Justification | Sermon on Romans 3:19–31 | Justification, Redemption, Propitiation

well we've come in our bible in our journey through the bible story to the marvelous book of romans where the clearest explanation of the message of the entire bible is found in fact we saw last week that the book of romans is really like the whole bible in miniature and so for that reason in our journey through the bible we're spending five weekends uh in this book of romans we began last weekend in romans chapter 1 and verse 16 for i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes this led us to us two questions the gospel is the power of god for salvation salvation from what what exactly do we need saving from and the answer is in chapter 1 and verse 18 the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth so the gospel is not about how we can have a fulfilled and a happy life in it the first instance the first question that the gospel addresses is very simply how can i be saved from the wrath of god then we ask the question who needs to be saved from this and the answer to that question is everyone everyone does chapter 3 and verse 10 no one is righteous no not one or chapter 3 and verse 23 that we're coming to today there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god now today then we're taking it up in romans in chapter 3 and especially verses 21 through to chapter verse 26 one commentator describes this as possibly the most important paragraph ever written i think that is a very apt description of these verses now i want to focus today particularly on three words that get to the heart of what god has done for us through the death of jesus christ on the cross these words are justification redemption and propitiation you see them all in verse 24 and verse 25 of romans 3 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are 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 now these are long words but they are bible words now the first time i ever came to america i was taken by a friend to see a game of baseball and he talked to me for an evening about sliders splitters curveballs and changeups i did not have the faintest idea of what he was talking about if you were to visit england i could take you to see a game of cricket and i could talk to you at great length about the bouncer the yorker the in swinger and the googly which has nothing whatsoever to looking things up on the internet sports have their own distinctive vocabulary people who love baseball learn the baseball words people who love cricket well we love learning the cricket words and people who love jesus learn the bible words and find great joy in all that they convey so we're going to learn three bible words that i hope will be a joy to you as they have been a joy to christians through the ages and we're beginning with this remarkable word propitiation which simply means that the wrath is spent chapter 3 and verse 25 we read of christ jesus whom god put forward as a propitiation a propitiation now appreciation is very simply a gift or a payment that is offered to placate the anger of a person who has been offended it's a gift or it's a payment that is offered to placate the anger of a person who has been offended perhaps the best way to get at this is for me to give you an illustration so let me introduce in this story to two characters neil and sally neil was in his early twenties when he began dating sally a girl that he met in the office neil had a little bit of a reputation for being a bit on the wild side and there were certainly some times when sally felt less than comfortable with him well one night neil took sally out to a party where things got a little out of hand neil began drinking and by the time they drove home in the early hours of the morning he was scarcely able to control the car and then the unthinkable happened the car hit a bank it careered out of control it rolled over several times and when the vehicle came to rest both neil and sally were completely unconscious several hours later neil comes around in the hospital his head is thumping his body is aching he tries to remember what has happened how sally he asks it's bad news says the doctor she's paralyzed she'll never walk again can i see her no she doesn't want to talk to you sometime later neil heals hears from sally's lawyer in the light of her permanent disability sally is bringing a legal action against neil neil wonders how he could have been such a fool it was just one night now it's changed everything neil doesn't know what to do with himself and he has absolutely no idea what to do about sally now there are three factors very obviously in this situation first there is an offence neil has acted recklessly irresponsibly when he decided to drive sally home after drinking at the party second there is an offended person sally she's angry and rightly so third there is an offender neil knows that he is to blame there's no question about that he's deeply sorry for what he has done but that doesn't change the fact that sally is paralyzed and our lawyers are preparing a legal action against neil so what happens neil hires a lawyer and neil's lawyer talks to sally's lawyer about what it will take to settle the case and their discussion centers on really one question what will it take to satisfy sally what neil thinks doesn't really matter it's all about sally because she is the offended party now suppose that the lawyers agree on a sum of money that would be acceptable to sally the payment of that sum of money would be a propitiation a propitiation very simply is a payment that is offered to placate the anger of an offended person and satisfy the need for justice in order to settle the case now think about this our sin is an offense against god and what follows from that is that it is god who is the one to determine what the propitiation should be the question that matters is what will satisfy god we may have our ideas as to what should resolve the case none of that is relevant god is the offended party there's really only one question what will satisfy god and the bible gives us the answer right here christ jesus whom god put forward as a propitiation god presents his son jesus and says he is the propitiation now think about this it takes us to the very heart of the message of the bible the good news of jesus christ god in his mercy has willed to forgive sinners and in his righteousness he has willed to do this justly so what god has done is he has directed