Wrapping our minds around some church mumbo jumbo talk words to see a simple and amazing truth...

This week we are looking at a section of a letter that is recorded in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans. The book of Romans was written by the Apostle Paul to early followers of Jesus who lived in Rome to prove one timeless and true point. And that timeless and true point was that God is right. In the first two and a half chapters, Paul provided the reality that the fact that God is right is revealed by man’s problem.

After revealing that all humanity has a huge problem with God that is insurmountable and that we are accountable for, we see two small words that provide huge hope for all of humanity. And those two small words are found in Romans 3:21: But now. In other words, all humanity throughout history has a huge problem with God; a problem that human effort and religion has been unable to solve throughout history. But now: But now something has happened. Something has happened that provides hope; something has happened that provides the opportunity for rescue.

Paul revealed the reality that it has become public knowledge that God is right. Paul explained that that fact that God is right became known apart from the Law. The fact that God is right is not connected to our performance for God by keeping the commands of the Law. There is nothing that we can do for God that makes us right with God. However, Paul explains that the Law and the Prophets, or the Old Testament, repeatedly point us to that fact that God is right; a fact that has now become known.

Paul explained that the fact that God is right has now been made known through faith in Jesus Christ. The fact that God is right has been made known to all humanity through the message of the gospel. The message of the gospel reveals that God responded to our problem of selfish rebellion and sin by sending His Son Jesus, God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. And it is the message of the gospel that provides the opportunity for all humanity to receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

In addition, the message of the gospel is available to all who believe. All who place their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel will be rescued, because there is no distinction. Regardless of social, economic, or racial status, it is by faith that we are rescued by God from our rebellion because as Paul states in verses 23 there is no distinction; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

No one has the perfection that is required and no one is able to achieve that perfection; our selfishness, rebellion and sin is universal and insurmountable in nature and scope. And because of that reality, we all need to be rescued. As Paul continues, we see revealed for us exactly how God rightly rescues from rebellion through faith in Jesus in Romans 3:24-26:

being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Now to fully understand what Paul is communicating here, we first must wrap our mind around some terms. The word justified here is a legal term that means to be declared not guilty of something. In this case Paul is explaining that we are declared not guilty of having a problem with God. The Apostle then explains that we are declared not guilty as a gift by His grace. The word grace refers to God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world. God rightly intervened and acted in order to rescue from rebellion. How God intervened and acted in order to rescue from rebellion was through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

This word redemption is a huge word in our Bibles. As we discovered last week, this word was used in Paul’s day to describe what occurred at a slave market. In Paul’s day, people were placed into slavery as a result of debts that they had accrued and were unable to pay. There was no bankruptcy in Paul’s day, there was slavery. Thus people were sold to pay off their debts. So when Paul uses the words justify and redemption here, he is revealing for us the reality that God rightly intervened and acted to redeem us, to rescue us from slavery to our selfishness, rebellion, and sin through His Son Jesus in order that we would be able to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God.

In verse 25, Paul explains that God rescued and redeemed us through Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. But what does that mean? The word propitiation refers to the satisfaction of God’s right and just response to selfish rebellion and sin. This morning, God has every right to judge selfish rebellion and sin. And God cannot ignore His perfect Law and justice. God’s perfect justice demands that the selfishness, rebellion and sin of all humanity be punished. Otherwise God would not be just, would He?

So to demonstrate, or to prove to the universe that God is right, God sent His Son Jesus, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be publicly treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God’s right and just response to selfishness, rebellion and sin could be satisfied. You see, Jesus publicly died on the cross to prove that God is perfectly just and that God is perfectly right. The cross is public proof that God is just and demands justice.

And it is in Jesus public execution for the selfishness and rebellion of humanity that reveals that God’s rescue through faith results in a not guilty verdict for all humanity throughout history who demonstrated faith in God and the promises of God. When Paul uses the phrase “because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed”, the word forbearance literally means to display tolerance.

In other words, prior to Jesus life, death and resurrection, God proved that He is was perfectly right and just by deliberately tolerating and putting up with the selfishness and rebellion of all humanity throughout history so that, at just the right time, Jesus would enter into humanity to live the life that we refused to live and die the death we deserved to die. And in verse 26, we see that it is through Jesus life, death, and resurrection that God proves that He is right and that He is not only just, but that He can also be the One who is able to declare the person who has faith and confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel as being not guilty of having a problem with God.

Now, since there are a lot of church mumbo jumbo talk words in these verses, let’s look at these verses again, this time replacing the church mumbo jumbo talk words with what these words mean in the language of our culture today, beginning in Romans 3:24:

being declared not guilty as a gift by God’s intervention and activity through the rescue and redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as He publicly died on the cross to satisfy God’s right and just response to our selfish sin and rebellion through His life, death and resurrection. Thus we are declared not guilty through faith in what God did through Jesus. This was to prove that God is right and just, because in the tolerance of God He deliberately chose to put up with the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the proof, I say, that God is right and just at the present time, so that He would be just and the One who declares a person not guilty who has faith in Jesus.

We are declared not guilty because of God’s gracious and generous intervention and activity in the world through Jesus, whose public execution for our selfishness and rebellion serves as the proof that God is right and just and the only One who can declare the person who has faith and confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel as being not guilty of having a problem with God.

Friday, we will see Paul reveal the implications that God’s right rescue from rebellion through faith in Jesus have on humanity and on the issue of racism....