Romans Chapter 3:21-24

The law points out our weaknesses and our need for a savior. See, when you honestly go through the 10 commandments, when you honestly look at passages that say we're supposed to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, we're supposed to love our neighbor as ourself, if you're honest, friend, you go, you know what? I haven't done that.

I'm not doing it now and probably not going to do it in the future. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. While we all have done many things wrong, some of us may be more than others. The reality is that we all need grace. Today, Pastor David encourages us to look towards Christ as he continues in the Book of Romans chapter three with his teaching, The Great Equalizer.

Let's go now to David McGee. So Romans chapter three, an incredible book, a lot of deep theology and at the same time, a really basic spiritual truth. So it's kind of neat in the sense that, uh, you know, if you just came to the Lord or you're checking out the claims of Jesus, you can get a lot out of it. And you've, if you've been walking with the Lord for 30, 40 years, you can get a lot out of it.

So something in here for everybody. Last week, we finished up with verse 21, but we're going to reread that verse into 22. So Romans chapter three, verse 21 reads, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Verse 22, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and own all who believe for there is no difference. So we've already spoken about, uh, verse 21 that, uh, this righteousness outside of the law is the righteousness of God that can be given to us through Jesus Christ, through our faith in him. So we're not going to spend a lot of time again on verse 21.

If you want some additional information, go to the website, you can get the podcast, listen online, but looking at verse 22, and this is, this is quite the statement in that for there is no difference. And we like to think about our differences as individuals. And, and certainly when you think about individuals, there's a lot of difference. Some people are short. Some people are tall. Some people are big.

Some people are small. Um, you know, some people are wealthy. Some people are not. Some people are incredibly intelligent and some people are less intelligent. And so there's a lot of individual differences in people, but there's also a lot of similarities.

Every person that you'll ever meet, every person that's walked the face of this planet needs the savior needs forgiveness. And so this verse makes the bold statement that there's no difference. Now, Paul is making this discussion and, and comparing, uh, the, the two people groups of the world at that point, Jewish and non-Jewish or Gentile and Gentile, literally meaning idol worshipers, but kind of a loose definition being non-Jewish people. And he's saying, you know what?

There is no difference. So the gospel really is, it really is the great equalizer. The great equalizer is not the cult revolver.

It's not the atom bomb. It's it's the cross. It's the cross because all people, you know, rich, poor, smart, not so smart, you know, however old you are, whatever skin color you are, you all, every person, whether you go to church, whether you don't go to church, whether you've never been to church or go there all the time, every person stands in need of God's forgiveness, stands in need for God's forgiveness. And so, you know, when you look at it like this, it's really hard to have spiritual pride. And yet, of course, we've been talking about it as we've been in the book of Romans, that we do develop spiritual pride. Seems like over time, Christians and churches and pastors as well develop spiritual pride about grace and forgiveness that they've been given. So may the Lord forgive us for having spiritual pride for there is no difference.

For there is no difference. In other words, if you've done a few things wrong and been forgiven, you stand righteous. If you've done a lot of things wrong and you've been forgiven, you stand as righteous. So it's an amazing thing. And there is no difference if you will, of our desperation for the Lord.

Here's the first life lesson here. Under the law, God requires righteousness from man. Under grace, he gives righteousness to man from Jesus.

I'll read that again. Under the law, God requires righteousness from man. Under grace, he gives righteousness to man from Jesus. So there we have the kind of the two systems, if you will, the under the law and under the grace. So under the law, God is requirement as a righteous one.

Of course, none of us can meet that. So under grace, he is offering us this righteousness through Jesus Christ. And let's understand this, this aspect of grace. And we're going to be talking about a grace today, but it's interesting, you know, the, the disciples came to Jesus one time and they, and they were trying to figure out what they had to do, what their requirements were, what the, what their limitations were. And so they came to Jesus in John chapter six, verse 28. And they said, then they said to him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? And Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent.

So they're asking, Hey Lord, what do we have to do? And Jesus says, here's what you have to do. You have to believe.

Now that's not to say that you just believe and that's it. You never need to do anything else. You never need to read your Bible. Never need to pray.

You never need to love God, love people. No, there's things that begin to change in your life. But until the big change happens, no change can really happen. What I mean by that is until you come to the Lord and ask him to forgive you of your sins, the big changes aren't really going to occur. You may try, may try very hard. You may be very sincere, but until you come to the Lord and say, Lord, forgive me of my sins and give me the power to live for you.

You can't really have lasting change in your life. So we need to understand that it all starts right there. That's the way I started my Christian walk, coming to Jesus, asking him to forgive me of my sins and really, really friend. That's the way my Christian life continues and come to the Lord and asking him repeatedly to forgive me of my sins. And God is doing that deeper work in me. He is causing me to want to do the things that, uh, the Bible talks about, but there is no difference.

