(piano music) - David, late to see that part. (piano music) It's good to be here. It's good to be here this morning and to acknowledge and to appreciate the faster we live in the Blue House, and the faster they live and also the glory. Thank you so much for inviting us once again from this incredible church. We were hoping to release something that can bless you and push you closer into what God is doing in this church. We're so excited with the new venue that you're walking into. And as I was praying in the service, the Lord is showing me that at that venue you're going to experience explosive growth, amen. This is a mega church in the making. This is a mega church in the making. In that community, we're gonna have people walking in and say we were waiting for you all these years. You're going to have a lawyer. We're going to a lot of ministry in the area, ministry to the poor, ministry to drug addicts, ministry to married couples, ministry to entrepreneurs. It's going to be a cent of life, a cent of rebirth, and it's just gonna be amazing, amen. Unfortunately, some might not cross over there. We might see you the last time this year but we're praying that everybody make sure that we stay in the church. I remember our church once moved to one floor and some members said you've moved too far. One floor, same building. Ah, this church keeps moving. One floor. So there's some people like that. You just go one floor, it's too much. But I'm praying that everybody in this room make sure that when we move there, we're still part of the church, amen. God is going to bless the church with a lot of resources. There's gonna be a lot of entrepreneurs. Some people today are looking at December and the money is not adding up. But in this move, you're also going to move to another level financially. Some of you today, it's just gonna be upgrade after upgrade, upgrade of job, upgrade of business, upgrade of income, upgrade of vehicle. Your income is going to increase as individuals and as a church as well, amen. God is a blessing, God. He is ridiculously generous. He is recklessly generous. He is a given God and He will provide you every need, amen. Even with the renovations and everything. And you will buy that building, it's going to be yours. It is yours, it is yours, amen. Then the praise team, there's a great anointing on this praise team. It's an anointing of authentic worship. A lot of worship in the modern day church today, you don't know if it's nightclub or church. It's very flashy. And sometimes just the strip it down, worship just is different. You know, the bass guitar is crazy. Amen, hallelujah. Play so beautifully, play so beautifully. Your touch is just perfect. As if you were raised in use song or... (audience cheering) Are you Australian? (audience laughing) You know, he plays white bass, amen. (audience laughing) Nice and smooth and well-disciplined on time. The keys as well, just beautiful play, awesome stuff. And then the drums as well, not this, not gingoo. You know, it's not gourmet happening here, it's not... Proper worship, amen. And then even the offering was just out of this world, amen. So this church has an authentic anointing. There's an authentic anointing, it's not fake. It's a real stuff. And you can sense it in the house, amen. And I'm so blessed. I feel like my new year has begun today. (audience laughing) (upbeat music) You know, I'm here with my mom and my mom follows the Jewish calendar. That's our spirit of my mom is. So her new year started, was in September, October, yes. (laughing) Rosasana, right? My mom follows the Jewish calendar. We are in the pagan calendar, she's in the Jewish, amen. So I'm also starting my new year today. I'm starting, (laughing) I'm following the Jewish calendar now, is what I meant. So it's good to have my mom in the house, amen. She's killing us with good food. Do you know when your mom cooks? She's killing us with good food, amen. We are so blessed. And then it's good to have my wife in the house. Pastor Nana, she is an incredible woman, an incredible thinker. I mean, just this week, my wife last week was in London for a week. She'll not post, she'll not check in. She will be in places with high level people, but because of her humility, she won't say anything. The other week shows in a special meeting with the vice president of Botswana. Like a job. And no posting, just the humility of the Lord, that is upon her life, amen. You know, the other times you invited me for this dinner. Next thing I'm greeting, CEO's. CEO of Grand Virgin Bank, CEO of this, CEO of that. I'm taking selfies, I'm being told later on, oh, no, this is a CEO, I'm like, wow. I'm hearing me here. So she's an incredible mind, I'm an incredible person. And I love her so much, amen. Then I'm traveling with my two kids, Bocaang and Ikanang, amen. Please stand up, let her let the church see you. (upbeat music) You may be seated, you may be seated. These are good children. They love the Lord, they are saved, and they know the Bible. Ikanang is currently studying the Nephilim, right? He's studying the Nephilim and deep theology, amen. Amen. So it's good to be here, all protocol observed. Thank you so much. Turn with me to Romans chapter number three. And I'm reading from the new King James version of the Bible, but the way the message sounded nice, I'm gonna check it out, amen. This book, of course, is written by the Apostle Paul. Around 57 AD, he's in quarantine writing this letter. He's writing it to the Jews and Gentiles in Rome. During his third missionary journey, Paul intended to visit Rome. And after delivering a collection of funds for the poor in Jerusalem, Rome wanted to, he wanted to make Rome his base of operations for his next level of ministry, but God had different plans. So he's going to resolve some theological issues pertaining to the gospel and synthesizing the tension at the time between the fate of the Gentiles and the Jews. And in 16 chapters, he's going to give us, in typical Pauline method, he's going to give us doctrine and practical matters. So at this particular juncture, he's gonna now be entering some high-level doctrine. And this verse, for those who are preachers, it's very important to understand that this is the most important paragraph in the Bible. And we're eating from verse 31, where it says, "But now, the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed." The ESV says, "Manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and all who believe, for there is no difference for all have sinned and for short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God is set forth as a propitiation." And some other versions say, "Who God is set forth as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his four parents, God passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just at the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. This