Sunday 11:29:09

The Israelites spent generations trying to meet the requirements of God’s Law, but couldn’t. The gentiles were not given the Law, but did have the revelation of God found in creation. With that revelation, they did not seek the Creator, but worshipped created things. Israelites and gentiles alike were under the power of sin. Romans 3:10-20 A collection of condemnation against mankind. Romans 3:21-24 v. 21 – But a righteousness from God has been made known. This righteousness did not come from us, but from God. We did nothing, could did nothing to earn it. It has nothing to do with our behavior or self-discipline. Some theologians think the theme of the Bible is in the book of Jonah, “Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah 2:9 “The Law and the prophets testify” Genesis 15:6 “Abraham believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness.” Psalm 32:1-2 “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in his spirit is no deceit.” Habakkuk 2:4b “but the righteous will live by his faith.” In these passages, who is giving the righteousness? What did the recipients do to earn it? What are the recipients of righteousness doing? They are only believing God. v. 22 – This righteousness comes through Jesus Christ to all who believe. v. 23 – We have all fallen short of the mark. The best of the best among us, for all generations have sinned and fell short of God’s standards. v. 24 – But we are justified – “just as if I’d never sinned” in right standing with God. For anyone who trusts in Jesus, God declares you “not guilty”. Not only that, but He declares you “righteous”. God cancels your guilt and credits you righteousness. Even though all are sinners and not sons, God will declare everyone who puts his trust in Jesus not guilty but righteous. How can He do that? Doesn’t He know what I’ve done? He can because Christ died to pay the penalty for our sin and lived a life of perfect righteousness that can in turn be imputed to us. Christ’s righteousness will be credited to believers as their own. Even though we all clearly and totally deserve to be declared guilty, because of our faith in Jesus Christ, God declares us righteous. (1) Freely [as a gift], (2) by his grace, (3) through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus, and (4) through faith (v 25). “redemption” a term borrowed from the slave trade in which a payment was made for a slave to buy the slave’s release. Christ’s death was a ransom, to buy us from our master of sin and guilt. This is the hope of salvation, that you and I could never be good enough, so God, in His grace and mercy, brought salvation Himself to you and me through Jesus Christ. If this is the first time you’ve heard these words, they may seem odd to you that the Creator of everything would go to such lengths for you and me. But you don’t know His great love. You have not understood His great mercy. His desire is for all to accept the gift of righteousness that comes from believing in Jesus Christ. Won’t you accept His gift for you today? For those of you who have walked with God for years, it’s easy to forget how our salvation came by such grace. We think we’re doing well, but then wander willingly into sin. Or we wake up one day and discover that we’re nowhere near we wanted to be. When we go to God, we expect to find him angry or disappointed with us. But our righteousness is from God. It’s His. He placed it on us like the father put the robe on the prodigal son. It’s His and He wants us to live under His righteousness with freedom and hearts and lives full of thanks and praise. The hope of salvation is for anyone who believes in Jesus, God declares us not guilty but righteous.