com

https://www.gotquestions.org/justification.html • Romans (Read, Mark, Learn Series) by William Taylor (St Helens Bishopsgate):

https://www.koorong.com/search/product/romans-read-mark-learn-series-helens-bishopsgate-st/9781845503628.jhtml

• Romans (The Story of God Bible Commentary Series) by Michael Bird: https://www.koorong.com/search/product/romans-the-story-of-god-bible-commentary-series/9780310327189.jhtml

Talk 6/12 (ROMANS SERIES): 26/08/18 “A Solution to the Problem” by the Rev’d Adam Lowe

Bible Passage: Romans 3:21-31

21 But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known…

BUT NOW(!) Two of the greatest words ever written,that should fill us with an immense joy and gratitude, as Paul signals a seismic shift in his letter. • For the last four weeks, right from 1, verse 18,

we’ve been unpacking, the problem of sin, along with God’s just anger against sin, that leaves every single person - comprehensively guilty before God, without any ability to rescue ourselves. That’s the sobering news so far.

• BUT NOW, Paul is signalling a shift: from talking about the problem of sin, from talking about the universality of sin, from talking about God’s just anger against sin, to now address how all of this has been resolved through Jesus.

• Note, Paul doesn’t say, BUT ONE DAY, BUT SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, BUT NOW! • Not only has God got a solution to the comprehensive problem,

but through Jesus, the problem has been comprehensively resolved! // BUT NOW. • That’s what we’re exploring today as we come to this section in chapter 3. //

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Leon Morris, one of the great Australian New Testament scholars, said of verses 21-26, that these words form possibly the single most important paragraph ever written! • And I think he’s right. In fact, in the original language,

these verses (vv.21-26), are just one sentence,richly and densely packed with not only Good News, but the inner workings of the Good News, and how it applies to us.

• That as read them, and receive them, that we can have an assurance of salvation. If you’re a Christian, I want you to know that certainty. If you’re not a Christian, I want you to know that there is a way that you can be certain.

• An assurance that is not dependent on our obedience, or how good we are, but that actually, with nothing to offer God, with no righteousness of our own, that God through Jesus, has not only opened a way to be in right relationship with him, but to have a certainty that you are.

• And so to help us understand that and have the opportunity to receive it, we’re going to look at three things:

• The PROBLEM: of Sin and God’s Righteousness; The SOLUTION: God’s Righteousness through Jesus; and The INVITATION: to Trust in Jesus.

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#1 THE PROBLEM: SIN AND GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

So first, THE PROBLEM of Sin and God’s Righteousness.

• There is a fundamental conflict between the sinful nature of humanity, and God’s perfectly just and right character. They’re incompatible.

• Paul summarises it at the beginning of verse 23…

v.23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

As Paul has been laying all of this out, it seems almost like an unsolvable puzzle, Noting that there are at least four dimensions to the problem.

• First, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… That might seem incredibly obvious, Paul’s mentioned it nine times already in c.3, having demonstrated that there are no exceptions, that every Jew and every Gentile - FYI that is every human-being, does not only do things that are wrong, but is enslaved under sin.

• And that’s a problem, because not only can God not stand sin, he is perfectly righteous,but because he is JUST, sin cannot go unpunished.

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• So what is God to do? For he cannot simply ignore sin, because that would mean no justice and thus undermine his justness,yet if everyone was to face the right punishment for sin, that is death, none would stand.

• I think we get that as humans, but are deeply conflicted about it. We can cry out at God’s apparent inaction at injustice in the world, We can have a deep longing for justice in the world around us, yetWe can be deeply offended by the notion that God would dare judge us!

• Only to discover that the reason, or at least part of the reason, as to why sin seems to go unpunished, is not because God’s unrighteousness, but because he, as per verse 25, is righteously patient.

• The second part of the problem, is that Israel - God’s intended rescuer - had failed. Paul has made that abundantly evident: Israel had been commissioned by God, to be part of the solution to the world’s problem, but because of their unfaithfulness, they’ve ended up being part of the problem.

• The ambulance that was dispatched to rescue the world, has now also ended up needing rescuing.

• The third part of the problem, is how can God keep his promise? His covenant? • If he ignores Israel’s sin - then he must not truly be just, but

If he abandons Israel - then his promise to bless Abraham’s descendants was a lie. !5

• Fourth part of the problem is that rescue cannot come through the Law, not only because the Law’s purpose is to convict sin not to save us from sin, but also because no one’s good works are sufficient to secure a righteous verdict.

• All have sinned, Israel has fallen short, God must keep his promises, and the Law cannot save.

Tom Wright summarises it like this:

“Granted universal sin, and, granted God’s promises to Israel, how can God be just, be faithful to the covenant, and at the same time do what a just judge ought to do, deal with evil on one hand and, on the other, rescue helpless people who call to him in distress?”

• It’s seems like an impossible problem: how can God be faithful to his character, but still rescue the world?

• By taking his own righteousness, and giving it to us: That the judge, would also become the one who justifies. That the one who sets what is right, would also set us right. //

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#2 SOLUTION: GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS GIVEN THROUGH JESUS

The SOLUTION to the problem:

• comes not by the Law, but the Law points to it,comes not by our faithfulness, but as gift, from God, through Jesus’ faithfulness.

• That there is a way that God would keep his promises. That there is a way that God could fulfil all justice and still save, That there is a way that God would do it through Israel, That there is a way that we can be assured of salvation.

• And that is by God offering himself as the price for our sin.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (vv.21-24)

These verses can be quite intimidating as they are so densely packed, with lots of theological terms that might send you scrambling for a dictionary.

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• And so it’s important in the first instance to note, that the words translated in English as ‘righteous’ and ‘justified’, all come from the same root word.