is the word of the Lord, our Heavenly Father. We thank you today for giving us the best thing in the world, for giving us the power and the treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you Father, that through Christ we are rich, through Christ we are healed, through Christ we are blessed. No matter where we are in life, we thank you Heavenly Father for sending your son to shift history and to shift our lives and to put us on this path with your providential hand only knows. We thank you Father today for rebut, let this be a center of regeneration. May the power of the Holy Spirit move people from being spiritually dead to coming alive in Christ. We pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to remain strong in this church. We pray Father for the power of the gifts of the Spirit, we thank you Father for the power of prophecy, speaking in tongues, healing faith. We thank you Father for the fruit of the Spirit being developed among us. We pray Father for the orphanies, intense experiences of your spirit, your presence. Make yourself known even as we preach today Father. I pray Heavenly Father that we don't want to preach this alone, we need you. Holy Spirit, I need you. Touch hearts, in Jesus name we pray, amen. My doctrine talk today is pertaining to propitiation and expiation. Number one, when we think about penal substitutionary atonement, there are two terms we must come to terms with which are propitiation and expiation. Number two, propitiation relates to the wrath of God. It is a vertical work of the cross. It's the vertical work of the cross where Jesus experienced and absorbed and fully satisfied the righteous wrath of God against our sin. And this act of Jesus experiencing the wrath of God on the cross, when that eclipse happened for three hours, the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus. And in that he absorbed the full blast of God's anger. And now it is turned away, it is satisfied. And in that point Jesus was the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. And his blood that was sprinkled turned away God's wrath. The wrath of God that was meant for you and me, he took it. Number three, expiation on the other hand is the horizontal work of the cross. Propitiation is vertical, expiation is horizontal. This relates to the removal of sin. This is where our sins are taken away. So when we say that through the cross we are forgiven, theologically we're speaking about expiation, that your sins have been cleansed, that he has washed you clean by his blood. And through his blood, your sin is dealt away completely. The debt has been paid off in full, completely. You are set free, forever. Number four, to better understand how propitiation and expiation work, we need to look at the day of atonement from Leviticus 16. On that day, as you know, there were two goats which were presented. The first goat was sacrificed. And the blood of that goat was sprinkled on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. That goat which was sacrificed represents propitiation. Its death absorbs the wrath of God and the sprinkling of the blood. When the presence of God would show up in the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement on Yom Kippur, the new year of the Jewish calendar, the presence of God would see the blood of the Lamb. And his wrath would be turned away from the children of Israel because of the blood of the goat. So that was propitiation. Then there was a second goat which was known as the scapegoat. The priest would lay his hands on this goat and transfer all of the sins of the nation of Israel for that year. And then one of the priests would walk that scapegoat into the desert after he laid his hands. And what it was symbolic was of the goat taking away the sins in the wilderness today. That represents expiation. And it shows how Jesus on the cross bore our sins and took them to the grave and buried them for good. So when you go to the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem, that's where your sins are kept. So don't spend too much time there. Your alcohol addiction might jump back on you there. So be careful when you visit that tomb. So through him, our sins are not only forgiven but they are forgotten. God in his omniscience has divine amnesia. He has forgotten them. So why are you thinking about them this morning? You've got praise right there. [APPLAUSE] Oh, Jesus, we thank you. So as we briefly approach our passage this morning, I have to indicate to you that esteemed New Testament scholars like Shrinam, Mu, Carson, Lloyd, Jones, and Tillman, unanimously hold this paragraph of scripture as the most important passage of scripture as it pertains to the gospel. I solemnly urge each and every one of you, especially the preachers, to dedicate a lot of your time and study to Romans 3.21 to 26. Simply because this five verse paragraph contains none negotiable doctrines of the gospel. These five verses are none negotiable. We can negotiate many things in the church. But these five verses we cannot negotiate. And for your consideration this morning, I will be presenting these none negotiable doctrines that define the gospel. And if you get this passage wrong as a preacher, the gospel gets lost. You have to understand this passage intimately because this gives you a spiritual immune system against false doctrine. And it's very important that you know this. I know you like the chronomy 28, blessed in the city, blessed in the field. But you've got to know this even more than the chronomy 28, amen. So my pericope is structured this way. Number one, the righteousness of God is revealed in verse 21. Number two, the righteousness of God is received in verses 22 to 23 by faith. And then the righteousness of God is accomplished in verses 24 to 26. So let's go to our first section on our expository journey, which is the righteousness of God received in verse 21. Just put your finger there. So in describing what a paradigm shift is, King Keller begins by dividing a paradigm as accepted knowledge or the established framework through which we understand the world. A paradigm shift, therefore, is the radical transformation in this accepted knowledge. That fundamentally changes how we view reality. For example, for centuries, people believe that the world was flat. So the paradigm at that time was a flat earth paradigm. They believed that if you sail on a boat too far on the ocean, your ship will fall on the edge of the earth. But until explorers like Ferdinand Magellan, they shifted our paradigm from flat earth to round earth when they circled the entire circumference of the earth. So it radically transformed how we view reality. The text we're about to see here opens with two significant words called but now, say but now. These two small words but now are loaded with paradigm shifting