Sermon Tone Analysis

Part Two of Justification by Faith

                                        (Romans 3:21-24; begin with 24)

Introduction:

            The title of our lesson this morning is . . . .

and if you remember from our first lesson on justification we looked at several words that go into defining for us the doctrine of justification, didn’t we? Justification is something that God does to us, something Christ did for us, and something we receive, isn’t it?

It is an act of God whereby we are /declared/ righteous!

We are not /made/ righteous, but we are given a righteous covering, we are given the righteousness of the risen Christ.

The final result of justification will be an actual righteousness, though, won’t it?

When Jesus comes again, people, the devil and the works of the devil will be destroyed.

We shall be made like Jesus , won’t we?

We shall be without sin!

Justification is not just something for the here and now, it goes on through to eternity. 1 John 3:2 (KJV) \\

2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

We also talked about the three components of justification: God declares us not guilty; He declares us innocent; and as I just said, He declares us righteous.

We talked about the Day of Atonement and how that most important day prefigured the coming of the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus, who would take away the sins of the world.

There is no longer a need for the daily sacrifices for sin, or the yearly sacrifice for sin, Jesus made the final and complete sacrifice, didn’t He? Instead of the blood of a slain animal on the altar of the living God we are to present living sacrifices, aren’t we?

We are to present ourselves as living sacrifices to our God.

If you remember we discussed a whole lot of words last time together.

And other than justification, which is a word we need to always keep in our minds as we study this morning, we are going to come back to three words this morning: atonement, propitiation, and redemption.

The word atonement really means reconciliation.

We tend to use the word atonement to describe what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

We say He made atonement for sin.

And by His sacrifice, He certainly reconciled to the Father to all who place their trust in Him.

Another word that describes what Jesus accomplished on the cross is propitiation.

The sacrifice of Christ’s atoning blood satisfied the Father’s wrath for our sin.

So, this word is a vitally important one, isn’t it?

It is no accident that Paul uses this word here after so forcefully writing of the universality of human guilt in the preceding chapters leading up to this section on justification, isn’t it?

The final word, redemption, is a glorious word.

Again, as Paul has so forcefully concluded, all of humanity is guilty before God.

We are none righteous, we are all sinners.

We are all trapped in the bondage of sin.

The Bible describes us as slaves to our sin natures, right?

The word redeem means to buy back, to repurchase.

It was used in NT times for purchasing a slave from slave block with the idea of setting that slave free.

And because we are slaves to our sin, and the consequences of sin is death and decay, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross must redeem us, buy us back from the slave market of sin.

Our redemption has both a present and a future implication then, doesn’t it?

We are free from the judicial consequences of sin, we won’t be punished for them; we are free right now from the dominion of sin, the power of sin to dominate our lives; and we are also free from the corrupting and decaying power of sin, we will one day have an eternal body just like our Lord’s!

And how are all of these marvelous things applied to repentant sinners?

They are offered freely as a gift, by grace, through faith.

Justification by faith is the title of our lesson, isn’t it?

We are justified by faith apart from /any/ works!

Let’s read our passage of Scripture now.

I. Propitiation and Justice (Romans 3:24-26)

            (1 I want to read verses 24-26 together this morning, although we will mostly be considering the last two verses.

Verse 24 frames what comes after it, I believe.

We need to focus on the word freely when we consider all the aspects of justification.

We hear all the time in sermons about our not being able to work for our salvation, of course.

But it is a fact that we need to meditate on from time to time.

We also need to always consider our own unworthiness before God.

Many of us, even in the church, really do imagine that the world is all about us, don’t we?

That everything about the life that God has given to us is only for our own benefit.

In sermon after sermon you will hear that God is merely waiting to give you the best days of your life right now.

And there are all these little things you must do to tap into the vast reservoir of God’s goodness.

We almost have the idea God is some genie in a bottle waiting on us to rub the magic lantern and He will pop out and grant us our heart’s desire.

But while it is certainly true that God will bless His children, it is also true that our blessings and our needs are not God’s primary consideration when it comes to His actions in the world He created.

Why has God done all that He has done?

What is His motivation for acting in the world?

Why did He create in the first place?

The answer to these questions is not stated in the verses we will read, but it really needs to kept in view when we discuss justification, when we consider the wonder of our salvation.

God has acted in world for His glory.

Redemption!

Salvation!

The cross exists to show the grace, mercy, love, and glory of the Triune God.

And what God counts as glorifying to him is amazing to consider.

Listen: Ephesians 2:7 (KJV) \\

7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in/ his/ kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

God has justified us freely as a gift by His grace.

And He has done so in order that we might more fully see the great and awesome beauty of His glory.

Look at your Bibles, verses 24-26.

(2 Verse 25 states that God was propitiated, He was satisfied, by the shed blood of His Son, right?

Why does God require a blood sacrifice?

Why is it blood shed in death is the only that makes atonement for sin, that reconciles fallen sinners to a holy God?

The answer is found in one the more difficult books of the Bible to read.

Leviticus is probably not on anyone’s top ten list of favorite books of the Bible, is it?

And yet throughout some of the genuine strangeness of the book, you can find answers to why Christ fulfilled all of the requirements of the law.

If Leviticus is read with Jesus in mind many of the things there become more understandable.

Blood is required to propitiate the Father!

Why? Leviticus 17:11 (KJV) \\

11 For the life of the flesh/ is/ in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it/ is/ the blood/ that/ maketh an atonement for the soul.

(3 It is the blood pumped throughout our bodies by our hearts that brings life, isn’t it?

Without a proper flow of blood to all the parts of our body there will be an inevitable decay of whatever body part is not receiving the proper flow of blood.

I don’t know how long I had a blockage in my right leg.

It was for a fairly long period of time.

At first I put the weakness and pain I felt off as being the result of being out of shape from lack of exercise due to an operation I had on my knee.

But the fact was I wasn’t getting the proper blood flow to my leg.

The result is my right leg is still quite a bit weaker than my left one.

There was some damage to tissue and muscle that I haven’t gotten back up to par.

The life of the flesh is in the blood, right?

(4 What is the penalty for sin?

Death!

Romans 6:23 (KJV) \\

23 For the wages of sin/ is/ death; but the gift of God/ is/ eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(5 So, God requires our death as payment for our sin, doesn’t He? Eternal separation!

The second death!

But throughout redemption history, God has graciously allowed mankind to offer a substitute, hasn’t He?

The OT animal sacrifices all prefigured the coming Lamb of God, Jesus, right?

And now that Jesus has eternally paid the price there is no need for all those bloody sacrifices to be made.

But we must never forget the severity of God.

He is gracious to be sure.

More gracious than I deserve.