Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: God's glory is the standard of perfection of his character, and we all miss the standard. It's absurd, preposterous, to imagine that a little bit of religious observance will make any difference in my standing before the God of perfect holiness and the God of true justice.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. We're continuing a message called Guilt Removed, and we've been looking at the fact that all of us have fallen short of God's standard of perfection. If we have sinned in that way, and if we cannot enter into the presence of a holy God, a God who, because of his nature, will execute true justice, Jonathan, how can we ever be right with him?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, this is the wonderful truth that Paul unpacks for us here in Romans 3. But the heart of it is in the offering, the gift of Jesus Christ, who gives his life to pay the price of our sin, the price that we would have to pay otherwise. He gives his life to pay the price of our sin, that our record of guilt might be cleared, that we might be forgiven, that we might be restored, that we might be accepted. That's the heart of the Christian message, and it is the best news in all the world.

Steve Hiller: Well, we're going to look at that best news in all the world today from the book of Romans, chapter 3, as you just heard. Let's open our Bibles there as we hear the conclusion of our message, Guilt Removed. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: The astonishing good news of the cross is that because Jesus died as our propitiation, as our anger-bearing sacrifice, if we belong to him and if we trust in him, we enjoy perfect safety before God the judge. Our guilt has been addressed fully and finally. The anger of God has been dealt with for us, and we have nothing else to fear from the judgment of God.

Through the cross, God justifies sinners. But not only does he do that, at the very same time, God demonstrates his own justice at the cross, and that's the second key lesson of our passage. At the cross, God demonstrates his perfect justice. Right from the beginning, from the time of mankind's first rebellion against God, God has indicated his gracious intention to provide a means of salvation for his people.

As the Old Testament progressed, he laid out that intention in greater and greater detail. God didn't want his people to face judgment, and he didn't want them to suffer eternal death. He intended to save them. But God's justice on the one hand and his desire to save on the other, that seems to set up a great dilemma. How could the God of perfect justice overlook or forgive the sin of his people?

In some ways, the legal framework of the Old Testament held out a kind of hope that God's people might be made right before him, might be justified, if they would just obey and follow all the duties of God's law, of the law that he had given them. But Paul declares here in our passage that the law would never give salvation. It could never justify anyone, and the reason for that, of course, is that no sinner would ever keep its requirements perfectly.

There's nothing wrong with the law, but there's a great deal wrong with the human heart. The law actually simply makes us conscious of our sin. It highlights the problem without providing a cure. And so the upshot of that is that no Israelite had ever been made right with God through law-keeping. Throughout all the history of Israel, no one had ever been justified through the law.

That then raises a question. How could God relate to his Old Testament people as his own, as his saved people? Why didn't his judgment fall on them? How could they have a hope of salvation? Did God simply decide to make Israel a special case, simply to ignore the sin of the Israelites because he loved them so much? Is that how it worked? Was it essentially a case of favoritism throughout the Old Testament?

It's actually a fascinating question. I don't know if you've ever considered it, but follow the logic with me of Paul's response as he sets out to answer the question and to solve the riddle. Verse 25, "God presented him," that's Jesus, "as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbearance, he had left the sins 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."

We recently spent a few days staying in a hotel on a family vacation, and it was kind of wonderful living there for a time without too many cares in the world. We went down in the morning when it suited us and had a nice breakfast served to us. I signed a little piece of paper at the end of the meal and wrote down our room number, but I didn't have to hand over any cash or anything like that.

People would come into the room during the day and tidy things up for us and make our beds and give us new towels. Again, we didn't hand over a penny. And for a few days there, I could almost imagine that we were just living for free, not a care in the world. And as we left the hotel, we said a nice goodbye to the people at the desk, but they didn't ask me for anything either. And for a few days there, nothing appeared on my credit card statement.

But you won't be surprised to hear that the day of reckoning did eventually come. One day, I looked at my online bank account, and there it was in black and white, the full bill. Every bite of food that we ate, every night that we stayed, all there, all accounted for, all conveniently converted from US dollars to Canadian. And so I was reminded that payment delayed is not payment forgotten.