power. Stedman says these words are gods nevertheless in the face of man's failure. And it's from this third point that I would like to argue that within this but now are five paradigm shifts. There is a literary shift, a historical shift, a penalty shift, a power shift, and a presence shift. So number one, let's look at the literary shift. But now is a literary shift in this text pertains to Paul shifting the argument within the letter. He shifts it from the wrath of God to the grace of God because after greeting the church in Rome in Romans chapter 1 verses 1 to 7, what comes after that is Paul's desire to visit Rome and impart a spiritual gift which is in 1 verses 8 to 15. Then from there Paul brings in his thesis statement in Romans 1 verses 16 to 17 where he stated, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation, for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in the righteousness of God, for in it, in the gospel, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written that just shall live thy faith." Oh, that scripture should just get you excited already. Because after this bright statement, this is such a beautiful and bright statement that Paul just releases in the room. But straight after that from verses chapter 1 verse 18 up to chapter 3 verse 20, the book of Romans descends into a dark pit where Paul begins to give the bad news to all mankind to both Jew and gentle that you are in sin and stand condemned. So the gospel then answers two questions. The first one is what is man's greatest need and what is man's greatest problem? What is man's greatest need? For us in Africa, we think our greatest need is money. If I just had more money, if I just won the Lotto, if I just married an ANC person, if I just got money, my life would be sorted out. But man's greatest need is not material things because so many rich people who still commit suicide, who are on drugs, who are alcoholics, who are in therapy and depressed with billions, depressed. How can you be depressed with billions? Let's go to the bank with throw a million, put it in your bed and sleep. How can you be depressed? But the reason why they are depressed is because man's greatest need is to be reconciled with God because after the fall, we all sense in our hearts that someone is missing in our lives. We all feel a sense of exile. We've all got a perpetual homesickness because through the sin of Adam, we are separated from God. But man in his sin suppresses the truth of his need for God. So this leads to the second point. The holiness of God then cannot tolerate the sin of man. So the problem that the gospel is looking to solve is how sinful man can be reconciled with the Holy God. That's the equation we're dealing with in the gospel. And it's the classic mistake then of modern Christianity is our starting point of the gospel many times, usually the love of God. We always start with the love of God or the grace of God. But in Romans and even in Ephesians, Paul begins his gospel presentation with the wrath of God. He doesn't come and say, God loves you and wants to make you rich. No, he comes and says, God is mad at you and wants to kill you. Oh, my goodness. In fact, most iconic preachers in church history taught that before you preach grace, present the law. It is Persian who said the law is the needle that prepares the way for the threat of the gospel. The sharp prick of the law makes way for the healing grace of the gospel. Jonathan Edwards said, the law serves as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It is necessary first to see and feel the burden of sin before we can receive the comfort of grace. And Banyan makes it even more clear why we should start by presenting the law than grace. He says, the law discovers the disease. And the gospel provides the remedy. You can say you are healed without telling them what is the sickness first. The gospel is the cure. Sin is the disease. The grace of God is the cure. Sin is the disease. And we have to reveal what the problem is. Because if you can't see the problem, you won't see the need of the gospel. Ah, yes. I feel the Holy Ghost pushing me already. So men in our fallen condition loves to deny the seriousness of sin. And in our pride, we love to deny the correctness of God's sovereign right to deal with human sin with his wrath. We don't go to judge our sins. That's why we can say my body, my choice. You are not God, my dear. You're not sovereign. You can't decide to kill that child. You didn't design life. In 118, Paul begins his presentation of the gospel by saying, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And it's the wrath of God that Paul begins to reveal against both Jew and Gentile up until Romans 3.21, where he says what we've just read, but now. So 3.21 is the turning point in Paul's argument. He's established the sickness of all mankind before God. And he's revealed how hopeless their situation is against the wrath of God. So until this moment in the book, when we get to 3.21, but now the case is closed. Man has been found guilty and deserves the wrath of God. So with this bound, but now statement, Paul shifts the letter from a story of wrath of God to the grace of God. It moves from the condemnation of man to the salvation of man. It shifts from bad news to good news. So the historical shift now, as a historical shift, but now it's Paul taking the original audience through a revelatory portal back in time to the cross. And he's indicating that something significant has happened, which has changed human history forever. What has happened? What has happened on the cross? What has happened in the past is that on that wicked tree, Jesus has changed history forever once and for all. One sacrificial act has changed history forever. Oh, my goodness. So what Paul is saying, so what I'm presenting right now in this letter is not good advice, because the gospel is not good advice, something you must do. But now here means I'm presenting good news, something that God has done. I'm reporting good news, something that God has done for you, something that God has accomplished through Jesus Christ on that painful blood-stained tree of misery. Redemption has been accomplished already once and for all redemption has been accomplished. So the part now here to the original audience is Paul saying, I have told you, I'm telling you what Christ has already done for you. And right now, all this wrath I've been telling you about, something has been done to create a way for you to escape. Made a way by Travis Green changes when you think of the cross, that he made a way for us to escape his wrath, when our backs were against the wall by our sin, and it seemed as if it was over, he moved mountains, he caused walls of sin to fall with the power of his blood. He performed a redemptive miracle that has made a way for you and I, and we have