Romans 3:21-31

In my previous sermon “Elements of The Gospel: The Bad News – Part 1,” I pointed out that the gospel message itself is indeed the Good News, and that in order for us to realize that it is the Good News, we needed to understand the bad news beforehand.  And so, we looked at what the human condition based in Romans 3:9-20, and how God really sees us.  We found that because of our sin against God and our rebellious nature towards Him, it is impossible for us to be considered righteous.  In fact, verses 9-12 summarize the point of the previous sermon, “as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  We also saw that the law that God had given us made our sinful nature visible.  It revealed how morally bankrupt humankind is to a holy and perfect God.  The law itself is the basis in which we all fail God’s standard.

Although Apostle Paul builds a case in verses 9-20 that we can never be righteous alone towards God, the rest of chapter 3 deals with righteousness that is not based on works, that is, it comes from something else, and this is where the good news comes in.

Meritocracy 

Before we look at the Good News, let’s consider the concept of meritocracy. Meritocracy is defined simply as a system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement. The world we live practices meritocracy. We see this type of system present in our schools.  Students are often rewarded with bursaries and scholarships based on the level of intelligence or ability they possess. High schools in Manitoba reward the Governor General’s medal to the exemplary student who has attained the highest-grade point average.

Long ago when I was in high school, the person who received the Governor General’s medal had almost a 100 percent average in all of his courses. This person was so smart, that he had more than 100 percent average in some of his courses to offset some of the classes with lower averages. Is that not a very impressive achievement for a student to have?

Meritocracy is even practiced in the workplace. If a worker displays excellence in their work or projects, they will have a higher probability of being rewarded a promotion or a bonus. We also see this type of mindset in the church. Some people think that being heavily involved in ministries of the church, they are higher in the spiritual ladder than some of their peers. This is true especially in ministries that we consider to be more noble such as preaching on the pulpit, leading praise and worship, attaining a position in the BOT leadership, or participating in community outreach ministries. Now, there is nothing wrong at being involved in the ministries of the church. In fact, we encourage members of this church to be involved however, if the intention for your involvement is to use it as justification for righteousness, then we will see later what the Bible says about that.

When I was young, I became one of the first leaders of our church pre-teen fellowship group. During our Sunday School Bible quizzes, I would usually get higher scores than the rest of my peers.By the time I was a young adult, I was leading the youth group, I was a Sunday School teacher; I was already trained as a teacher in all levels of Evangelism Explosion. I was placed in a special Theology training by our previous youth pastor; I was also playing the guitar every week during Sunday worship services. Almost every ministry we had in the church, I was involved, well maybe except the women’s fellowship, but I digress.  It was during those times for lack of a better term, that I felt more special in God’s eyes than everyone else in the church, that I was more entitled to be in heaven than them. Within my heart, I harbored an elitist mentality, that I was better than everyone else in the church. Sometime later God, by His grace, brought me out of that thinking.

Although meritocracy is a very good principle to apply in practical applications, what does the Bible say about the role of meritocracy regarding our righteousness? We will see this revealed to us as we read the rest of the chapter.  Let us read Romans 3:21-31.

²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ For we hold that one 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 God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 3:21–31.

Faith and Righteousness

In verses 21 and 22 Paul states that righteousness can only be found “through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe”.  This means that righteousness that is acceptable to God cannot be found by personal merit or blind obedience to the Law.  Even having faith in itself cannot be associated to something that came from us.  In Ephesians 2:8-9 it states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” The ability for us to have faith in God comes from God Himself so that we cannot say that this faith is something inherent or natural within ourselves. I can’t stand here and say I became a believer because I had the right amount of intelligence to believe. This is not the case at all, as our ability to have faith in Jesus has been graciously given to us by God Himself.  If we recall in John 6:44, Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the last day.”

In Physics, Newton’s first law states that an object stays at rest or in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force.  An example of this is a person throwing a baseball ball across a field.  If we disregard aerodynamic drag to slow the ball down, it would continue to fly at a constant speed.  Now, the only thing that would be able to stop its trajectory and speed is by an external force, which is a bat, a baseball glove, or someone’s head.   It is similar with us regarding faith. If Romans 3:9 is true and that no one understands, and no one seeks God, then we will continue in the direction away from God. With faith, God acts as that external force that stops our will to sin and directs us towards Him.

