Today’s reminder is from Justin Perdue, Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in Asheville, NC.
Transcript:
Romans 3 beginning in verse 10. You’re familiar with these verses; they’re strong. Paul is citing Psalms; he’s citing Proverbs; he’s citing Isaiah to say in a word that there is not a single human being, a son or daughter of Adam, who is righteous on this planet. There’s not one? Really, Paul, not one?
Nope, not even one, he says. Nobody does good. Nobody’s a seeker of God. All we’re good at is shedding blood. All we’re good at is destroying people with the venom that’s under our tongues. We don’t know peace, and we don’t fear God. This is the conclusion of an argument. Verse 19: Now we know that whatever the law, that same law says it speaks to those who are under it, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God – the whole world held accountable. For by works of the law, no flesh, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
The first use of the law is to crush us in our sins. Are you ready for some good news? Here it comes. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction. Here we go again. All have sinned. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, fallen short of that law and are justified, declared just in God’s sight, by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And here we go, whom God put forward as a propitiation, a satisfaction for sin. How can lawbreakers go free? Because their debt was paid; their wrath satisfied; their punishment taken by a representative. He’s put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
We don’t achieve; we receive what Christ has done. This was to show God’s righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. There were people who had lived long ago who were sinning. People who had lived before Christ, whom God was saving. For goodness sake. How is this possible?
Because Christ was coming. The propitiation, the sacrifice, the offering was coming. (Verse 26) It was to show his righteousness at the present time, says Paul, so that he might be just, upright, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Everyday Grace 026
“I never knew you; depart from me,” are words in Matthew 7 many of us fear we will hear from Jesus. Should we live in fear that we will finally be rejected by Christ for not doing enough? Was that his intention? Or did he mean something else?
Are you a legalist or an antinomian? Most people would claim they are neither. But many Christians don’t know what to do with God’s law. Jon and Justin talk about the law and the gospel–and how it is Paul could say he delighted in God’s law.
“Take up your cross and follow me.” What did Jesus mean when he said that? Is he calling us to hate our wives, kids, and parents? Is he calling us to be willing to suffer anything if we are going to be his followers? Is he laying down a test of radical discipleship? Or is he calling us to something else?
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