now been set free. The penalty shift then of but now is the declaration of not guilty pronounced over us by God. It what is known as the doctrine of justification. It's a justification. But through Jesus Christ here, being sacrificed on this tree, something has changed. We have moved from being condemned to being saved and set free. The innocent Christ was condemned in my place and now that he has been condemned in my place, I can declare but now there is no condemnation against me. Because he took the penalty of my sin in my place. So whenever the enemy reminds me of my past and I begin to wallow in guilt, I can turn to Romans 3.21 and declare but now. Woo. But by soul can find rest in this verse. Because this verse means but now I have been justified. When he's reminding you of your failures, you tell him but now righteousness has been revealed. But now I have been justified. I used to be that but now that was true of what I used to be. But now I am reborn. I am justified. I'm no longer under the penalty of sin. There's a penalty shift. I'm no longer under the penalty of sin. And then there's also a power shift. But now as a power shift relates to sanctification. Because our God through Jesus Christ not only justifies you but he sanctifies you. But by now here now, oh, I feel God pushing me, becomes a declaration of war against sin. Simply because many times when we get saved, we tend to have sin. We tend to tolerate. We have certain sins in our lives. We feel we could never overcome. And we decide to say, OK, I keep falling for this sin. So this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to make a sin fire with this sin and say we're going to coexist. You can stay in my life. I will never overcome you. We can have a peaceful coexistence. Because every believer has sins that they struggle with. And unfortunately, many of us come to the point where we conclude I can never break free and live a holy life. So we decide to live in compromise. Because we believe we can never come out of it. And we say, I'm going to commit this sin till I die. I'm bound for life. But in sanctification, it's a declaration of war. Sanctification is a holy rebellion against sin. It's the refusal to remain under the yoke of any sin. You say, but now righteousness has been revealed. You are declaring to the sin that we are at war until I get to heaven. I will be set free because whom the sun is set free is free indeed. And I will fight and kill the remaining sin in my life. I am at war with my sin. I refuse to be comfortable with sin. I refuse to be at peace. I refuse to allow sin to be at peace in my life. I will trouble it with prayer. I will trouble it with fasting. I will trouble it with the word. I will trouble it with the grace of the Holy Ghost. And say, but now righteousness has been revealed. When that temptation comes, I'll tell it, but now. With righteousness has been revealed. I have been set free. I have been set free. And then there's also a presence shift. But now, as a presence shift, is a prophetic declaration. Whereas a believer, you must look forward to the day where sin shall be fully and truly removed from your entire being, where you are glorified in the new creation. What Jesus has accomplished for us on that lonely hill of divine abandonment and despair has future implications. These future implications are at work in our hearts even right now. Eternal life for the believer doesn't begin after the die. It begins after regeneration. The moment you are justified, the spirit of the Lord begins to live within you. You have eternal life right now. So what that means is through Christ, death is not something a Christian must ever fear. Death is something a Christian must look forward to and say, the worst day of my life through Christ is the best day of my life. Through Christ, the death has lost its sting. It's only the unsaved who must be afraid of death. I'm not afraid to die. To die is gain because I will be reunited with my Savior. He defeated death on that cruel tree, I refuse to be afraid of death. All death ways your sting, all hate these ways your victory. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not afraid to die because we know that the promise of the gospel is life ever more in a new creation. I'm not afraid because I'm trusting in God and the day that I die will be the right day. I will come in heaven and say this was the perfect moment, Lord, just before the David orders. Thank you, Father. Amen. Give God praise right there. And after, but now in the text, if you look at your text again, then how comes a powerful statement. The righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets. So there are two things in view in this text. First, the righteousness of God in the verse refers to the forensic righteousness of God that God gives us through the gospel. The phrase righteousness of God should be viewed as righteousness from God. Righteousness of God should be viewed as righteousness from God. It is the righteousness of God from God given to us. And Paul tells us that it's apart from the law. In other words, it's not generated by your law keeping. It's not generated by the goodness within you. It's not generated by the law of attraction. It's not generated by you giving a seed. It's not generated by anything you do. Babinik said the righteousness of Christ is alien because it originates outside of us. It doesn't come from us. It comes to us. It is generated outside of us by God. How does he do this? Paul shall explain to us in verses 24 to 26. But for now, he's masterfully drawing us into the beauty of the gospel. Before showing us how that righteousness is accomplished, all we know right now that it is not from law keeping, but it is from God. Then he closes by saying, the righteousness from God has been witnessed by the law and the prophets. And this is a euphemism for the entire Old Testament. Paul is letting us know as more than day Christians that the Old Testament is not a collection of business principles. The Old Testament is witnessing the righteousness of God. Paul is letting us know that the gospel is not a freak out liar event that is out of step with the Old Testament, he's telling us that the entire Old Testament has been preaching the gospel. Oh my goodness, the entire Old Testament from Noah and the ark, Christ is the ark. From Abraham leaving the land of his father, it's Jesus leaving the glories of heaven to come to earth. From Jacob dreaming of the ladder, the ladder between heaven and earth is Christ Jesus. God who is at top has put the ladder of Christ to bring us up into where we need to be. Even Joseph's entire story is not about your dream and dream big. Joseph's story is a story about Christ. The whole Old Testament points to Jesus, that's why Jesus said on the road to a Myers in Luke 24. He said, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded