Original subtitles

hello I'm Don Carson this is the

eleventh part of a fourteen part series

called the God who is there the unlikely

title for this talk is the God who

declares the guilty just if we take that

title literally we might conclude that

God himself must be unjust for surely

only an unjust judge would declare

guilty people to be just isn't it his

job to declare the guilty guilty and to

declare the just just mind you that

would be bad news for us because the

Bible goes to great lengths to point out

how universal and how repulsive all our

sin is to God if God declares the guilty

guilty we are all damned yet in fact one

of the most astute of Jesus earliest

disciples the Apostle Paul goes to

considerable lengths to explain how the

cross itself shows God to be

simultaneously just and the one who

declares guilty people to be just if the

cross and resurrection stand at the

heart of the gospel a point I tried to

sketch in during the tenth address then

explaining a little more closely what

Jesus death and resurrection achieved is

nothing other than explaining a little

more closely what the gospel is

the God who declares the guilty just at

a certain level that almost seems

perverse members of the jury I am NOT

asking for mercy or pardon I want

justice I am demanding full acquittal

yes I committed the murder of which I am

accused but I'm not guilty

members of the jury you must consider

all my good deeds not merely as

mitigating circumstances but as reason

for exonerating me the goodness of my

other deeds outweighs the crime I

committed

my good deeds require a not guilty

verdict if justice is to be done you

must find me innocent

so rites taught Wilkin and now suddenly

you see that an approach which depends

finally on our balancing of good deeds

and bad deeds begins to look ridiculous

we don't even do that in a secular world

doing so how shall we think that God

looks at things this God who is himself

spectacularly holy and does not see our

deeds as things that are weighed in a

balance against other deeds but sees our

lives in mortal defiance against him

that's the way the Bible's storyline is

unpacked known a few moments we're going

to look at Romans 3:21

226 Martin Luther called this paragraph

the center of the book of Romans and

indeed of the whole Bible

but before we actually look at these

verses we should remind ourselves where

they fall within Paul's letter to the

Romans this falls in the New Testament

the four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and

John and then the Acts of the Apostles

which follows on from Christ's

resurrection through the first three

decades or so of the church and then a

sheaf of letters written by the Apostle

Paul on the first one in the New

Testament is Paul's letter to the Romans

chapter 3 but before we get to chapter

three from 1:18 to 3:20 Paul's

entire argument is designed to show how

we are guilty what these two-and-a-half

chapters do is is unpack in theological

terms the Bible story line up to this

point from Genesis 3 on so we read

Romans 1:18 the wrath of God is being

revealed from heaven against all the

godlessness and wickedness of human

beings who suppress the truth because of

their wickedness since what may be known

about God is plain to them because God

has made it plain to them and then the

remaining two-and-a-half chapters set

out to show that if you come from the

line of Abraham through the covenant

with Moses and have received a whole lot

of revelation from God or alternatively

you come from outside that line from any

other sort of heritage nevertheless both

lines Jews and Gentiles alike without

exception end up guilty before God

supposing you know more about what God

wants then what you discover is you

still don't meet those standards and in

some ways those those very standards can

compound the rebellion and make you more

guilty because you do know

or alternatively if you come from a

heritage where you've been exposed to

very little of what God has said you

don't even come up to that standard on

every front we are a guilty people now

this is so out of line with contemporary

self perception that when you read some

of what Paul says without developing a

feel for the whole storyline to this

point it just seems over the top he

finishes the section in 3 9 to 20 with a

shaft of with a raft of biblical

quotations quoting himself the Old

Testament this is what he says we have

already made the charge the Jews and

Gentiles alike that means therefore the

whole human race are all under the power

of sin as it is written and now you get

these quotations all snippets from the

Old Testament Scriptures there is no one

righteous not even one there is no one

who understands there is no one who

seeks God all have turned away they have

together become worthless there is no

one who does good not even one their

throats are open graves their tongues

practice deceit the poison of vipers is

on their lips their mouths are full of

