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The Sixth Sermon
Romans 3:20-31
Worthy Is The Lamb!

God's good news for you is that you can become entirely innocent and righteous before Him, that there is full atonement for all your sin, and that He has even made adequate provision for you to actually live a life of righteousness - all through faith in Christ!  And though the good news message originated in an unimportant place, among an unimportant people, yet Paul the apostle wasn't ashamed of it, because it's what God uses for the salvation of all those who believe!

In the first chapter of his letter the apostle painted a dark but accurate picture of a lost human race that is in rebellion against God.  In later chapters he's going to tell us a number of very important things about the Gospel way of salvation from that awful predicament.  He's going to tell us how it's applied to individuals, what the results will be for all who receive it, how it relates to those under the law and apart from the law, who the people are who actually do receive it, whether Jew or Gentile, and, finally, what the response should be for all those who do receive it.

In the chapter before us today, the Gospel message itself is summarized.  It's the summary of a very important  announcement – an announcement that can affect our present life and our eternity.  It's also the summary of a message whose saving effect in our hearts should fill us with humility and praise to God.

Up to this point in his letter, Paul has made it clear that both Jew and Gentile are in great need – that they are both guilty before God and need His forgiveness.  He's made it clear, in fact, that we are all rebels and that we all therefore stand to be condemned at the bar of divine justice.  He's said that being circumcised, and therefore being under the law – can't possibly be our salvation.  He's told the Jews, in fact, that if they consider themselves as being under the law, then they'll be judged in reference to that Law, and he's also had to tell the Gentiles that if they're not under the law, they're still guilty of breaking the commandments because they know them by the light of nature.  Summing it all up, he says, "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."  The point is that we're all guilty before God, whether Jew of Gentile.

But now Paul drops the curtain, radically changes the scene, then raises the curtain again on an amazing new scene.  He says, "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed . . ." He had already told us that the only possible effect of the law is to make all the world guilty.  But he now tells us that here's something that solves that problem in a most amazing way.  He announces news of a way by which God's fairness is maintained even while selected people can have a  wonderfully righteous standing before God!

How, we certainly ought to ask, could such a thing be?  The answer is here, and we need to remember that it's a God-inspired answer, not merely man's imagination!  Through His apostle, God says that the answer is that righteousness is "through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe!"  But it's only through faith.  It's only for the select few who believe the message and depend upon Christ.  But the wonderful result is that they alone, out of all the people on earth, actually have the righteous standing that God Himself has!  Obviously, such an amazingly wonderful announcement is worthy of our most careful consideration.

In announcing this God-inspired answer to the problem, the apostle knew that he needed to remind us of the preexisting situation.  He says in vss. 22, 23, "For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  It's a reminder that needs explanation. 

In the Greek the verb translated "sinned" is in an aorist tense, a tense we should describe as "punctilliar" - a short, choppy statement of what once happened.  So, retranslated, it would read, "For all sinned."  It means that on a particular occasion, all mankind rebelled against God. 

That short, simple statement looks forward to what Paul is going to say in 5:16.  There he says, "And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.  For the judgement which came from one offense resulted in condemnation."  In other words, what happened on that one rebellious occasion was that Adam sinned - and condemnation came upon us all.  As the old saying goes: "in Adam's fall, we sinned all."

So when Paul says here in the third chapter, "For all sinned," he means that we all sinned in Adam, and that we are therefore guilty.  Now some of you are probably thinking in your hearts, "that's not fair!  I wasn't even there!  I can't be blamed for that!"

Before I say anything else though, let me call your attention to one thing: if you aren't guilty of Adam's sin, then you can't have Christ's righteousness either!  Again reading what Paul goes on to say in chapter 5 - "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."  He's saying that by your Representative you are made righteous.  By another representative, you were made a sinner.  If you desire to be represented before God by Christ, then you have to admit that you were previously represented by Adam.

Before the foundation of the world, Christ, as our Sponsor took total responsibility for each and every one of the people who would eventually believe. In doing so He became willingly responsible for all of our thoughts and actions. When we sin, when we rebel by trying to go our own way instead of God's way, His is the responsibility - He took all the blame for it upon Himself.  He went to the Cross in our place, and God declares us righteous because His Son became guilty on our behalf.