them in all scriptures and said everything in the Old Testament is speaking about me. Isaiah said, four unto us a child is given, a son is given, a child is born. He told us in Isaiah 53 with tremendous detail about what Christ would suffer. He said he was wounded for our transgression. The chastisement of our peace was placed upon him. Even David in Psalm 22 describes the horror of Christ when he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The entire Old Testament is pointing to Jesus. Why is Jesus not present in the modern day pulpit? Why are we talking about everything apart from Jesus? We have twisted our doctrines to make them man-centered and not Christ-centered. So we are abusing the Bible because of our fallen condition. We esteem money more than God. So we've turned church into life coaching. You see pastors with the title, life coach motivation, don't put that title near me. I'm a preacher of the gospel, period. Oh, I feel God here. So what this text means is that Jesus is not just the word to become flesh. He is the righteousness of God to become flesh. In him, the righteousness of God that the Old Testament is preaching to is revealed and made accessible to us by faith. In his active obedience to the law, he fulfilled every requirement of the law. And in his passive obedience on that wicked tree of torture, he provided for us what we could never achieve on our own. The gospel is not just clever, motivational, dead-talk words. The gospel is a person. The gospel is Jesus Christ, who is the righteousness of God incarnate. He is the righteousness of God become flesh. But now the righteousness has been manifested, Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God become flesh. So then let's move on. The righteousness of God received, that's in verses 22, verse 3. So now that we know that there is an alien righteousness that God has made available to us through Christ, the question becomes how is that righteousness received? It verse 21, Paul is telling us that the righteousness has been revealed. But in 22 now, we're going to see how it is applied. It's revealed, but now it's applied. We're going to see God's grace here on a level that's going to blow our minds. Paul says, "Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and all who believe." So we clearly see here that the righteousness is received through faith. Oh, it's important that you catch this, that the righteousness of God is received. Oh my God, say it is received through faith. It is not earned through faith, because faith is not a meritorious act on your part as a believer. Faith in itself is a gift from God. It's not the work of man. So your heart this morning must exploit with joy and peace in this truth that God in His infinite grace not only provides the righteousness we need for salvation in the person and the work of Jesus, but He also provides the means by which we receive the salvation. It is through faith which He gives us. You receive the faith. Oh, you've got to catch this. He gives you Christ and the faith. God's generosity is so staggering that He doesn't leave any part of your redemption to chance. He doesn't leave it to the chance of your fallen human effort. From the time He provides Jesus the perfect sacrifice and the righteousness, He also provides the faith to receive it. Sin has wages. You earn the wages of sin is death, but the gift of righteousness, oh my goodness. So we don't earn salvation. The Christian life is about receiving and receiving and receiving. Sin is about earning. Sin is about these things like karma and all these weird stuff, but grace is just about constant receiving. You don't strengthen your faith. You receive your faith. You receive it. He gives you the faith to receive it because every part of your salvation from start to finish is received, not earned. So what we do is when we get saved, we say it's now my job to make sure I get to heaven. I must make sure I am the best Christian to make sure I get to heaven. The job is to trust Him, to complete what He started because He who began a good work, oh you got to catch this, He who began a good work is faithful to complete it. You cannot get to heaven if you try that. He gets you to heaven through His grace. So right here we clearly see that we are saved by faith alone, sola fide, Christ alone, solas, Christas, and this addresses the question from verse 21 of the righteousness of God being apart from the law, we're not saved by the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. And this is a critical point, we're not saved by the strength or the quality of our faith. We're saved by the strength and the quality of the object of our faith. You can't say my faith is better than yours, because God knows that when we get to heaven they will be bossed as we say, "Ha, I believed so hard, that's why I'm here." No man in heaven can boast because no one in heaven deserves to be there. Everyone in hell deserves to be there, no one in heaven deserves to be there. David shall not say, "Hi, it's me, the one who had the heart after God's own heart." You say, "I don't deserve my story, I don't deserve to be here." You saw me with Bachiba at the club, "I don't deserve to be here." And here's the man I ordered to be killed, also saying, "David, I also don't deserve to be here." Even though you sinned against me, I too am here by grace, because everyone in heaven will move in humility, no one will be boasting in heaven, like how we boast here on earth. In the earth today we boast about everything, "I've got 50,000 members, I've got 20 campuses, I've got 11 BMWs, I've got all kinds of suits and..." That's not the gospel, there's no boasting in the gospel. You come like Paul and say, "I am the chief of sinners, I don't even deserve to preach to you today, but God by His grace is allowing me to be up here right now preaching to you." Because the gospel is not just about intellectual assent, it's about a transformative relationship in Christ. We are not saved by simply knowing the facts of the gospel, or agreeing to the facts, salvation is not just believing in what Jesus did, it's about trusting Him personally, it's about resting in His finished work and trusting Him as a person, it's about committing to Jesus fully and living a life-giving relationship with Jesus that is shaped by obedience. This culture of just wanting God for blessings but no obedience is from the pit of hell. We love it for celebrities, come, continue in your sin, just say you're a Christian, no, you have to tell them from today, you're saying goodbye to the world, all the things are passed away, a life of obedience and holiness begins now. It's also a life of gratitude, we are constantly grateful. A lot of our mental health issues in our generation is lack of gratitude, who are more thankful to God, will there be