Word of Salvation – Vol.  20 No.25 – March 1974

 

Redemption In Christ Jesus

 

Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma on Romans 3:23-24

 

Dear Fellow Sinners,

Today I want to speak to you on this all important truth that salvation is found only in the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross for sinners.

God justifies sinners FREELY through faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer.

This is something which many claim to agree with, but in reality deny.

This was brought home to me in a number of discussions I had with people recently as well as by some articles I have read.  Few people, including many who talk freely about loving Jesus, seem to be aware of what justification by faith (or salvation on the basis of Christ's sacrifice) really involves.

When we consider justification by faith the first thing we should note (and many overlook) is that God is just.  God is righteous.  We do well to remember that there is only one God the God who has made everything – who upholds and rules everything and who will, in the end, judge every man according to his work.

Everyone will one day appear before the judgement seat of God and there everyone will get what GOD thinks he deserves.  The Bible tells us there is no partiality with God, no favouritism, no distinction with God.

Everyone is going to be dealt with on a strictly fair and just basis;
On the basis which God Himself has set for all eternity.
Everyone, you and I, will receive no more and no less than we deserve.

Let us make no mistake about this.

God has His eyes upon us day by day.
He knows your every move, your very thought.
Thoughts, which according to the law of God, are to be filled with love to God and love to the neighbour,

But what does God see in man?
What does God see in you?
  Does He see love in you!
  Does He see perfect obedience?

No.

Instead of seeing love and obedience God sees sin in your and my hearts and minds.

ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
No one excepted...!

This is what Paul brings home to us so forcefully in Romans 3.  By nature none is righteous – not even one.
Not among the Gentiles but not among the Jews either.
There is none that loves God as he should.
None among those who live in heathen lands
            or who belong to a Christian community.
No one righteous among the old or young, teenagers or babies.
None is righteous.

No one is of himself lovingly disposed to God – no one perfectly obeys God's law.

No one in this sinful world is what God made man to be.  No one is innocent.

No one is without the effects of sin.

Therefore, according to the law all men are doomed.

By works of the law no flesh will be justified in God's sight – for God demands perfection, nothing less than perfect love from you and perfect obedience.
Not just in one or two things but in all of your life.

The divine law is that those who obey shall live, but those who break it, even if it is only in one thing, must be punished must die.

And God is just.

God acts in accordance with the rules He has laid down Himself.

Do you accept this – that God is just and righteous?
Do you realise what this means for you?
For you who are a sinner?
Yes a sinner.
Nothing better than that.
A sinner everyone of you.
And God is just.

God will never do anything that is unjust.
God does not do anything against the law for God does not deny Him- self.
He is righteous and just.

Do you realise now how it is that Paul struggles with the question:
  How can God who is just ever justify sinners?
  How can God who acts in strict accordance with the rule He has laid down
             ever save men from the death they deserve?

What happens to the righteousness of God when God forgives sinners?

The answer is found in our text.

It is through the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus that God saves sinners.

God justifies FREELY by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,

Freely...!

Do you hear that?  Freely....!

For nothing...!

Gratis...!

Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

O why is it that so many deny this?
            That it is free.
            That it is founded on the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Is it not because they do not want to admit that they are sinners?
Is it not because they think that salvation by passes the justice of God?

I hear people telling me (when I say that all deserve damnation) God would not be so cruel as to punish the innocent.

Well then, who is innocent?
Who of you would claim to be perfect?
But that is what God demands, perfection.

Whom in the world could you point to, seen in the light of God's Word and say, He is entirely free from sin?

Who does not sin?
Who is not born in sin?
Who in this world is not doomed?
            In Adam, says the apostle, all die.
Who in the world is not a child of Adam,
            a descendant of him with whom God made a covenant in Paradise?
Who is not included among those whom Adam represented
            when he thought he would be wiser than God
            and betrayed the love and trust of God?

Not only do we and all men commit some sins – we fall short of the glory of God – we are sinners from the top of our head to the sole of our feet.

If that were not so what need of a Saviour would we have?

God Justifies for nothing.
That was the joyful discovery of a man like Paul.
The discovery of every sinner who by works of the law finds himself condemned because God demands perfection.

And yet many claiming to believe that God justifies by faith deny this.

Deny that sinners are justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Many seek their assurance not in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross, but seek it in some personal mystic experience.  Their joy does not rest on seeing Christ as their perfect substitute and the perfect ground on which God justifies sinners, but in some emotion they have felt.