We could look at the history of Israel and imagine that God just overlooked their sin, the odd attendance at the temple, the occasional animal sacrifice, the odd bit of tithing, and he essentially just wiped the slate clean and forgot about it. Or if we didn't think that God was just sort of overlooking the sins of the Israelites, we could think that they were dealing with their sin adequately through their law-keeping.

But what verses 25 and 26 teach us is this. God was not neglecting Israel's payment of sin, and they certainly weren't achieving their own righteousness and their own justification through their law-keeping efforts. No, God in his forbearance was leaving the sins unpunished until such a time as he would deal with their sin himself. Until the time when he, in the person of his Son, would provide the propitiatory sacrifice that would deal with their sin fully and finally, once and for all.

And in doing so, verse 26, God demonstrates that he is the God of true justice, true righteousness. He isn't a God who will sweep sin under the carpet, and he isn't a God whose standards of perfect righteousness could ever be met through the imperfect and the flawed law observance of his people. And here's the wonder of all wonders, the second half of verse 26. At the cross, God not only demonstrates that he is the God of perfect justice, he doesn't sweep things under the carpet, he also demonstrates that he is the one who justifies the guilty, and that through the death of his Son.

Well, how do we respond to this great truth, this astonishing truth, that through the anger-bearing sacrifice of his own Son, we are justified before God the judge? For the believer, Paul actually sets out one key implication of this great truth in the following verses. He makes it crystal clear that we should be humbled by it. Notice that with me, verse 27, "Where then is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith."

From what we can tell from reading Paul's letter, it seems that some of the Jewish converts in the church at Rome were tending to look down on some of the Gentile converts, feeling that somehow their heritage of having the law and observing the law in the Old Testament, it gave them a bit of an edge on the Gentiles. It seems that some thought that their standing before God depended on keeping and living by the laws of the Old Testament, laws like the law of circumcision.

That's why Paul has to say in verse 20 and make it crystal clear that no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. And that's why Paul asks the question in verse 29, "Is God the God of Jews only? Of those who have had these particular laws? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by that same faith."

Law-keeping, the law of circumcision, and any other law besides, it's not going to save anyone, Paul says. And so Paul says, once you understand that law-keeping, that legal observance, that religious right and ritual never made anyone right with God, once you understand that God was simply leaving the sin of his people unpunished until Jesus came, once you understand that God's just anger at sin is dealt with fully through the anger-bearing sacrifice of his Son, well then there is no room at all left for boasting.

There's no room for the Jew to boast to the Gentile of his legal observance or his religious record. And there's no room for you or for me to boast in our achievements before God. We need to hear that, and we need to be reminded of it. There's no room for us ever to feel smug in our record of faithfulness or of service.

There's no space whatever for me to look down on someone else, another believer, thinking that my record of Christian service, my heritage perhaps in the family of faith, my generosity in giving, my faithfulness in spending time in God's word, my role within the church, whatever it is, there is no room for me or for you to feel smug in any way. There's no room for it because the hard reality is this, verse 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

God's glory is the standard of perfection of his character, and we all miss the standard. We may miss it by an inch, and we may miss it by a mile, but we all miss it. And it's absurd, preposterous to imagine that a little bit of religious observance, a bit of service, a bit of Bible reading, a bit of prayer, a bit of tithing, a bit of any of those things will make any difference in my standing before God, the God of perfect holiness and the God of true justice.

But alongside that hard reality is a very wonderful reality as well. Each of us who belong to Christ, whatever our background, whatever our track record, whatever our victories or failures in the battle with sin, we all stand before God on an equal footing because we stand before God on the basis of the sacrifice, the propitiatory sacrifice of the Son of God himself.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths and a message called Guilt Removed. It is part of a larger series, The Heart of Easter. And as we think about Easter, maybe that raises some questions in your mind, like, did Jesus of Nazareth really rise from the dead? You know, it's that question that sent Lee Strobel on an investigation. He's a former investigative journalist, and he wanted to take a look at that question. He's written about that in his book called The Case for Easter, and in the book, he retraces the findings that led him from atheism to belief, looking at things like the medical evidence, the evidence of the missing body, and the evidence of appearances, just to name some.