more peace in our hearts, and finally it's a life of love. Because true faith in Jesus goes beyond the mind, it captures the hearts where you begin to love Him deeply and intensely, and you begin to live for His glory. Then in verse 23 Paul now shows us why we need the righteousness of God that we receive through faith in Jesus Christ, it's because all have sinned and foreshored of the glory of God. Paul here again reminds us of original sin and the total depravity of man that we are all guilty of sin and incapable of developing any satisfactory righteousness of our own. Our righteousness cannot meet the standards of the infinite value of the glory of God. Our problem is not the decree of sin. Some of us are not less guilty than others or more holier than others. Paul wants us to know that no matter how hard we try or how holy we feel, on our own, our efforts are never good enough. MacArthur describes it like trying to jump across a gorge that is so deep and so wide that even if you were the best long jumper who could jump the furthest you're still going to fall. Our human effort can't get us to the other side because the gap between us and God is called infinity. There's no spaceship by Elon Musk which can get you there, which can get you there. So a ridiculous man today on CNN, he's life hacking himself to stay young and they asked him, do you think you're going to die? Look at the technology and the AI we have, we're not going to die. He has not read the romance. All have sinned. You can try whatever chemicals, whatever computers you're going to fall short and die. So this first must be understood from two fronts. Firstly, the impact of sin means all men fall short of the glory of God which he intended for us. Not initially intended for us not to die, but sin came in. Sin is the cause of death. Sin is the cause of death and no AI can solve sin. No AI can solve sin, no computer can solve sin. As long as they sin, they're going to be dead. Death in itself is man falling short of the glory of God because eternal life is part of God's glory and death is the sign. Every time men die, it's another person falling short of the glory, no matter how gifted you are, no matter how beautiful you are, no matter how rich you are, you will leave those billions for us and we will eat them in church as we bury you and we'll buy your mansion and convert it to an orphanage because all men fall short of the glory. Secondly, falling short of glory shows us the impact of sin on our hearts because sinning is not just breaking rules, it's not just breaking rules, it's an act of rebellion against God himself. It's a refusal by man to live for the glory of God. So falling short of the glory is our hearts refusal to live for the glory of God. So every time we see it's our self-centeredness saying I refuse to glorify God with my life. I choose to pursue sin in Johannesburg. I'm refusing every time we see it, we're falling short of the glory of God. We are refusing the rule of God over our lives and let's get to the close of this thing, part three, how the righteousness of God is accomplished in verses 20, 40, 26. So in verse 21, it seemed as if we were finally out of the woods, we were excited. It was a new dawn, we're excited that Lord Shading is over in this book. But in verse 23, He comes with more Lord Shading. He tells us bad news again that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory, we're like Paul. From what now, wouldn't we done with this bad news, that in verse 3 He hoised it again. And this time, but thank God that this time He doesn't take us through two chapters of pain again. In verse 24, He immediately turns on the lights. He immediately brings in the morphine to ease our pain when He says, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Preachers, they so much meet just in this verse. They are three huge non-negotiable draw doctrines that every preacher of the gospel must obsess about, justification, grace and redemption. That is the legal declaration of God over the believer who is guilty in sin, that He is righteous, not based on His work, but based on the imputed righteousness, imputed righteousness in offering, imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. So in justification, God declares the sin and righteous, not guilty in advance before judgment day. And justification is the believer's judgment day, that's where He tells you, you are saved and you are quitted of all sin past, present and future, you are declared righteous in the sight of God through Jesus Christ. And Westminster puts it this way, justification is an act of God's free grace where He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. The second doctrine is grace, Paul tells us that justification is freely given by grace, which means two things, justification, the justification we receive is undeserved and unearned. Not only that, even after we save, there is nothing we can do to deserve our salvation. There's nothing we can do to earn it, because we always like to remind all the good things we've done, I used to show up at church, I used to play the drums, I was the one who used to clean, I was the one who used to record the preacher, Lord, at heaven, remember me. You're wasting your time. Because grace says to you, you don't deserve it and you can't earn it. Grace is a slap in the face of man because of our self-righteousness, with every one of us deep down in our heart, we feel that we are naturally good people and we are worthy to be saved because of our goodness. But grace says you are not as good as you think you are. You are more wicked than you think you are. You are more prone to evil and temptation and failure than you think you are. You need God's grace more than everybody to be saved. Grace is God giving you what you don't deserve, why? Because Jesus on the cross took what we deserve. So when we see the cross, when you're watching the Passion of the Christ, you must put your face there and say, Jesus is going through what I deserve. A lot of people say the Jews killed Jesus, no, we killed Jesus. It was our sin that put him there. You, me, Judas, Pilate, we were all involved in putting Jesus on that tree. Secondly, Grace says you can't earn salvation. It says to man, we are so depraved and so sinful that even our best efforts at morality and striving are insufficient. Grace shows us the futility of trying to save ourselves because the standard is infinite perfection and no human being can be infinitely perfect. The failures of men of God, when we see scandals, it's God just showing us that there's only one Jesus. When you hear this man of God has done this and that, it's just a reminder, there's only one Christ. There's no man of God, no matter what they say, with this nonsense received from my grace. You don't need the grace of any man of God. You've got the grace of God. Why