Many claiming to be Protestants are in the same error as the Roman Catholics who believe that on the basis of the working of Christ or the Holy Spirit IN YOU, you are justified.

And I dare say that many of you have fallen for this kind of teaching and are unsettled, unsure and confused because your eyes have been too far opened to allow you to pretend that you are without sin.

You are too honest to claim that your life as a Christian is now perfect.

You know that daily you must confess your sins and the failure of your good intentions.

Is there then no hope for you?

Are you doomed to mourn your sins and consider only the possibility of death while others sing of life and joy?

Let me ask you: What does Jesus call for when he proclaims the Kingdom of God?
   He calls and says to us and all men: Repent and Believe.
   Repent.  Confess your sins, cry in bitter shame at your sin.

Confess that you are not perfect and daily dishonour God and provoke Him to anger by your sins.

Confess your sin and failure.

AND BELIEVE IN JUSUS.

Believe in Him who purchased the redemption of sinners by His blood.

Trust not in your experience.
Look not to your progress or the lack of it.
But look to Jesus who was lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.

Let me tell you about this redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
Let me tell you what Jesus has done for, and is to, those who believe in Him,
Let me point you to the words that follow our text proper:
            "It was Jesus whom God displayed publicly
             as a propitiation by His blood through faith."

The perfect sacrifice which is able and does in fact take away the believer's sin and guilt...!

On the Cross Jesus died in the place of sinners for sinners' sins.
On the cross the list of charges against us was nailed to the account of Jesus.
On the cross Jesus met the demands of the divine law.
            He paid the penalty for sin in full.
On the cross the justice of God was satisfied.

As we read in Philippians:
            Being found in the form of a man
            the eternal Son of God was obedient to God
            even to the point of death, the death on the cross.

That's why the righteous God can justify sinners;
            can forgive them and accept them as His children?

It is because God accepts the perfect obedience of Christ Jesus as the obedience of those who believe in Christ.

God accepts the sacrifice that Christ Jesus brought on the Cross as the perfect payment of all the believer's debts.

God who is just has Himself worked out this marvellous plan of salvation.
And in this plan God's justice is fully maintained.
The law is fully upheld.
The demand for perfection is fully honoured and satisfied BY CHRIST.

Therefore salvation/justification is entirely free for us.

In the sense that it costs us nothing we do not have to make any payment.

We do not have to meet any conditions except to admit that we need this justification on the basis of what Christ has done or else we are doomed.

There is one other aspect to this truth.

There is never any other reason why God accepts us than on the basis of the sacrifice made by Christ on the cross.

I say this because there are a number of people, who, among other things speak of victorious Christian living.
Many books are currently published on the subject.
But what many of these are in fact saying is this You believe in Jesus.
You trust entirely in Him
            and He will help you to live a perfect life
            and on the basis of this perfect life God will accept you.

Now on the surface this appears to be honouring God.

For is it not admitted that it is by the grace of God that we are changed?

But when I read my Bible, and you read yours honestly, you will not find this to be the teaching of Scripture: that Jesus helps you to live a perfect life and on the basis of your perfect life God accepts you.

The apostles and saints knew that even IF they did good works by the grace of God these were always tainted by sin and could never meet the requirements of God who demands perfection, in all of our life.

It is not good enough to overcome our sins a little.

God demands a perfect life and if our life is not perfect it is not acceptable to God.

God can never accept us on the basis of anything WE do or any level WE have come to.

Therefore I say it again that justification is by redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

And to believe in Jesus is to say to God, I have nothing to offer You, I trust in what You have given freely in Your Son who has obeyed perfectly for me.

The apostles’ rejoicing was not in their progress but it was in Christ Jesus who purchased forever their salvation by His blood.  Their trust was, and our trust must ever be, only in the perfect obedience of Christ.

It is only in the way of faith in Jesus that we will have any lasting assurance if we are honest with ourselves.

Only in this way is the freeness of salvation recognised.

Only when we see it as Scripture teaches it do we see how marvellous the grace of God is: that without bypassing His righteousness, without diminishing any of the law's demands, God Justifies those who believe in Jesus Christ,

May God grant you to see your sin and unworthiness that you may repent.  For only then will you learn to accept Jesus as your only hope.

Only then will you know what it means to sing (what perhaps you have sung often already)

            Just as I am, without one plea
            but that Thy blood was shed for me
            and that Thou bidst me (as I am) come to Thee
            O Lamb of God, I come.

Amen.