Now that we have established through the Bible that faith is the means in which we attain righteousness, what is faith exactly?  Many times, we would hear from various people from the Christian world that we must believe or have faith in Jesus in order to be saved. That statement is true because it says so in verse 22. However, what does it really mean when a person believes?  What is actual faith in Jesus?

As we have learned in our Evangelism Explosion classes, it is true that faith in Jesus is not just head knowledge that Jesus is God. We all believe that, even demons believe that.  In James 2:19 it says, “You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe-and shudder.” In the church, the gospel has been shared to us a countless of times and most of us have even prayed the sinner’s prayer. I am one of those people. I prayed to God to believe in Jesus and for Him to come into my heart however, in my heart I did not recognize that I was guilty of my sins, and that Jesus was the only one who can save me from it. I felt no remorse for my sins at all. I prayed just for the sake of praying, as if that prayer was some magical ticket that will grant me access to heaven. And so every time someone would ask me if I am a Christian, I would answer yes “because I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior.” It was not a bad answer by any means but in the back of my mind, I had a question that always lingered, “He saved me from what?” I was a good boy. I didn’t succumb to temptations and vices as the rest of my friends in High School. Whenever I attended their house parties, I was known as the guy who didn’t drink alcohol or joined in taking questionable substances.

You see brothers and sisters, I had a crooked view of sin. When I hear the term “Jesus died for our sins”, my view of sin was something universal. That we were guilty as a collective for the sin of mankind in a general sense. I did not view sin as a personal transgression that I myself was personally guilty of. It was similar to the time when I was in grade 8. There was a time when a majority of the class was rowdy which resulted in the whole class staying after school for detention. I was one of the good kids who didn’t create any problems. I knew deep down, that I was not guilty of the foolishness of the class, yet much to my annoyance and frustration, I still stayed in detention knowing that I was the exception. I knew intellectually that mankind sinned against God, and I acknowledged that we sinned against Him, yet I failed to recognize that my personal transgressions against Him was far serious than I originally believed. My own efforts in fostering my own self-righteousness made my eyes blind of my deceit, my envy, my lust, my blasphemy, and my hypocrisy. And so, I was not really repentant of my sins because I believed that I was not as guilty as other people I know. Living unrepentantly, I was still involved with church ministries thinking that God was proud of my deeds but I was foolish, and all the work I did for His name were all filthy rags before Him.

Real faith in Jesus involves the sinner recognizing the seriousness of their sin at a personal level and being repentant of it.  King David realized the gravity of his sin of adultery and murder when he wrote Psalm 51.  (Expand on David’s sin?)

When we read Psalm 51:16-17 it says, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”  This verse shows a snapshot of David’s repentance. God does not want our outward expression of religion in the hopes of making Him pleased. Was sacrifice and burnt offerings pleasing to God? Yes, it was, but there was a reason behind the sacrifice and burnt offerings.

What God actually wants is a sinner who has a broken and contrite heart. Their hearts are broken and contrite because they accept that they are guilty and are sorry for their transgression, and want to turn away from it. This is what apostle Paul calls godly grief in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10, as it says, “As it is, rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you grieved into repenting.  For you felt godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.  For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

Real faith also involves that the sinner understands and trusts that Jesus Christ alone has saved us from our sins and also understands the cost that was required to satisfy God’s justice. It says in verse 24 and 25 that the sinner is “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”  If we look at what propitiation means, it is an action of appeasement. God’s holiness demands justice from sin, and that justice means judgement and death for the transgressor. In the Bible, God instructed the Israelites to offer Him sacrifices and burnt offerings for them to acknowledge the seriousness of sin. Instead of the sinful man dying for his sins, a lamb (who was not responsible for man’s sin) instead was slaughtered to satisfy the wrath of God against sin.

We have determined in part 1 of this sermon, that we are subject to God’s righteous wrath and His justice is to be accomplished in order to satisfy the transgression that was committed against Him. The work that Jesus did on the cross was an act of propitiation toward God, and He paid it not by wealth or power, but by His own blood. Several years ago, during Good Friday, I was at the Denver airport waiting for my flight back home. During that time, I wished that I could be here in fellowship with the church worshipping, and watching the Passion of the Christ movie.