do you want the grace of a fallen man? Are you normal? Are you okay upstairs? You want the grace of a fallen man while he has given you his grace freely. You don't need any man's grace right now. You have the grace of God which has every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Grace invites us to stop striving and it tells us to receive salvation as a free gift. It is not something we achieve. It is something we are receiving completely undeserved and unend, but it's fully given by Jesus Christ. Then comes redemption because redemption is huge. It speaks of paying a price to redeem someone with a ransom payment and that this note I want you to understand that when Jesus was on the cross, the ransom was not paid to the devil. The transaction of salvation was between God the father and God the son. Jesus did not take his blood to hell and they stated, "Please, receive this blood." No, no, no, no. He took it into the holy of holies in heaven and presented it to the father because man didn't sin against the devil. We sinned against God. So the price was paid to God because salvation is from God between God for us. And in the Old Testament, the redemption image is of the kinsman Redeemer, which we see in a neat love story between Ruth and Boaz, but we see it again in a messy love story between the prophet Ozea and Coma. And the redemption of Ruth can seem earned because she was loyal to Naomi and it can make us feel like I need to find my Naomi to get saved. But Coma is the real picture of us because her redemption is not earned nor deserved. She was a prostitute who got married to a prophet and in marriage she committed a adultery, gave birth to children out of warlock. Not only that she runs away to get back into prostitution and in a prostitution she becomes a slave and Coma goes and Ozea goes looking for her and pays the ransom to Redeemer. We are more like Coma than Ruth. At the latest conference in you to preach, you are more like Coma than Ruth because we are needy. All of us are fallen and we need redemption. His prostitute wife was delivered through the grace of God. She did not deserve it. She deserved to be a slave. You did not deserve to be saved so don't feel better than the sinners in the job work. You deserved to be there. But it's by grace. You are not here because you are smarter than them. You are not here because you are holier than them. You are not here because you made a wiser decision. You are here by God's grace. You didn't choose to be born in a house with a mother called Mary who was speaking in tongues and got your name and called you Israel. You could have been born in another house with someone called Katija or Abdul and you would be in Gaza with Hamas right now, Amen. This messy love story is the perfect picture of how God redeemed us. Like Coma we are always unfaithful, we are undeserving creatures, we are constantly going astray, we are constantly moody, we get jealous, we get envious, we get covetous, we get offended, we get trail-less, we get tempted, we get greedy. But God in his grace has paid the ultimate price through Jesus Christ to redeem us. Not because of our worthiness but because of his grace to demonstrate his righteousness. So Paul in verse 24 lets us know that our redemption is in Jesus Christ and in 25 he brings to light how God paid the price to redeem us from slavery when he says whom God has set forth as a propitiation by his blood. So there are two massive truths we must consider here, first whom God, say whom God. Many times when we think of the gospel and it's fine we focus on Christ alone and what he has done to pay for our sins on the cross. But we also have to pay attention to the trinitarian nature of the gospel. When we look at the cross we must not only think of how Jesus suffered on the cross, must also remember how the father suffered by putting his son there. Paul tells us from the start of this book in verse 1, he says Paul upon servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God. He's talking about God the Father. He wants us to know that it's actually the gospel of God the Father. And that God the Father within the confines of the Trinity before creation began came up with the plan of redemption which was willingly accepted by the son and accomplished by the son in this text by now he's telling us that he not only willingly accepted it he's accomplished it and now the Holy Spirit is applying it. But Paul here really shines the light on the Father. We begin to see here he's showing us how the father is involved in salvation. In that God is the true and better Abraham who took his beloved son up Mount Moriah. When Abraham went up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac there was a substitute for his son. There was a ram tied up in the thicket. But when God took Jesus up that cruel heel of Golgotha. When God tied up his son's hand and feet with the cruel nails from the Romans. When he tied up his son and looked up on Golgotha he saw two rams tied up next to his son. He found one ram on his right which was tied up it was a robber but this ram was mocking his son. He represents the license of sin which has no power to be a substitute for his son. On the other side of his son he saw another ram tied up. But this ram couldn't save his son because it was begging the son to save him. This ram represents legalism which has no power to be a substitute to save his son. So when the father got up that wicked heel of Golgotha with his son the two rams tied to his son did not meet the Levitical standards of sacrifice. They were not spotless they had blemishes and defects that they inherited from their father Adam who fell because when he fell we inherited sickness of sin. So when God raised up the knife to kill his son he looked at the other ram that it was a blind ram which couldn't see who Jesus was so it mocked Jesus until it died. But the other ram with many blemishes and defects that represents you and I could see that this is the son of God by the grace of God. The true ram crucified between Jesus had no power to be a substitute and God remembered that Abraham had a substitute but I don't have a substitute. So when God raises up his knife he remembers his son asking him the day before if it is possible let this cup pass me by. But as God raises up the knife of his wrath there is no body there to be a substitute. So God sets forth Jesus as a propitiation by his blood and this blood that he brings satisfies the wrath of God. So when we think of the cross many times we just think of expiation the removal of sin but we forget propitiation that Jesus suffered in your place. He went through hell in your place. He experienced the full nuclear blast of the wrath of God which every human being deserved. There was no substitute for the Father. His visage was marred by the beatings of the Romans and by the