cursing and bitterness their feet are

Swift to shed blood ruin and misery mark

their ways and the way of peace they do

not know there is no fear of God before

their eyes

now if you've walked in here for the

first time and you come from an utterly

secular background and you hear some

joker at the front of the room quoting

lines like this you think has he taken

leave of his senses oh I know that

there's some bad people out there Stalin

maybe in Paul Pott I suppose and Hitler

of course but you know what about made

sense all false yeah Doctors Without

Borders are there a lot of good people

doing good things out there

at a certain level Paul would agree with

that historically Christians have often

called such good things the work of

common grace that is grace that God

gives commonly to all kinds of people

but his probing is deeper than that

it's not whether or not there are many

good things pieces of art a wonderful

symphony self-sacrificing doctors on the

frontiers of a horrible disease and much

much much more it's not whether or not

those things are done we have already

seen that the Bible presents human

beings to to be horrible contradictions

with so much potential reflecting

something of the goodness of creation

and the glory of God and at the other

and corrupt abusive twisted and above

all above all self focused and that is

according to the entire storyline of the

Bible to this place the heart of all

evil the heart of all evil is not

outfits as unimaginably awful as that is

the heart of all evil is first of all

human beings you and me wanting to go

our own way and disowning the God who

has made us

and when you probe these texts line by

line and see that that is what God has

in mind all the lines make sense there

is no one righteous not even one it

makes sense if you if you remember the

quotation from Todd Wilkins with which

we began it's not a question of

balancing up good deeds and bad deeds

we've all got so much wickedness in us

even by our own self assessments if

we're honest enough all have turned away

they have together become worthless

worthless in the sense of being right

before this God thoroughly god-centered

what is the first commandment that Jesus

gives the first and importance you shall

love God with heart and soul and mind

and strength and the second is you shall

love your neighbor as yourself

I don't love God with heart and soul and

mind and strength if Jesus says this is

the commandment - first importance but

I'm guilty of breaking the primal

command aren't you in fact loving God

with heart and soul and mind and

strength might be thought in our culture

to be a bit fanatical right-wing but God

says listen don't you understand that's

the way I made the created order in the

first place if you don't see if that's

already itself a mark of how fallen this

order is no wonder then these quotations

say they have all turned away they have

together become worthless their throats

are open graves their tongues practice

deceit the poison of vipers is on their

lips their mouths are full of cursing

and bitterness oh I know many of us come

from fairly civilized backgrounds where

there's not all that much cursing and

bitterness unless we bang our thumbs

with a hammer get sacked from work and

we think it's unjust any of us with all

of our civilized behavior put us under

enough pressure and deep down on the

back of our minds even you

if we're disciplined enough not to let

it actually escape from our mouths are

busy swearing away on our minds

the truth of the matter is there is no

fear of God before their eyes the text

says so we are still in line with a

whole drama of the Bible how do such

people get restored to God there are a

lot of different ways of thinking

through this ugliness let me read you

briefly part of the testimony of a chap

a philosopher called Buddha Jeff's key

he writes I have already noted in

passing that everything goes wrong

without God that is true even of the

good things he has given us such as our

minds one of the good things I've been

given is a stronger than average mind I

don't make the observation to boast

human beings are given diverse gifts to

serve him in diverse ways the problem is

that a strong mind that refuses the call

to serve God has its own way of going

wrong when some people flee from God

they rob and kill when others flee from

God they do a lot of drugs and have a

lot of sex when I fled from God I didn't

do any of these things my way of fleeing

was to get stupid though it always comes

as a surprise to intellectuals there are

some forms of stupidity that one must be

highly intelligent and educated to

achieve God keeps them in his arsenal to

pull down mule --is-- pride and I

discovered them all that is how I ended

up doing a doctoral dissertation to

prove that we make up the difference

between good and evil and that we aren't

responsible for what we do I remember

now that I even taught these things to

students now that said it was also agony

