Class Lesson December 8, 2013

Our series is about "Do Over" moments:

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Don’t you think Nick Saban would like a second chance or a do over of his decision to kick the field goal at the end of the Alabama Auburn game? Somehow, the painstakingly perfectionist coach decided — after missing three field goals in the game (one was blocked) — he’d try a 56-yarder on a whim. Nick Saban doesn’t do whims. Why now? Why, with the Tide’s No. 1 ranking and a chance to win an unprecedented fourth national title in five years, would he try now? “It is my responsibility,” Saban said. “First time I have ever seen a game lost that way.” Nothing makes sense anymore. The greatest coach of our time goes against everything he stands for — instead of trusting his team in overtime — and the unimaginable happens. Nothing makes sense anymore. You kick and scream and yell until officials put one second back on the clock — and all the while you’re sealing your fate in some Shakespearean tragic comedy.

Last week we opened with a lesson entitled, "A Problem You Can't Solve" and we read that this problem for each of us is SIN, which separates us from God because we can never measure up to or meet His standard. Paul opens in the Book of Romans with a world in crisis. You see everyone is on a quest, a search for something in life that fulfills an emptiness or void that you can't explain. All mankind is crying out for guidance, for comfort, and for peace. We are told that we live in the "age of anxiety." For generations we have been running like frightened children, up first one blind alley and then another. Each time we have told ourselves: "This path is the right one, this one will take us where we want to go." But each time we have been wrong. None of them lead anywhere but deeper into the mire. Did you know that last year the American people spent one hundred and twenty-five million dollars on fortune tellers alone! One hundred and twenty-five million dollars given by frantic, frightened men and women to equally misguided people, to tell them the wrong answers to their pleading questions! We are a nation of empty people. Our heads are crammed full of knowledge, but within our souls is a spiritual vacuum. 

For ever since that tragic moment in the Garden of Eden, when man gave up God's will for his own will, man has been plagued by the same problems. Their cause is stated in the first chapter of Genesis. The terrible conditions that produced them are related in the first chapter of Romans. And the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us their remedy. 

This week Paul gives us the remedy, the answer, the solution to everyone's problem - Jesus is the answer! And besides that He offers this answer to you as a gift - A Gift You Can't Give Yourself. 

Jesus offers you His gift of a right relationship with God.

I. GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED – ROMANS 3:21

21 But now, apart from the law, God’s righteousness has been revealed—attested by the Law and the Prophets






What makes the simple phrase “But now” a game changer?

• “But now…,” signaled a sudden change. What happened?
• Grace. That’s what happened. The rule-keeping Pharisee could shed his old uniform. A new game had begun. To fully grasp Paul’s relief at the sight of grace, you have to know his history. This man, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, was an arch enemy of the Christian church, traveling tirelessly to stomp out every last spark of the fire. Sadly, he believed this cruel campaign pleased God. Then one day, on the road to Damascus, Paul encountered the risen Lord Jesus. His eyes were opened. Paul became one of the most passionate preachers in world history. Those words “But now…” are significant. A righteousness apart from the law is now available.
• Have you ever waited impatiently for the release of the next book in a sizzling series? Have you stood in line for tickets? Have you gone shopping on Black Friday to secure that incredible deal while limited supplies last? This hints at the nervous excitement we call anticipation. Paul was anticipating righteousness.

Paul was strongly anticipating righteousness. This comes from Jesus, not from rule-keeping.








Since righteousness does not come through keeping rules, let’s consider where it does come from.




II. GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH JESUS – ROMANS 3:22-26

22 —that is, God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.



 

Paul began his discourse on the doctrine of salvation by showing that all people – Gentiles and Jews, “good” people and “bad” people – need salvation because no one lives up to God’s standard of righteousness. Beginning in Romans 3:21, he points us to the solution. God’s standard of righteousness was met in Jesus Christ, and when we place our faith in Christ, His righteousness is credited to us.



In the previous section Paul was anticipating righteousness. What three words in verses 22-26 describe how God delivered this righteousness?

1. Propitiation – What does this mean? Satisfying the righteous demands of the law, and therefore, removing the wrath of God.
2. Redemption – What does this mean? To remove someone from the chains of bondage. Redemption often involved the payment of a ransom, to cancel a debt. They have been redeemed from the power of sin and the curse of the law (1 Cor. 6:20).
3. Blood – What does this mean? In the Book of Leviticus, God declared the value of blood (Lev. 17:11). The blood of animals can’t pay off man’s debt. Only the perfect blood of a perfect man could cancel the curse once and for all.

What would the world be like if God had made salvation humanly attainable?

• No human has the power to put things right again.
• It is here, Houston, that we have a problem. No human has the power to put things right again. God’s way is to move beyond repair; He provides a new birth. This new birth comes by faith, by throwing oneself solely on the grace and mercy of God. We are justified freely, but our deliverance did not come cheap.

How would you best explain God’s grace to someone?

• 3:25 Christ is our sacrifice of atonement, in other words, He died in our place, for our sins. God is justifiably angry at sinners. They have rebelled against Him and cut themselves off from His life-giving power. But God declares Christ’s death to be the appropriate, designated sacrifice for our sin. Christ then stands in our place, having paid the penalty of death for our sin, and He completely satisfies God’s demands. His sacrifice brings pardon, deliverance, and freedom. What happened to people who lived before Christ came and died for sin? If God condemned them, was He being unfair? If He saved them, was Christ’s sacrifice unnecessary? Paul shows that God forgave all human sin at the cross of Jesus. Old Testament believers looked forward in faith to Christ’s coming and were saved, even though they did not know Jesus’ name or the details of His earthly life. Unlike the Old Testament believers, you know about the God who loved the world so much that He gave His own Son (John 3:16). Have you put your trust in Him?