We'd love to send you a copy of this book as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online when you come to our website, encounterthetruth.org. You can also support us over the phone. Our toll-free number is 1-833-998-7884. That's 1-833-99-TRUTH. Or again, our website is encounterthetruth.org. If you joined us late, we're in Romans chapter 3, so grab your Bible and meet us there as we get back to the message. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Self-examination is never very comfortable, but let me invite us all to examine our heart for a moment. If you look honestly and impartially within, can you see any hint of this attitude? Can I see any hint of this attitude? An attitude of smugness or of self-superiority, feeling that in any way you have an advantage over another believer, another member of the church family here.

An advantage because of something you've done, some element of your background or your history of involvement and service, because you're a little bit further on in the Christian life, or a little bit further on in the battle with sin. Is there any hint of that sense of superiority in your heart or in mine? Well, if there is, we need to remember again the basis, the sole basis of our acceptance before God, verse 25. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, a propitiatory sacrifice through faith in his blood. And so verse 27, where is boasting? It is excluded. And so it must be.

For others of us, the issue may be actually quite the opposite from the one we've just raised. Perhaps you actually struggle with a lack of assurance that you're acceptable to God in any way at all. You know that Jesus died for you. You know that you don't earn your salvation through good works. You know those gospel truths, and you've heard them before. But at the same time, you look at the reality of your own heart and your own life. You remember those things that plague your conscience. You consider your continued battle with sin and your frequent failing, and you think to yourself, there is too much here for God to forgive.

There's so much mess in my life. I've frankly pushed the boundary too far, one too many times. And I've asked for forgiveness once too often. I've fallen too frequently and too low, and I'm convinced that God has now had enough of me. I want to ask for a show of hands, but I expect that there will be a number here who feel precisely like that, even this morning.

And if that's you, if you struggle in that particular way, the only thing that will ultimately reassure you, the only argument that will ultimately persuade you is the argument that Paul lays out here in verses 21 to 26. It is an ironclad argument grounded in the character and the very justice of God. If our salvation depended in any way on our performance, on our law-keeping, on our obedience, if it depended in any way on those things, you and I could never have any assurance of our salvation.

We would always find evidence to condemn us because there is always evidence to condemn us. But notice again what Paul says in verse 21, "But now a righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known." In the gospel, God has revealed, has made known to us a source of righteousness, of right standing before him, that is not at all grounded in the law, that is not at all grounded in our obedience and our law-keeping, a source that comes not from us, but ultimately from God himself.

What is the source of this righteousness? It is, verse 24, "the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." How did this redemption come about? Verse 25, "God presented him as a propitiation," an anger-bearing sacrifice, "through faith in his blood." That's what we've been seeing already this morning. And so now here is the question to consider, the question to think through if you are someone who struggles with assurance of sins forgiven.

Here's the question. If God presented Jesus as an anger-bearing sacrifice to bear the just penalty of your sin, could he ever in fairness and justice ever require a further punishment for your sin? Could he ever do that? Could he ever punish your sin twice? Remember, at the very heart of Paul's argument here in our passage is the insistence that God is entirely and perfectly just.

He will punish sin. He must punish sin to be a just judge. But what would it do to the character of God, to the justice of God, if he punished sin twice? Even the most fallible human court will never do that. You see, the judicial reality here in our passage is that if you have faith in Christ, if you belong to him, if you have trusted in his promises, justice was carried out for you 2,000 years ago at the Cross of Calvary.

At the cross, verse 26, God the just judge found a way to justify sinners like you and like me. He declared us not guilty. He declared us not guilty because our punishment has been borne by another. And that punishment can never be repeated. It is done. The verdict has been declared, and for those whose trust is in Christ, it will never be repealed.