you cannot imagine what a person has to

do to himself well if you're like I was

maybe you can what a person has to do to

himself to go on believing such nonsense

Saint Paul said the knowledge of God's

laws written on our hearts our

conscience is also bearing witness

that's a quotation from these chapters

the way natural law thinkers put this is

to say that they constitute the deep

structure of our minds that means that

so long as we have Minds we can't not

know them well I was unusually germ

not to know them therefore I had to

destroy my mind I resisted the

temptation to believe in good with as

much energy as some saints resist the

temptation to neglect good for instance

I loved my wife and children but I was

determined to regard this love as merely

a subjective preference with no real and

objective value think what this did to

my very capacity to love them after all

love us a commitment of the will to the

true good of another person and how can

one's will be committed to the true good

of another person if he denies the

reality of good denies the reality of

persons denies that his commitments are

in any sense in his control visualize a

man opening up the access panels of his

mind and pulling out all the components

that have God's image stamped on them

the problem is they all have God's image

stamped on them so the man can never

stop no matter how many he pulls out

there are still more to pull I was that

man because I pulled out more and more

than was less and less than I could

think about that of course is what butch

Jeff's key means by saying that he

became stupid Christians have so much to

think about

people who write God off and all of his

truth have much in much less to think

about they become stupid because there

was less and less that I could think

about I thought I was becoming more and

more focused because I believed things

that filled me with dread I thought I

was smarter and braver than the people

who didn't believe them I thought I saw

an emptiness at the heart of the

universe that was hidden from their

foolish eyes but I was the fool now all

of that is the background that Paul

simply presupposes before he gets to

this spectacular paragraph that Martin

Luther calls the center of the entire

Bible

let me read these verses I'm going to

read from 21 all the way to 31 but now

apart from the law the righteousness of

God has been made known to which the law

and the prophets testify this

righteousness is given through faith in

Jesus Christ to all who believe

there is no difference between Jew and

Gentile for all have sinned and fall

short of the glory of God and all are

justified freely by His grace through

the redemption that came by Christ Jesus

God presented Christ as our versions

have propitiation sacrifice of atonement

expiation I'll come to that word it's

crucial God presented Christ as a

propitiation through the shedding of his

blood to be received by faith he did

this to demonstrate his justice because

in his forbearance he had left the sin

committed beforehand unpunished he did

it to demonstrate his justice at the

present time so as to be just and the

one who justifies those who have faith

in Jesus where then is boasting it is

excluded because of what law the law the

requires works no because of the law

that requires faith for we maintain that

a person is justified by faith apart

from observing the law is God the god of

Jews only is he not the god of Gentiles

- yes of Gentiles - since there is only

one God who will justify the circumcised

by faith and the uncircumcised through

that same faith do we then nullify the

law by this faith not at all we

upholding law now let me tell you

frankly that this paragraph is so

condensed that even if you've been a

Christian for quite a while when you

hear it read after a while you start

hearing strings of God words going by

you without being able quite to follow

the flow it is so condensed so although

Martin Luther is right this is an

astonishingly important passage yet the

only way to understand it is to go

slowly enough through it that you unpack

its logic that you hear how the whole

thing is put together and I know no

passage clearer on what the cross

achieves in all of the Bible than this

one

provided you take it slowly enough to

unpack the flow of the argument we are

standing here from a biblical

perspective on very holy ground this is

what Jesus did on the cross so let me

follow the argument first of all of

verses 21 to 26 and then secondly the

argument of 27 to 31 they're related and

we'll see what these arguments have to

do with us first of all in 21 to 26 Paul

sets forth the revelation of God's

righteousness in its relationship to the

Old Testament he sets forth he

establishes the revelation of God's

righteousness in its relationship to the

Old Testament now remember he's just

spent two-and-a-half chapters showing

how much guilt there is how much

rebellion there is how much idolatry how