We all know that the director had taken some creative liberties with the film but regardless, this was the only Jesus movie that I’ve seen that paints a vivid and horrific picture of what it was like to be crucified. It was that shocking and gruesome that even animals were not subjected to this type of treatment when they get slaughtered for food. God’s righteous wrath was satisfied in that an innocent person who did not sin was punished as if he did sin. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 it says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Have you ever watched a movie where in the end, instead of the hero triumphing in the end, the bad guy is triumphant?  It sounds like a depressing movie. It is just morally unfair that the “bad guy” is the last one standing. It doesn’t satisfy our view of justice in which the good always triumphs in the end. This reminds me of a picture I found on Instagram where it says “The Gospel: The only story where the hero dies for the villain.” Jesus is the hero, we are the villain, and we are responsible for His death because of our sin.

In His grace and mercy He has even “passed over former sins” as stated in verse 25, in order for us to experience His righteousness. In verse 26 it continues, “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” God could have been swift in his justice and punished Adam and Eve at the moment they sinned, but because of His love, His patience, He waited until Jesus bore the sins of mankind on the cross.  Because of Jesus’ sacrifice and propitiation, God allowed us to experience His grace in our lifetime.

Faith is the means by which God justifies a person. Faith alone is trusting in Jesus that what He accomplished on the cross, paid and satisfied God’s wrath towards sin. There is nothing else required from us but to trust Him. Several weeks back, I mentioned people who claim that they have our back. Saving faith is trusting that Jesus has got your back without worrying to look behind you. It is acknowledging that Jesus alone justified us from our own sins.

The Good News

So what does faith do to our system of meritocracy?  Apostle Paul concludes his argument in verses 27-30, “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, Gentiles also, since God is one-who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.” The Greek word kauchesis (kow-khay-sis) refers to a high degree of confidence or boasting. If we are all sinners, no one has any basis to boast about accomplishments, especially in relation to the law. Faith excludes boasting because people are not saved by their works but by the work of Jesus on the cross, and by God raising Him from the dead.

My justification through faith in Christ invalidates my selfish claim that God sees me as an exemplary Christian because I am an elder, a leader of the Youth Ministry, and the Chairman of the Board. By our standards, it looks like it is impossible for me to go to hell based on my church resume. And yet, the work that I have accomplished in those ministries, still holds no weight whatsoever compared to the work that Jesus Christ had already done on the cross.

Following the law religiously does not make you righteous. Reading your Bible and praying everyday does not make you righteous. Going to church every Wednesdays and Sundays does not make you righteous. Going to fellowships and leading worship does not make you righteous. What makes us righteous is by faith in Christ alone.

In verse 31 it says, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” Some of us might be thinking, does this mean I don’t have to follow the law? I can lie and cheat and God will forgive me anyway?  Apostle Paul answers that question by saying “By no means!” We should not dismiss the law that God has given through His Word as it is useful in reminding us that in this side of life, we will continue to sin and that we must always be repenting from our sins day in and day out. The law will reveal to us the sin in our lives that must be repented, and how we can avoid committing them.

The law is also useful to steer us in to the correct moral path that God intends for us to have. Sin will hurt, especially to us Christians. When we sin, it not only affects ourselves, but our fellow brethren in the church. As I mentioned last week, although God forgave us of our sins, we may deal with the fallout that our sins have caused, and we may deal with the consequences for the rest of our lives here on earth. God’s law is good as it helps us avoid the pitfalls of sin and that’s why we must uphold the law. Spiritual maturity is not measured by how high we jump in praise but how straight we walk in obedience. We need the law to obey.

In closing, the work of Christ on the cross which resulted in our justification from God’s judgement towards us is good news indeed. We are like prisoners who have been pardoned and set free. Based on what we have learned from Romans chapter 3, do we continue to rely on the good works that we have done in order to establish righteousness with God? Or do we continue to cling on to the Gospel and the good news that it brings in order to assure ourselves of the righteousness that Christ has already given us?

It is fitting that every first Sunday of the month it is customary for our church to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. In The Lord Supper, we are reminded to proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Here we are reminded that Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins. His body is represented in the bread that we eat, God took all of ours sins and nailed them with Christ’s body on the cross. The cup that we partake, represent the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross to wash our sins away. Sin is the reason why we were separated from God. The remembrance of Jesus through the Lord Supper, helps us to remember how we are reconciled with God.

Prayer

Let us raise the bread and let us read 1 Corinthians 11:23 and 24

Let us raise the cup and let us read 1 Corinthians 11:25 and 26

Prayer and Benediction:

May God’s love and joy prevail in each one’s life, and may peace that surpasses understanding prevail in each one’s heart and mind.  And may the fellowship, empowerment, and inspiration of the Holy Spirit be with us all, and all God’s children will say, Amen.

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