The Cross of Christ humbles the proud, and it gives assurance to the anxious. But finally, as we consider our response and as we close, I'd like to address in particular those who have actually never made a personal response to this message of the cross. Maybe the things we've been discussing this morning, they're entirely new to you, and you've never heard them before. But as you listen and as you read what the Apostle Paul writes here in chapter 3, maybe all this rings true, and it makes sense to you.

And maybe you feel actually today you would like to benefit from what the Lord Jesus achieved at the cross 2,000 years ago. You'd like to participate in this astonishing salvation of God. Well, if that's you, there is really only one thing called for, one thing required. The righteousness of God, we're told in our passage, comes simply through faith in Jesus. That's what Paul keeps on saying. Verse 22, notice with me, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Verse 25, "It comes through faith in his blood." Verse 26, "God is the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."

And so the question for you this morning is simply this: Do you believe that what God says here is true? Do you trust him? Do you believe that Jesus died for you and that his death is sufficient to pay the price of your rebellion and to deal with your guilt fully and finally? If you do, then you do need to make a response of faith. It's often helpful to break down this response of faith into simple steps, the ABCs.

Responding in faith begins when we admit that verse 23 is true of us, that like everyone else, we have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You then need to believe that what scripture says here about Jesus and his work is true. And then finally, you need to come to God in believing faith, turning from rebellion and trusting his promises.

For those who feel ready to make that response, we'd like to give you an opportunity to do that even this morning. And if you feel ready to make that response, if you'd like to do that and receive the assurance of sins forgiven and of an eternal right standing with God the judge, let me invite you to pray this prayer with me in just a moment. I'll read it out, I'll pray it out, and invite you to join me, just sitting where you are and in the silence of your own heart to echo this prayer in your own heart. I'll read it out once and then we'll pray it through.

Lord God, I admit that I've sinned against you and rightly deserve to face your judgment. But I believe that Jesus died in my place to secure my forgiveness. And so I come to you now in faith, turning from rebellion and ask you to forgive and accept me on the basis of what Jesus has done.

And so for those who would like to join with me: Lord God, I admit that I have sinned against you and rightly deserve to face your judgment. But I believe that Jesus died in my place to secure my forgiveness. And so I come to you now in faith, turning from rebellion and ask you to forgive and accept me on the basis of what Jesus has done. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Steve Hiller: Well, if you have prayed that prayer where you've admitted, believed, and come to Jesus, we'd love to hear about that here at Encounter the Truth. We'd love to know that you're now walking with Jesus, been adopted into his family. We'd love to pray for you and encourage you as you begin your relationship with him. You can reach us online, come to our website, encounterthetruth.org, or call us at 833-99-TRUTH. That's 833-998-7884.

Encounter the Truth is listener-supported. That means we depend on your financial generosity to keep Jonathan's teaching on this station. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, Jonathan, you have picked out a book called The Case for Easter, written by Lee Strobel. And how would you envision somebody using and reading this book?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, I've got two uses in mind for this book, and I hope that this will hit home for many of our listeners today. First of all, for the Christian believer who wants to be reassured and reconvinced of the historicity of the events in which we place our trust. As believers, I'd love you to get hold of this and go over the evidence for the resurrection.

You know, we don't believe in myth and legend. We are believing in historical reality that is conveyed to us in the word of God, but is grounded in real history. And I'd love for you to be convinced and reconvinced of that. And then for the person who is not yet a convinced Christian believer, but is engaging with the evidence, who wants to find out more, you need to know whether the resurrection of Jesus Christ actually happened. And I think this book is going to be a real help to you in persuading you of the evidence for the resurrection, which is real and substantial. And I'd love to get this book into your hands if that's your situation. And of course, for the believer who is thinking of friends and family in that place, hey, get hold of this book and give it to your loved ones that they might read this Easter.

Steve Hiller: Well, the book is called The Case for Easter. Our thank-you gift to you as you financially support Encounter the Truth this month. The phone number to give a gift: 1-833-99-TRUTH. That's 1-833-998-7884. Or you can give online at encounterthetruth.org. You can also write us at Encounter the Truth, 2176 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2E 0A1, or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Number 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer, Mark Bretta, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.