much sin there is and this in the face

of God being a righteous God so how will

we be righteous in his eyes how will we

live under him and now he says verse 21

but now he means now at this point in

the Bible storyline at this point in

redemptive history now that Jesus has

come now apart from the law that is the

law given by Moses the law covenant

under which the Hebrews the Israelites

lived for a millennium and a half but

now apart from the law the righteousness

of God has been made known that is to

say the righteousness of God which

transcends the ages the very character

of God his perfect righteousness it has

now been disclosed it has been made

known not in the framework of that olds

law covenant with its sacrificial system

and its structures and so on it has been

made known apart from that

now you fit this into the broader

argument of Paul what he's really saying

is we have now arrived at the New

Covenant there was this Old Covenant now

there is a new frame of reference and

you

that has that has arrived he hasn't

explained how it's grounded yet he's

merely stating the truth he's stating

the fact of what Christ has done at this

point in history now that Jesus is here

the righteousness have of God has been

disclosed

apart from that law covenant but that

doesn't mean it's cut off entirely from

that law covenant as if you had God

doing it this way and then bang it stops

now we'll start something entirely

different

he adds an interesting clause at the end

of verse 21 but now apart from the law

the righteousness of God has been made

known to which the law and the prophets

testify that is he says if you read the

Old Testament carefully and reverently

and listen well you will see that that

law covenant that Moses gave was

actually anticipating what is coming now

after all you had that sacrifice and Yom

Kippur the Day of Atonement with with

the blood of bull and goat borne by the

high priest into the most holy place and

the tabernacle do you recall it pointed

forward to the fact that there has to be

a kind of sacrifice at a death that pays

for sin in some sense before this holy

God

it has pointed forward and is now here

and and those laws that we call moral

laws you shall not murder you shall not

commit adultery don't you understand

that they point forward to for for

example imagine if you will a final

state of things and you heaven and a new

earth perfect righteousness resurrection

existence absolutely no sin or death or

decay anywhere do you think they're

going to be little signs posted here and

there you shall not commit murder you

shall not commit adultery well it's

probably pretty hard to commit murder in

adultery if you're in resurrection

bodies anyway but quite apart from that

do you really think that those sorts of

laws will be needed if you say yes then

you have not conceived yet of perfection

if you say

no then you might ask what does that

mean God's laws changed oh no that

misses the point entirely because

ultimately the law that says you shall

not commit murder and the law that says

you shall not commit adultery is

anticipating a time when murder and

adultery hatred and sheer selfish lust

will all be gone it's pointing to the

perfect righteousness where people love

one another and murder is not simply

forbidden you don't need it forbidden

it's to forbid it it's simply

unthinkable do you see and so the law

covenant which sent out its do's and

dont's and it's sacrificial system and

its structures for the nation and its

covenant with the people the Israelites

in many ways these things pointed

forward to what is now being introduced

by Christ now that is not yet been

explained how this has come about not in

this book but that's what Paul is saying

now apart from the law in the light of

all the sin that he's described all this

idolatry that he's described in the

previous two-and-a-half chapters the

righteousness of God has been made known

to which the law and the prophets

testify so the first thing that Paul

sets forth then is the revelation of

God's righteousness in its relationship

to the Old Testament now second he sets

forth the availability of God's

righteousness this righteousness of

which he has been speaking he sets forth

the availability of God's righteousness

to all human beings without racial

distinction but on condition of faith

let me repeat that he sets forth the

availability of God's righteousness to

all human beings without racial

distinction but on condition of faith

verses 22 and 23 now start again so we

get the flow in 21 but now apart from

the law the righteousness of God has

been made known to which the law and the

prophets testify this righteousness

which has now

mein own in a fresh way this

righteousness is given through faith in

Jesus Christ to all who believe

so it's made on condition to faith but

to all who believe there is no

difference between Jew and Gentile for

all have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God in other words it is this