sin he became a curse on that tree. It was so bad that an eclipse took place because it was dark. Nobody could see or figure out what Jesus went through. We think of the cross as something romantic but it is something tragic. This text answers the question which a rose after Adam fell when it says to demonstrate his righteousness. These forbearance God passed over the sins that we previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just oh my goodness. The justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. It is here at the cross that we see the tension of the form. The tension between God's holiness and God's righteousness. The tension between God's wrath and God's love is revealed at the cross. God's holiness means he's infinitely pure. He is set apart and incapable of tolerating sin in his presence. So his righteousness demands that he exjustly that he doesn't allow injustice to get away. There are some wicked people in Johannesburg making money through corruption. They look like they are succeeding but there is a day every man, every president, every minister, every MEC is going to face the righteous judge. You might have prospered on earth but you've got a day with a judge whose eyes see everything. You got away with it in Johannesburg but you're not getting away with it in eternity. The righteousness of God demands that he exjustly and punishes sin as it deserves. Say he is righteous. That God's love desires that he redeems and reconciles sinners. His love drives him to show fallen man mercy and grace. And this is the tension of the gospel resolving the love of God and the justice of God. How can a holy and righteous God remain just while or while extending love to sinful sinners who don't deserve rebellious sinners who never show up when it's time to pray. Who get prayless, who never give, who never sacrifice, who never do the right things. Romans 5, 30, 25 to 26 is telling us here that it's at the cross that Jesus became the propitiation, Jesus became our mercy seat that he absorbed the full blast of God's wrath against seed. He took it all until it was fully spent. Then in so doing he's now provided expiation from us. He's removing the guilt, there's no guilt on your life. That's why you can't walk in shame. Because his grace he poured his wrath on Christ until it was completed. Now he's pouring his grace on your life and now you are justified. That's how he's bought the just and the justifier. It's at the cross where God's justice and life collided and became one in Christ. It's at the cross where the foot which was promised. In Genesis 3.15 of the seed of the woman the foot showed up on the cross. It crushed the head of the serpent and he was wounded and bruised. It's at the cross where the death of our sin which we could never pay was paid for in full. So when he declared it is finished it means that there's no death that you owe. In the modern church they'll tell you that you still owe your father's death. You still owe your grandfather's death. But in Christ every generational curse is broken. Ah, let Louis of the curse is broken over your life you are not cursed. You are blessed. Devil get out of my way. There's no curse over my life. There's no curse over my family. Get out of town. The blood of Jesus has broken it. It's broken over you. It's broken over your family. It's broken over this church every curse is broken. It's at the cross where the blood of Jesus humbles us because sin required nothing less than the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Our sin was so wicked but now it's at the cross where sin abounded but grace overwhelmed it. You have not been disqualified. I don't care what you did last year. This week last night you're under the blood of Jesus. I don't care if you backslid or what backsliding is a sanctification issue. It's not a justification issue. The Holy Spirit will pull you back. You never enjoyed that sin the way you used to. Yes, Devil get out of my way. I'm justified. I'm sanctified and I'm going to be glorified. Can somebody give the blood a praise? Let's stand. It's at the cross where we say blessed assurance. You have an assurance of salvation. It's at the cross where you say God by His grace has forgiven me. It's not by my works. It's not by my effort. It's by the finished work of Jesus. It's at the cross where you say He who began a good work in me is faithful to complete it. It's at the cross where you can say that ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil in Johannesburg because his rod and his stuff they comfort me surely goodness and messier shall follow me all the days of my life it's at the cross where you can declare that oh my God all things are working together for good for those who are in Christ. It's at the cross where you can say the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof the world and day that dwell there in for he has founded it upon the sea and established it upon the flood it is at the cross where you can declare that I have been set free it is at the cross where you can declare he has come to give me life and life more abundantly I release abundant life in your life I feel like preaching it here that it's at the cross where every heavenly blessing is on your life you are blessed already you are blessed before you came here you shall be blessed when you live you shall be blessed in the city that devil is a liar you are blessed give the Lord a praise hallelujah oh we thank you father that righteousness has been revealed outside of us not by works but by grace but thank you father that we are not here to earn anything we receive by faith the one whose faith is small the object is big the object of our faith is Christ so we are not afraid to be what you've called us to be we are not afraid to be fruitful we're not afraid to multiply we're not afraid to work in our jobs we're not afraid to look for jobs we're not afraid to build businesses we're not afraid to build successful ministries we're not afraid to trust you Lord for revival we're not afraid to trust you Lord for resources we're not afraid father to feed the poor we're not afraid father to fulfill our potential we're not afraid father to use every talent you've given us we thank you heavenly father that we are going to live for you that you suffered on the cross when your son died there was no substitute for you he was our substitute and we thank you father that we will honor you by using our lives and our gifts for your glory we will not be excuse makers we will be co-getters every opportunity you give us we shall maximize we refuse father poverty we will fight poverty till we die we thank you father that we will be productive that we will live lives of honor and that heavenly father we will preach the gospel without compromising and the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen [Applause]