• And so when Paul says: that we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus,it means not that we’re let off the hook, not that we’re pretending to be right with God,it means that we have been declared righteous - by God’s own standards.

• This really is quite remarkable. • This isn’t just that we have been just acquitted or given a pardon,

but that those who believe in Jesus, the verdict is in - right now - and it is as if we have never sinned, because through Jesus we have been redeemed.

When we use the word redeemed, we think of redeeming a special offer or something like that, but in the ancient world, redemption was a very serious business.

• It referred to the practice, of setting free a slave or a prisoner of war, by paying a ransom. • The person couldn’t possibly pay it themselves, so someone would pay it for them. • It was out of their control, they needed to be rescued, and their rescue had a cost. //

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• But for Jews, these words would have also immediately reminded them of their rescuefrom captivity out of Egypt, and in particular the Passover meal that they shared. That they were saved from the judgment of God in that instance, by the means of a blood of a lamb that was sacrificed on their behalf.

• But now God would offer himself as the ultimate sacrifice, once and for all that the price for and from our sin would be paid. Jesus was never ‘Plan B’, after Israel, or even after the law, but Jesus was always the plan - only to which everything else pointed.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood —to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (vv.24-26)

The word for ‘sacrifice of atonement’ is a term referring to the lid of the mercy seat.

• Every year, on the day of atonement, the High Priest would go into the holy of holies to atone, for the sins of the people. That as a sacrifice was made, the blood would be sprinkled on the lid, the mercy seat, and as God looks down he didn’t just see how Israel had broken his commands, he looked down and he saw the blood which covered their sins which he provided for.

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• God’s judgment is transformed into the mercy seat. • It shows the triumph of mercy at work, the forgiveness offered, and the work of grace. • But the problem was, that this atonement sacrifice had to be made each and every year. • This act of mercy, anticipated fulfilment, which wold happen through Jesus’ death. • This sacrificial system points to Jesus: the ultimate priest, offering the ultimate sacrifice. • God not only comes to meet us, but God in Jesus comes to die for us,

so that our sins are not just covered by his blood, but they’re completely wiped out. • And he does so to declare his own righteousness!

God demonstrates that he can righteously make the unrighteous righteous,it’s the great exchange of justly justifying the unjust!

• Not just taking away our sin, but paying the price for it.Not just showing us his mercy, but declaring us righteous. Not just being faithful to his promises, but fulfilling them through his Son.

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#3 WHAT’S NEXT? TRUSTING IN JESUS

And the way that we take hold of that rescue, is by trusting in him.

• That just as wide is the effect of sin, so is the effect of justification for all who put their trust in Jesus.

• Just as every single person has sinner and falls short of the glory of God, every single person can receive salvation through Jesus Christ.

• It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, how good you think you are, because the way we are saved, finds its focal point in Jesus and the cross. BUT NOW. It’s all dependent upon what Jesus has done and where you put your trust. //

• Ten times in these ten verses Paul links faith and justification. And three times Paul makes the point directly, that whilst the means through which we are justified is Jesus’ death, it’s not a vague, it’s a salvation event, the way through which it is received is by faith.

v.22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. v.25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood —to be received by faith.v.26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

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Or as per our verse first week, Romans 1:16…

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes

Let’s be absolutely clear. • That every single human needs rescuing from sin,

and the only way that it can be done, is by trusting in the one who has done it for us. • Paul will unpack what he means by faith in chapter 4,

but I just want you to remember three things today. • That Jesus crucified is the object of that faith,

that it is God’s work - not ours, andthat it is freely offered toy you.

• That’s why Paul says in verse 27 that there’s no boasting in ourselves! We haven’t achieved anything, we’re no better than anyone else! We’ve simply recognise our need, and received the result, by trusting in the one who saves.

• The certainty of our salvation, is all about putting our faith in the one who has been faithful.

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• It’s not about the quality of your trust, but the trustworthiness of one in whom you place it.

• It means to stop looking at what we’ve done, and start rejoicing in what Jesus has done.

I remember as a child, being out on a paddle boat with my brother when a large storm suddenly appeared. We were completely helpless. But soon a boat came to rescue us saying, take your feet off the controls, your hands of the wheel, there’s nothing you can do - except let us take you home.

Over the years, I’ve lost count of the number of people whom I have met, who seem to have the most amazing relationship with God. Their lives are filled with the fruit of faithfulness, but when I ask them if they’re sure of salvation, they’ll say something like, “I don’t know if I pray enough”, or “Read the Bible enough”, or “If my faith is strong enough”. And as my heartbreaks, I will say: the ONLY way that we can be assured of salvation is not by looking at what we’ve done, but at what Jesus has done.

• Friends, I don’t know where you are at with Jesus. Perhaps you’re recognising your need for salvation for the first time. Perhaps you’re wrestling in accepting his free gift of grace. Perhaps you just want to do some of it yourself. But you can’t.

• It’s not a 50/50 deal, 50% Jesus, 50% me, it’s not even a 90/10 deal. It’s 100% Jesus. !13

And what he wants, is not just some intellectual assent, or some vague belief, but that your trust in him would find a specific focal point, of accepting what he has done for you. • If you’re a Jew or a Gentile, we all have to answer to God,

we’ve all fallen short of God’s glory. • BUT NOW despite our sin,

you can be confident of the outcome, you can be assured of the verdict, you don’t have to wait and see if you’ll make it, because God has been vindicated in his righteousness, and has offered the solution to you.

• We can think we can do it on our own, We can think that we can rely on religion, But what we need is a rescuer.

• And that’s exactly who God has sent. • There is one problem.

There is one solution. And it is for everyone.

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