set of all that connect this paragraph

with the previous two-and-a-half

chapters the previous two-and-a-half

chapters have argued at great length and

in immaculate detail that all need this

righteousness we're all guilty before

God some with more or less social

disapproval or approval some passing for

good in our world but by God's standards

God's holiness he sees our rebellion and

we are all guilty before him but now

there is a righteousness from God that

meets our need it can be our

righteousness and it's open to Jew and

Gentile alike on condition of faith

that's the whole argument

did you see the Old Covenant was

structured for the Israelites now God

presents himself as sovereign over all

the nations in the Old Testament in any

case God still says for any nation

anywhere at any time and place

righteousness exalts a nation but sin is

a reproach to any people that's why the

God of Israel in the Old Testament can

nevertheless hold Babylon to account he

can hold the Assyrians to account in the

New Testament he can call Rome to

account today he holds America to

account

he holds China to account he's still the

sovereign Lord who holds all to account

but nevertheless the focus of that

agreement he wrote that special

agreement with Abraham when he wrote his

own agreement and when there was a

special agreement with Moses and the

people as a nation it was still focused

then on this subset of humanity that

today we call the Jews the ancient

Hebrews the Israelites

now we're told this righteousness from

God that is in some ways detached from

that old covenant that has now come in

the terms of a new covenant this

righteousness from God is given through

faith in Jesus Christ it's not given on

the old covenant grounds where you were

supposed to be born into the nation or

adopted into the nation in some sense

and then you had to sign on to observe

the terms of that Old Covenant no it's

given through faith in Jesus Christ to

all who have faith in Jesus Christ for

there's no difference between Jew and

Gentile all have sinned and fall short

of the glory of God in other words the

grace is extended as far as the need and

the need is everywhere Jew and Gentile

alike you know one of the wonderful

things about the final revelation of the

Bible is that it pictures around the

throne of God on the last day men and

women from every language and ethnicity

and a nation millions of them

not just Jews and Gentiles on that last

day around the throne there'll be lots

of Chinese Hutus Tutsis Serbs Russians

oh they're all Jews and Gentiles in some

sense yes yes I understand that but now

you can nail them down different colors

different sense of humor different

languages German ethnicities God draws

out his people from all of those nations

and Christians who travel discover that

wherever they go they will find

Christians in amazing places I've been

in Papua New Guinea brothers and sisters

in Christ who a generation a half ago

would have been cannibals a little mud

huts in the jungle or in Hong Kong what

a spectacular city with such a mix of

Gucci and Saks Fifth Avenue two blocks

over an open meat market such a colorful

array of people Christians from that law

to and on and on and on all around the

world Africans Asians Europeans even

some Americans

all around the throne on that last day

because because under the terms of this

new covenant God has made this

righteousness that we need available to

all who believe for all have sinned and

fall short of the glory of God now he

still does not explained how he does

that but that is the entire thrust of

the paragraph third Paul sets forth the

source of God's righteousness in God's

gracious provision of Christ Jesus as

the propitiation for our sins now we're

getting into some God talk theological

words they have to be unpacked God sets

forth the source of his righteous Paul

sets forth the source of his

righteousness of God's righteousness in

God's gracious provision of Christ Jesus

as the propitiation for our sins verse

24 and the first half of 25 begin again

in the previous sentence there is no

difference between Jew and Gentile verse

23 for all have sinned and fall short of

the glory of God and all are justified

freely by His grace through the

redemption that came by Christ Jesus

just go that far for a moment and then

we'll press on to verse 25 what does

redemption mean for us today redemption

is another God talk term we don't use

redemption very much in ordinary

parlance anymore a generation or two ago

in English we still used Redemption if

you went to a pawn shop and you hocked

your grandfather's watch to have a

little money and then you got some money

a few weeks lady would go by you go back

and redeem the the watch there was a

Redemption you bought it back and freed

it from where it was and likewise people

would speak in economic terms of

redeeming their mortgage finally paying

at

but in the ancient world redemption

language was used pretty commonly it was

not restricted ly God talked vocabulary

for example in the ancient world you

could become a slave because there were

no western-style bankruptcy laws here in

America chapter 11 or chapter 13

supposing you borrow some money you

start a business the economy flounders

your business goes belly-up what do you

do in the ancient world what you have to

do is sell yourself and/or your family

into slavery that's what you do

there was no chapter 11 but suppose you

have a rich cousin 20 miles away don't

forget 20 miles away in those days was

just a day's journey you have a rich

cousin 20 miles away who hears about the

fact that two or three months back you

had to sell yourself into slavery and he

cares for you and decides he's gonna do

something about it then what he might

well do is come along and buy you back

now there was a whole process for doing

that through pagan temples that we won't

go into but what he was doing was

redeeming you he is buying you back and

thus freeing you from your slavery so

now Paul is saying we received a

Redemption - from our slavery to sin

we've been bought back and as a result

we have been freed from that which would

otherwise entirely enslave us now still