And just as Christ represents us, so Adam also represented us.  There in Adam at the beginning - was the entire human race.  But because Adam rebelled, so the entire human race rebelled!  And, if you appreciate being represented in Christ, then, dear people, don't balk at the idea of being represented in Adam as well.  (By the way, the next time you're inclined to question Adam's representation, just ask yourself - "Would I have done better?")

So - is Christ your Sponsor?  Do you willingly surrender to Him and trust Him?  When the Bible speaks of believing in Him, that's what it means - it means surrendering to Him as Lord and trusting Him as your Sponsor.  And if you do believe in Him and trust Him, then this passage in Romans is telling you that you have the same standing in righteousness as the Christ Who represented you - the same standing as the holy God!

There can be two and only two reasons for you to be counted so righteous: first, you can be counted righteous because God is absolutely right in declaring you so.  Secondly, you can be counted righteous because Christ's righteousness is credited to you.  Let's look at these two reasons as we see them here in Romans.

Firstly, we need to say that none of us could be declared righteous for things we ourselves have done.  As Paul says here, "being justified freely by His grace . . ." It's entirely a free gift, not something you or I could ever earn.  See what this letter goes on to say in chapter 11, verse 6: "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.  But if it is of works, it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work."  There can be no other way than grace alone, freely given.

But God would be unrighteous if He gave us that grace, that free gift in any other way than the way He actually did give it.  The one way God could be righteous while simultaneously declaring us righteous is, as Paul puts it, "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."  In other words, He can declare us righteous because of REDEMPTION - because the penalty for sin has been completely and adequately paid.  The Sponsor has taken upon Himself all the penalty and has been executed in our place!  One of greater value than all of us together was executed in our place!  Of how great value is the Son of God?  It is the value of God Himself!  THAT infinite value ensures that redemption is accomplished!

The conclusion is that God's justice isn't slighted or ignored.  With the payment of such a Price, that justice is fully satisfied, and God is therefore RIGHT in declaring you righteous.

Secondly, you can be declared righteous because Christ's righteousness is credited to you.  As we've seen, every one of us has fallen short of glorifying God.  But Jesus Christ has NOT fallen short!  Paul makes this very, very clear in his letter to the Philippians.  In Chapter two he first describes our Lord's descent into manhood, his descent into humility, His descent to the lowest possible point, the Cross.  Then he tells us God's reaction to what His Son did.  He says, "Wherefore, God has also highly exalted Him and given Him a Name above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  Jesus our Lord glorified the holiness of God, the love of God, and the mercy of God.  He glorified Him as no other could.  He glorified Him so wonderfully that He could be called "the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person."

But remember one thing: He is the Sponsor, the Representative of all the believing.  If you're believing, then everything He did was done in your place, in your stead!  His righteousness is therefore credited to YOU!  Could you be more righteous than THAT? All that you do as a Christian thereafter can only be a faint reflection of it.  Is it any wonder that Jude could say, "Now to Him Who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.  Amen!"

Now another extremely important consideration is how we respond to these stupendous facts.  Paul tells us about it.  He says, "Where is boasting then?  It is excluded."  Since our salvation from rebellion is all by God's grace, we have nothing at all of which to boast.  We can't even boast about our faith.  Even that is a gift.  As Paul tells the Ephesians, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."  For this reason, we ought not to consider unbelievers as inferior to ourselves.  We ought to humbly love them, pray for them, and try to win them to our wonderful Savior.  We must only boast of what Christ has done.

Secondly, I urge you to begin to do something, even today, that an uncountable host will be doing with you.  Revelation 4:12 tells us about it.  The entire host was "saying with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!  And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!"

In other words, I urge you to give some dedicated time to praising Him - to telling Him what wonderful things He has done!

Yes indeed!
It's a bit more than believing that an airline pilot will get you to your destination, without getting lost in that great big sky, or worse crashing the plane and killing all on board.
Faith in Christ is more than this, it is trusting Him to carry you through all the events of life to your final destination, Heaven.
We cannot see the plane, nor the pilot nor the destination, but faith walks on into the unknown, yet not unknown.
For we have One Who has arrived at our destination with the Father and did return to tell us that we are awaited.
As we believe His great and precious promises,we journey on.