the full weight of what we sinners deserve against himself and he has done that in the person of his own dear son jesus christ now the bible speaks about the wrath of god being poured out and spent listen to this in ezekiel chapter 7 and verse 8 god says i will soon pour out my wrath upon you and spend my anger against you so the wrath of god can be poured out and when it is poured out it is spent it is exhausted the pouring out and the spending go together john stott puts it this way what is poured out cannot be gathered again and what is spent is finished and that takes us to the heart of what happened at the cross the divine wrath that was due to my sin was poured out on jesus he became the propitiation all that was due to sinners was poured out on jesus at calvary and i want you to notice very significantly in this verse that we're told that god that is god the father put forward put forward the son as the propitiation do you see it we've noticed this many times before in the bible story the father and the son were together as one in what was being accomplished for you and for me at the cross don't ever get the idea that god loves you because jesus died for you no jesus died for you because the father loves you he gave his one and only son he put him forward as the propitiation in christ god was reconciling the world to himself and here we come to the very heart of the mystery of the trinity because god was in christ god was bearing his own wrath it was turned in on himself he absorbed what would have been poured out on you and me he took it in himself in christ in order that it would be spent in order that you could say with joy and with peace before god there is no condemnation now for those who are in christ jesus brother sister do you see how marvelous and how glorious this is the divine wrath towards your sin and mine was truly poured out on jesus and because it was spent on jesus there is none left for you or for me that is true of every person who's in jesus christ propitiation it's yours in christ second redemption second wonderful word that every christian should learn and rejoice in this is what is yours in jesus christ not only is he the propitiation but for you he is the redemption which simply means that the price is paid do you see it there the redemption that is in christ jesus whom god put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith now to redeem is simply to purchase by the payment of a price it is to purchase by the payment of a price and i learned the meaning of this word redeem when i was still quite young through a very simple story that has stayed with me all of my life so i reckon if a story stays with me all of my life is worth telling to you and it might stay with you for a little while as well the story is simply called twice mine and it's the story of a little boy who liked to make things and one day the boy's father said to him why don't you make a boat and the boy loved the idea and so he worked with his father and he made the most magnificent beautiful sailing boat he painted it blue and red and it had a tall white sail and when it was finished the boy put a special mark on the boat so that he would always know that it was his well the boy loved his boat and he had great joy when he took it to sail on the lake but one day the boat was caught in a great wind that took it away and the boy was broken-hearted sometime later the boy was walking past a toy shop in the town where he lived and there in the window was a beautiful boat it was blue it was red and it had a tall white sail and as the boy looked closer through the window he could see the special mark that he had put on the boat so that he would always know that it was his the boy went home and he gathered his money all that he had saved and went back to the shop and he bought the boat and on the way home as he hugged the boat he said you're twice mine you're mine because i made you and you're mine because i bought you my friend that is what jesus christ can say of you and me you're twice mine you're mine because i made you and your mind because i bought you that's the meaning of the word redeemed to be bought purchased by jesus christ you are redeemed brother and sister in christ in other words ransomed bought back and not with perishable things like silver or gold peter says in his letter you have been bought with the precious blood of the lord jesus christ the lord who made you bought you in order that you should be his own he did it in love and he did it in and through the shedding of his own blood on the cross now put these two words together propitiation and redemption and we're beginning to get to what jesus accomplished on the cross in his death christ propitiates and in his death christ redeems but there's more james montgomery boyce spoke of what he called i think very helpfully the salvation triangle and what he meant by that was simply this that what jesus accomplished on the cross relates both to the father and to us in relation to the father what the son did at the cross is he propitiates jesus bore the wrath that's what he did in relation to the father it was spent it was exhausted on him in his death he made propitiation for our sins but then if you ask the question now what particularly did the death of jesus accomplish in relation to us the answer is that he redeems us in his death he pays the price he buys us back he makes us his own so his death is not only a godward propitiation it is towards us a redemption and that leads as you think then of these two sides of the triangle to the third which is what then god does for us what the father does for us in the light of what the son has done in his propitiation and in his redemption and that's this third word that is here in this remarkable paragraph in romans in chapter 3 because the sun propitiates and because the son redeems therefore in christ the father justifies so here we come to this third word justification and let me describe its meaning simply this way it is that the case is closed for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are here it is justified by his grace as a gift how through the redemption that is in christ jesus whom god put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith now justification very simply is a legal term it means to declare righteous justification is a verdict such as would be passed by a judge the opposite of justification would be condemnation which is also a verdict that would be passed