What does it mean to be righteous?

• It means being right before God. People only become righteous as God declares them so.
• After all the bad news about our sinfulness and God’s condemnation, Paul gives the wonderful news. There is a way to be declared not guilty – by trusting Jesus Christ to take away our sins. Trusting means putting our confidence in Christ to forgive our sins, to make us right with God, and to empower us to live the way He taught us. God’s solution is available to all of us regardless of our background or past behavior.
• God’s righteousness has been fully revealed and demonstrated in Jesus Christ.
• To be declared righteous, to have right standing with God, we must place our faith in Jesus.

What does it mean to be justified?

• To be justified means that a person is forgiven of all sins and righteous before God on the basis of Jesus’ work on the cross.
• In Jesus we are justified, redeemed and reconciled to God.
• Justified means to be declared not guilty. When a judge in a court of law declares the defendant not guilty, all the charges are removed from his record. Legally, it is as if the person had never been accused. When God forgives our sins, our record is wiped clean. From His perspective, it is as though we had never sinned.

3:23 Some sins seem bigger than others because their obvious consequences are much more serious. Murder, for example seems to us to be worse than hatred, and adultery seems worse than lust. But this does not mean that because we do lesser sins we deserve eternal life. All sin makes us sinners, and all sin cuts us off from our holy God. All sin, therefore, leads to death (because it disqualifies us from living with God), regardless of how great or small it seems. Don’t minimize “little” sins or overrate “big” sins. They all separate us from God, but they all can be forgiven.

 

 

 

 

Righteousness is possible because of Christ, so let’s look at how we gain it.



III. CAN I BOAST OF ANYTHING? – ROMANS 3:27-28

27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith. 28 For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.





Since boasting is excluded, how will you express your faith this week?

• Boasting is the focus of Romans 3:27-28. Where does boasting belong? Nowhere. Believers can’t boast because our righteousness has nothing to do with anything we have done. Jesus is the Victor, the Champion, and the Titleholder. When a person comes to faith in Christ, they approach the most High King as a humble, volunteering servant. They come with crumbs in patched pockets – with no riches and nothing to share. Jesus will have it no other way. What Paul condemned in verse 27 is the ridiculous notion that we played the hero in our own escape. This simply isn’t the case. Jesus deserves all the credit and glory for our salvation. Perhaps no place in the Bible exposes the sin of pride more effectively than the parable recorded in Luke 18:9-14. Often, a story drives a point home more powerfully than anything else. Jesus told this story about two men praying at the temple. The unlikely, unsophisticated, irreligious tax collector came to God ashamed, with one simple plea: “God, turn Your wrath from me – a sinner” (v. 13). The well-respected, well-known, well-versed Pharisee said, “God, I thank You that I’m not like other people – greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.” In the end, one man went home justified – right with God. Romans 3:27-28 tells us who: the one who, by faith, placed himself in the hands of God.
• Most religions prescribe specific duties that must be performed to make a person acceptable to a god. Christianity is unique in teaching that the good deeds we do will not make us right with God. No amount of human achievement or progress in personal development will close the gap between God’s moral perfection and our imperfect daily performance. Good deeds are important, but they will not earn us eternal life. We are saved only by trusting in what God has done for us (Eph. 2:8-10).

Why does God save us by faith alone?

1. Faith eliminates the pride of human effort, because faith is not a deed we can do.

2. Faith exalts what God has done, not what people do.

3. Faith admits that we can’t keep the law or measure up to God’s standards – we need help.

4. Faith is based on our relationship with God, not our performance for God.



We must choose whether we will live according to the principle of good works or the principle of faith in God.





3:31 There were some misunderstandings between the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome. Worried Jewish Christians were asking Paul, “Does faith wipe out everything Judaism stands for? Does it cancel our Scriptures, put an end to our customs, and declare that God is no longer working through us?” (This is essentially the question used to open chapter 3) “Absolutely not!” says Paul. When we understand the way of salvation through faith, we understand the Jewish religion better. We know why Abraham was chosen, why the law was given, why God worked patiently with Israel for centuries. Faith does not wipe out the Old Testament. Rather, it makes God’s dealings with the Jewish people understandable.







Complete the activity below to better understand God’s gift to us, righteousness through faith in Jesus.

RECEIVE THE GIFT

1.  A way a gift once changed my life: ___________
2. A time someone gave me a gift that cost them more than I expected: ______
3. A proper reaction to an extravagant gift: ________

Receiving the Gift

This is the greatest gift of all. The gift you can’t give yourself. God offers this gift to everyone. Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NIV).


Would you like to receive that gift?

We receive it by inviting Jesus Christ into our heart. God knows your heart. He is not concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart.

LIVE IT OUT

The planet is full of depressing news and disappointing headlines, but now we have hope. Relief has arrived and Christ has made a way. Join Him in right relationship.

1. Take the do over. Receive Jesus’ gift of a right relationship with God.
2. Step off the stage. Humbly give to God the areas of your life where you tend toward pride or boasting. Let Jesus take center stage of your life.
3. Share the gift with others. Someone shared the gift of salvation with you. Pass it on to others and tell them about Jesus’ gift of salvation.

According to our western mindset, we are t take pride in “pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” We recognize and honor those who do. They are the achievers, the success stories, and the models of what it means to be strong and self-sufficient.

Prayer of Commitment

Oh how grateful I am that being in relationship with You as holy God is not dependent on what good I do but only in the good You did in giving Jesus Christ to die for my sins. Amen.

See you on Sunday!

In His Love,

David & Susan