that has not been explained he's using

the language of the day we are all

justified declared just before God

declared righteous before God how when

we're not we've just had two and a half

chapters to say that we're not and now

we're told that this righteousness from

God has has declared us righteous we are

justified freely by His grace through

this redemption through this buying us

back but by our freedom now secured by

Christ Jesus through the redemption that

came by Christ Jesus how how is this

happened

God verse 25 presented Christ Jesus as a

sacrifice of atonement through the

shedding of his blood or the esv rightly

has it God presented Christ as a

propitiation through the shedding of his

blood to be received by faith now what

does that mean

we need to pause for a moment and work

through this word propitiation or

expiation some have or sacrifice of

atonement sacrifice of atonement isn't

bad it's just not quite focused enough

let me unpack the terms propitiation is

that sacrificial act by which God

becomes propitious which doesn't tell

you very much does it

propitious simply means favourable that

is to say that propitiation is an act by

which God becomes propitious it's to say

that it is an act by which God becomes

favorable to us he is set over against

us in some sense in Roth but now by this

sacrificial act he he becomes favourable

to us

it's propitiation expiation is the act

by which sin is cancelled it's wiped out

taken off the board so the object of

expiation is sin the object of

propitiation is God God becomes

favourable now in the pagan world of the

first century in the pagan world of the

first century when pagans offered

sacrifices to their gods

very often it was in a desire to make

them propitious favourable so you want

to make a sea voyage then you offer a

propitiating sacrifice to Neptune the

god of the sea in the hope that he won't

be bad-tempered or an

with you and then you'll have a safe sea

voyage it was a sacrifice to Neptune to

make him propitious it was a

propitiating sacrifice but this text

says something rather astonishing you

see in that old pagan way of looking at

things

I the worshipper offer a propitiating

sacrifice to the gods but this text says

God presented Christ as a propitiating

sacrifice so does that mean that God

presented Christ as a propitiating

sacrifice propitiate God how can God

offer a sacrifice that propitiate

himself now partly because of that there

have been all kinds of thinkers who have

really rejected this interpretation

entirely they think it's it's silly

doesn't make any sense how can God

propitiating besides some of them just

don't like the notion of blood sacrifice

or God being wrongful there was a very

influential professor in the United

Kingdom in the 1930s by the name of CH

dogged who argued very strongly that

this doesn't make any sense God can't

propitiate himself therefore this must

be expiation this is not God

propitiating God turning away God's

wrath how can God propitiated he said

after all God so loved the world that He

gave his son if he's already so

favourable to the world that he gave his

son how can you imagine that the son is

then propitiating God he's already

favourable so he must be propitiating

himself he must be coming along to offer

his son to expiate to cancel sin there

were a number of responses by people in

this country and Australia and Britain

and what they pointed out was in the Old

Testament when propitiation is mentioned

it is regularly in the context of the

wrath of God the word rendered

propitiation here two thirds of the time

is actually the word used for the top of

the Ark of the Covenant on the day of

atonement where the blood of the bull

and goat was shed precisely to turn away

God's wrath God ordained that this

sacrifice be offered to turn away gods

are off that's the context in which it's

mostly used in the Old Testament and in

this passage itself we just had two and

a half chapters that begin the wrath of

God is revealed from heaven against all

the wickedness that we human beings have

deployed in suppressing the truth so the

wrath of God is there it's personal it's

deep it's unavoidable and there is a

sense in which that Roth must be set

aside

but how can God propitiate himself and

the answer of course is that God stands

over against us in Roth because of his

holiness he does if he does not stand

over against us in raw then he's amoral

oh I don't care they can blaspheme and

they can kill and rape but they can

steal and lie no sweat I don't care no

skin off my nose

God is righteous and he does stand over

against us in Roth especially because we

have marginalized him we have D guarded

him God knows that it is for our good

that he be at the center of absolutely

everything it's not this simply that he

wants to have a certain kind of

preference among peers when you and I

want to be especially praised by our

peers we want to be stronger than they

are to have a leg up to be discerned as

superior but God is superior he's not

just us he is God we're the image of God

more than that God knows in love that we

must see him at the center of everything

or we are lost and undone it is for our

good it is out of love that God insists

that it be so and so he is angry when by

our actions and thoughts and deeds we

declare it will not be so God does stand

over against us in Rome because of his

holiness but he stands over against us

in love because that's the kind of God

he is

and this text says that God presented

Christ Jesus to be the propitiation for

our sins now in fact you can't have four

pissy asian that is the turning aside of

the wrath of God without expiation the

canceling of sin the two hang together

in the Bible and even in the sacrifice

in the day of atonement that was so

which is why some people have preferred

the more embracing sacrifice of

atonement God set forth Christ to be the

sacrifice of atonement for our sins

canceling our sin and turning aside the

wrath of God what you must not lose from

it in the context of Romans is the wrath

of God the word propitiation is the more

focused we need to think about this just

a little bit more how in how is it

possible to think of God loving us by