by a judge god knows all things no secret is ever hidden from him and every person who has ever lived will one day stand before the lord who is the judge and in every case there will be one of two outcomes either justified or condemned so justified or justification is really a word that belongs to the last day when god will pronounce judgment on every person who has ever lived but here's the thing i want you to notice do you see that right here in romans in chapter 3 and in many other places throughout the new testament justification is spoken of in the present tense all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are justified are justified by his grace do you see the significance of that god is saying to you your case can be dealt with now you don't need to wait until the last day when you will stand before him to find out what the result will be your case can be dealt with now you don't need to spend your whole life wondering where you will spend your eternity you can be justified you can be pronounced not guilty and that can happen for you today in and through jesus christ because of what he accomplished in the propitiation and the redemption right there on the cross you see the basis on which you can be justified is what jesus has done for you that's why these things are all linked together on what basis are you justified is because he bore the wroth it's because he paid the price therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus now why is there no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus very important to understand this the reason that there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus is not that there is nothing in us that god could condemn and if i ask the question this way to make it clear christian brother and sister has there been anything in your life this week that god could if he wanted to justly condemn answer absolutely okay without exception that is true of every believer and it is true of us without our lives we throughout our lives we have never come to live a week in which we have fulfilled every single thing that god has required of us so the reason that there's no condemnation for us in christ is not that in christ we've now managed to be living the life that is without anything that god could possibly condemn so why does god not condemn us the answer is because the wrath has been spent because the price has been paid because what jesus christ accomplished on the cross is applied to you that is why there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus god drops all charges he will not charge against you that which was unworthy in you this week brother or sister in christ why because that's already dealt with it's paid for in full and it has been through what jesus accomplished for you on the cross that is why paul says later in romans who will bring any charge against god's elect god justifies who's going to condemn now notice how we are justified it's on the basis of what christ has done for us in the propitiation and the redemption that he accomplished on the cross how does it actually become ours notice that we are just how we are justified is described in three ways in this passage and elsewhere in the new testament the first and by far the most frequent is by faith by faith do you see that there for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are justified by his grace we'll come to that in a moment 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 and you have that three times in this paragraph not only there in verse 25 but verse 22 the righteousness of god through faith in christ jesus for all who believe verse 26 god is the justifier of the one who has faith in jesus and it continues again and again throughout romans through faith through faith through faith this is how what christ accomplished on the cross becomes yours through faith faith joins you to jesus so that all that he accomplished in his death on the cross actually becomes effective for you perhaps one way of thinking about this an analogy that the bible itself uses is the analogy of a marriage the bible speaks about the relationship between christ and his people being like the joining of a husband and a wife in marriage here's the wedding service and the bride and the groomer asked will you will you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife will you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband and they both have to answer and when they both answer i will or i do a new loving and legal union is formed now think of it this way if i can personalize it and that you can apply it to your story to two thousand years ago the question was asked of jesus will you take a scottish lad colin will be born somewhere in the middle of the 20th century and will you be his savior and his lord will you be the propitiation for his sins will you pay the price of his redemption and with great love and with outstretched arms the lord jesus christ by going to the cross said i will i will then in may 1964 in a small baptist church in scotland i heard my pastor say being in a christian family doesn't make you a christian every person needs to come to faith in jesus that went home to me the following morning i prayed a very simple prayer i said in effect so i didn't use these words but i said in effect i call undertake you jesus as my savior and lord that's faith faith is a hand open to receive christ and all that he gives faith is the way in which jesus becomes yours and you become his and when he becomes yours all that he accomplished on the cross the propitiation and the redemption all of that becomes yours as well when you trust in the lord jesus christ and if you haven't come to a place of trusting the lord jesus christ if you will trust the lord jesus christ today then jesus christ and everything that he accomplished on the cross will become yours you will be justified the propitiation will be for you the redemption will be yours brothers and sisters in christ can we take in the marvel of this good news shortly we're going to come around the lord's table and we're going to savor what he's done for us in jesus christ let's get it settled in our minds in jesus christ brother sister you are saved all that was ever due to you for all of your sin put together was poured out on jesus spent exhausted there's nothing left for you that is why there is therefore now no condemnation for you because you are in christ jesus in christ you're redeemed the price