sending his son to get killed I love you

so much he's going to get beaten up

that's the way some people today laugh

at the cross they say this is some sort

of child abuse I love you so much I give

my son Jesus to get killed but don't you

see what is being denied here is the

very nature of God two chapters on in

Romans chapter 5 we read verse 8 God

demonstrates his own love for us in this

while we were still sinners Christ died

for us when Christ dies it's God's love

both because Jesus is God

and because the father himself is

sacrificing his own dear son in our

behalf it is God's love that is

demonstrated it's not as if the father

stands over against us in Roth really

angry and dear Jesus

and stands over against us in love that

would be a barbaric notion the whole one

God Father Son and spirit this God

stands over against us in wroth and he

stands over against us in love God

commands his love toward us he

demonstrates his love in that while we

were yet sinners Christ died for us I

think that one of the reasons why we

find it hard in the West to visualize

this is because of our judicial system

in virtually in every Western country

that judiciary is independent and the

judge the judge is someone who must not

be a victim of the criminal who is under

review supposing for example some person

charged with mugging is brought before a

judge and it turns out that the judge is

the one who was mugged in our system the

judge must therefore recuse himself or

herself because the judge is not to

stand in judgment of any person where

the judge himself or herself is the

victim of the crime that's because the

judge is seen in our system as an

administrator of a bigger judicial

system that's all a judge is the judge

is supposed to be administering the

larger system the the criminal has not

in any sense sinned against the judge

and if the judge starts talking that way

he will be thrown off the bench you

sinned against the state you sinned

against the law you sin against the

Constitution you sin against the people

if you're in a monarchy as in as in the

Great Britain then you sin against the

crown but you don't sin against the

judge the judge is supposed to be an

independent arbiter who is using the

structure of the judicial system to

apply the law fairly

even-handedly to the person who was

under review but that's not the way it

is with God a God as we've seen again

and again is always the most offended

party he's the one we've mugged and he

is our judge yet his justice is not for

that reason unfair

he is immaculately fair he is himself

the very embodiment of justice he is

perfectly righteous he knows everything

nothing can be hidden from him even our

thoughts his justice is immaculate but

he's also the most offended party always

thus in wroth he demands that justice be

done and then in the person of his own

dear son he pays the penalty in our

system of Courts that's just so stupid

it's unbelievable I'm sure that you've

heard these illustrations where you

picture somebody who's brought before a

judge and the judge the defines the

person guilty and some sort of

administrative procedure assigns a fine

of $5,000 or conversely the person who

sentenced to five years in jail and then

the judge comes down off the bench and

takes of his checkbook and writes the

check for $5,000 or alternatively takes

off his robes and goes to jail in his

place and we call that substitution well

it does get across the notion of

substitution but in our system it would

be incredibly corrupt you can't do that

the judge is supposed to be an

independent arbiter who's who's fair in

the administration of the law the

majesty of the law he doesn't have the

right to do that that would be a

corruption of justice

but God sets up the system he is the

just one and he is the offended party

and in the person of his own dear son he

absorbs the penalty on behalf of the

people who put their faith in him which

brings us to the last point searingly

important God is just but Paul now sets

forth the demonstration of the

righteousness of God the Justice of God

through the cross of Jesus Christ do you

hear what the text says verse 25 be God

did this that is he set forth Jesus to

be the propitiation for our sins to

demonstrate his justice not simply to

love us not simply to forgive us not

simply to redeem us but to demonstrate

his justice because you see if no one

had paid for our sins then how could he

say I forgive you that would not be just

the sin had not been paid for he did

this to demonstrate his justice because

in his forbearance he had left the sins

committed beforehand unpunished that is

all the sins of God's own covenant

people in the past Oh they'd received

temporal punishments of some sort or

another after all the people of Israel

did go into exile

they faced pressures and temporal

punishments of one sort or another but

now it has to be said they did not face

the full weight of God's condemnation

that was coming in Christ himself they

had been spared this condemnation in

some deep way God had left their sins

still unpunished and God now

demonstrates his justice in sending

Christ to the cross because in his

forbearance he had left the sins

committed beforehand unpunished now he

does this to demonstrate his justice at

the present time so as to be just and

the one who justifies those who have

faith in Jesus in other words not only

by this means does God declare guilty

people like you and me just he justifies

us because someone has paid for our sin

but he demonstrates his own justice

while he's doing it

do you want to know where God's justice

is most powerfully demonstrated it's on

the cross there Jesus the god man bore

Hell itself

and God did this both to be just and the

one who declares just those who have

faith in Him there is thus a sense in

which God views me Don Carson through

the lens of Jesus that is to say my sin

is now viewed as his and he's paid for

it and his justice his righteousness is

now viewed as mine and God looks at me

and declares me just not because I am

I'm guilty but because he set forth his

son to be the propitiation for our sins

now all along here the emphasis has been

on receiving this by faith and in the

last few verses 27 to 31 Paul makes

three emphases on faith let me just tell

you what they are briefly verse 27

faith excludes boasting where then is

boasting it is excluded that is to say I

cannot come before you and say I am a

superior person that's why I'm accepted

by God at the end of the day I'm

declared just before God not because I

try harder but because I've received

God's gift by faith the very nature of

faith excludes boasting number two faith

is necessary to preserve grace so we

read for we maintain that a person is

justified by faith apart from observing

the law the law does is this the law

that requires works no this is the law

that requires faith that is to say if

somehow I can get pardon from God God

can look upon me with favor because

somehow I

earn it then grace is no more grace

we've already seen that when you're

dealing with a God with whom you cannot

barter the only way that we are going to

be forgiven is by his sovereign grace

now it's worked out on the cross that

grace is demonstrated in the cross and

we receive it by faith faith preserves

God's sovereign grace and finally not

only does faith exclude boasting not

only is it necessary to preserve grace

but in addition faith is necessary if

Jews and Gentiles alike are to be saved

so we read is God the god of Jews only

verse 29 is he not the god of Gentiles -

yes of Gentiles - since there's only one

God one of the entailments of monotheism

belief in one God is that in some sense

he is the god of all acknowledged or

otherwise he's the god of Jews and

Gentiles alike and this God will justify

the circumcised by faith that is Jews

and the uncircumcised that is Gentiles

through that same faith that is the way

that you and I receive this bold

declaration that we are just before him

is by faith let me conclude with one

word on this matter today in the Western

world the word faith itself has one of

two meanings faith is in some contexts

the equivalent of religion so you have

your faith I have my faith you have your

religion I have my religion America is a

land of many faiths of many religions

it's simply a synonym for religion but

when it's not used in that way it means

something like in our culture personal

subjective religious choice something

like that personal subjective religious

choice that is it's not tied in any

sense to truth or to fact it's a

personal subjective

religious choice so if you say to some

people today you must have faith in

Jesus

it sounds like simply a blind leap sum

up for Jesus others up for Allah and

Muhammad and others opt for Buddhism

which does not have the same structures

of religion at all there there is not a

personal transcendent God but

nevertheless you opt for Buddhism that's

your faith but although the word faith

is used in a variety of ways in the

Bible not once has it ever used that way

not once not once in the Bible it is

always immaculately important to

establish faiths object for example in

another of Paul's letters when he's

writing to the Christians in Corinth in

the fifteenth chapter he insists that

Christians believe that Jesus rose from

the dead now he says

supposing Jesus did not rise from the

dead supposing that's historical

nonsense then what happens to your faith

he says if Jesus did not rise from the

dead and first of all the first

witnesses are all deceived or liars you

can't trust any of them 500 of them

different sites different times

different circumstances they're all

liars

then second it means you're still lost

because because the whole predication of

the Bible that it is that it was

Christ's dying and rising again that the

broader Redemption that that's how we

are reconciled to God and third he says

your faith is useless in other words if

you believe that Jesus rose from the

dead when in fact Jesus did not rise

from the dead your faith is worthless

because faith validation depends in part

on the truthfulness of faiths object let

me repeat that it's very important in

the Bible faith validation depends in

part on the truthfulness of God's efface

object that's why the Bible never

encourages you to believe something that

isn't true or something that it is not

prepared to declare to be true that's

why in the Bible faith is strengthened

by articulate

and defending the truth the Bible does

not come along and say just believe

believe believe believe believe believe

but this matter if it's true just

believe as long as you're sincere that's

good in fact go Paul goes one step

farther and says if you believe

something that isn't true like the

resurrection of Jesus you are in fact of

all people most to be pitied your life

said joke your beliefs believing

something that's nonsense so as long as

you are convinced that Christ did not

rise from the dead I'm the last person

that's going to urge you to sort of

tighten up your stomach muscles and

pretend you to believe it that's not

faith might be stomach ulcer but it's

not faith and thus when the Apostle here

in Romans three commends faith what he's

wanting from us is a god-given ability

to perceive what Christ has done on the

cross what God has done by play carting

Jesus on the cross reconciling us to God

setting aside his own just Roth

demonstrating his love declaring us just

even though we're not because right the

righteousness of Christ Jesus is now

counted as ours and our sin is now

counted as his now that's a kind of

Jesus you can trust it's a kind of God

in you in whom you can place your faith

let us pray

dilemma wretched how shall holiness of

brilliant light unshaded tolerate

rebellions fetid slime and not abate in

its own glory compromised at best

dilemma wretched how can truth attest

that God is love and not be shamed by

hate and wills enslaved in bitter death

the freight of curse deserved the human

rebels mess the cross the cross the

sacred meeting place where knowing

neither compromise nor loss God's love

and holiness in shattering grace the

great dilemma slays the cross the cross

the holy loving God whose dear son dies

by this isjust and one who justifies

open our eyes Heavenly Father that we

may see and in seeing the truth believe

for Jesus sake amen

you you