has been paid you belong to christ you're twice his you are his because he made you and you are his because he bought you and in christ you are justified this is marvelous god has dropped all charges against you case closed no case to answer verdict already announced you have peace with god and instead of living your life in fear and dread you can live before him with joy and peace and worship it's marvelous the gospel i'm not ashamed of it paul says it's the power of god for the salvation of everyone who believes believe in the lord jesus christ then i want you to notice this that we are justified by faith and then there are two other things said here that are important for us to remember we are justified by his grace for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are justified by his grace as a gift it's not that god looks at your faith and says oh my that woman has the most marvelous faith i must justify her you see that would be to turn faith into a kind of work that sort of earns god's favor and that would be completely wrong faith is simply your hand open to receive christ and all that he offers and christ and all that he offers is yours freely as a gift that is why again and again the new testament says it is by grace that we have been saved through faith your faith didn't earn it your faith simply received it and it is the most marvelous free gift of god's grace and then lastly notice that we are justified by his blood let me read this verse one more time all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are 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 so you notice here that we are justified by his blood in other words our justification comes to us because of what he accomplished on the cross and paul uses that phrase again justified by his blood again in romans and chapter 5 and verse 9. here's what's really important it is the death of jesus that justifies us and so when i find fear and when i find doubt and when i find a sense of guilt within my own sense within my own soul where am i to look and to look at what christ has accomplished for me on the cross and to fix my faith on him and all that he has accomplished because it's it's his death that is the saving thing the means by which i am made right with god it's the propitiation he offered it's the redemption he purchased and it's mine because christ is mine so please remember this it's very important peace with god never comes from looking at your own faith what faith is is it's looking at jesus and that's where peace comes from peace with god comes from looking by faith at what jesus accomplished on the cross if i were ever to ask the question have i grown and progressed enough in the christian life to the point where god where i could expect god to justify me have i progressed to the point where on the basis of my christian life i could expect god to justify me the answer to that question is always going to be no of course not but if i ask the question is what jesus did on the cross in shedding his blood rich enough strong enough good enough great enough to save a sinner like me the answer to that question is always yes absolutely so don't make the mistake of trusting your faith what faith is is a trusting of the savior and therefore what matters is not the strength of your faith now your faith actually may be very limited what matters is not the strength of your faith the what matters is the strength of the savior in whom you have placed your trust one story and i know i've told it before but there's always got to be a last time to tell a story and some of you might not have heard it but the the the first winter that uh our family were in this country after christmas we took a trip up to wisconsin we wanted to explore this marvelous new country to which we had come and in which we had settled and we found our way up to fond du lac right at the end of the year stopped by the lake to look around it was absolutely perishingly cold our boys were just 10 and 8 years old at the time and as we got out one of the boys said to me hey dad can we go on the ice now all of you who are parents know that when you're not thinking you just give your default answer and i give my default answer i mean being british you know there's ice in britain but it's it's never very thick so the one thing when you say ice you always say be careful so i said yeah yeah you go out in the ice but be careful be careful and so here were our boys and then their mother and then me and and we're inching our way out in the ice very carefully um and you know what happens next there's this 4x4 vehicle with at least six teenagers comes roaring over the brow of the hill and right out into the middle of the lake and here are these four foreigners i don't think i've ever felt more foolish in all of my life we didn't have very much confidence we're very fearful very shaky we were absolutely safe because that on which we stood was rock solid you are not saved by the strength of your faith you are saved by the strength of your savior right and that's where the confidence is not by looking in here to say oh i was my faith today my savior is at the right hand of the father and what he has accomplished will never never fail believe in the lord jesus christ today he is the propitiation for sin he paid the price of redemption he said on the cross it is finished and you can trust in him and all that he has accomplished completely trust yourself to him open your hand and your heart to receive him and christ and all that he offers will be yours today let's pray together father we thank you for the glory of our salvation in jesus christ grant that taking it in we may live with joy and love and worship before you all the days of our lives until faith is turned to sight and we see face to face the savior we have loved and trusted for these things we ask in his name and everyone together said amen

Channel: Unlocking the Bible

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Keywords: unlocking the bible, what does the bible say, learn the bible, understanding the bible, open the bible, sermon on romans 3 19 31, justification by faith, sermon on justification by faith, sermon on justification, justified by faith, justification by faith alone, by faith alone, justified by faith alone, sermon on redemption, sermon on propitiation, romans 3:19–31, what does propitiation mean

Id: 8xw3Y9iIGHA

Length: 38min 21sec (2301 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021