What an incredible, incredible statement. Romans chapter three, verse 23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God for all have sinned. Now, you know what all means in the Greek?

No, it means you actually. Seriously though, it means you, you have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. See, we don't necessarily have trouble applying this verse to other people. You know, we translate it kind of well, others have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but no make it personal for I have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Sin literally in the Greek hermitia or hermitano is missing the mark. In other words, it's anywhere outside of the dead center bullseye. And so we all, by definition, we, we all miss the mark. Now, some may get closer than the others, but it's still, it's off of perfection. It's it's like, you know, it's like trying to jump the Grand Canyon, if you will.

Okay. You know, if we've got people on one side, if somehow we could talk people into trying this contest and we had people lined up on the edge of the Grand Canyon and say, okay, we're going to try to jump to the other side. There's some people that would just jump a little bit and straight down. Now there's some people that would get out a few feet and some may even get many feet out, but everybody is going to fall short of jumping that Grand Canyon. So when it comes to the righteousness of God, some may get a little closer than others, but we all fall short. None of us are able to say, Oh, you know, jump it and make it.

That's just not going to happen. Some people may be more moral. Some people may be more kind. It doesn't matter because we all fall short. The sin in the Hebrew is a word. Um, so in the Greek, again, it's hermitia and there's the concept of missing the markets. It's anything outside of perfection, perfection.

It's not winning the prize as well as another kind of word picture. The Bible says this about sin. First John chapter three, verse four says, those who sin are opposed to the law of God for all sin opposes the law of God. So that's the definition that anything that opposes the law goes against what God has said is right, correct, holy, righteous. That is sin.

Anything outside of there is incorrect. It is sin. But now those that's talking about the sins of commission.

And we talked about this a lot here. A lot of churches focus on the sins of commission and is important. Those sins that you would commit, you know, uh, uh, lying, stealing, killing the adultery, et cetera, et cetera. Those are sins you commit and those are sins. And as you follow Jesus, those should begin to drop by the wayside. But there's also the sin of omission or omitting or not doing certain things.

And James talks about that. James chapter four, verse 17 says, therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him, it is sin. So there we have not only when you do something wrong that it's sin, but also if you fail to do something right, it is sin. And we need to understand both aspects. There are times when we do stuff wrong and, and, and there are times when we fail to do what's right.

And so both of those things are sin. Now I cannot imagine anybody listening thinking, well, I have done everything right in my life. Or maybe as of late, maybe you think, well, you know, this week, this month, I have not sent.

I cannot imagine somebody actually believe in that, but let's say that's true. Are you willing to say that over the past day, past week, past month, that not only in not doing things wrong, but you've also done everything right. In other words, every person that you were supposed to witness to you witnessed to every person you were supposed to love, you loved every person that you were supposed to invite to church, you invited to church.

See that's when it gets a little more difficult, doesn't it? Now first John chapter one, verse 10 says, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him capital H, Jesus, a liar. And his word is not in us. If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So anytime anybody says, Hey, I don't sin anymore, or I haven't sinned or something like that. What they're saying is they're saying that Jesus is a liar and his word has, has no place in their life because the word says that we do mess up. There's a beautiful picture in a Hebrews chapter 12 verse one says, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin, which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance.

The race that is set before us looking on the Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and it sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. What an awesome picture when it comes to sin and see why we look at this verse, we've all sinned. So does that mean, Hey, we've all messed up. Let's just keep messing up. Well, no Paul is presenting this argument here and in some other places.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We don't look at it like that because Jesus came to save us from our sins and the fullness of that is not only to forgive us of our sins, but to set us free from ourselves so that the selfishness, the materialism, all these things that used to have us bound up and still try to bound, bind us up. We can be set free from those things. Friend, get this picture in your head.

Think of a hot air balloon being upon the ground being upon the ground and the there's enough force in that hot air balloon to lift it off the ground, but there's sandbags on the side of that balloon that have to be pitched out before the balloon can begin to float upward. Well, think of that as the sins that are holding you back and holding you down. And consider that, that these things, these great weights that would hold you down, that would hold you back need to begin to be cast off.

So great a weight. Now, of course, when we talk about sin, a lot of times what we do is we compare ourselves to people that make us feel good. You know, we compare ourselves to mass murderers or to people who've done really bad things and say, well, at least I haven't done that. Or at least I hadn't done this, or at least I haven't done it as many times as that person.

At least I hadn't killed that many people. You know, we compare ourselves to people that are going to make us feel good. But the Bible here is saying, compare your goodness, your righteousness with the righteousness and goodness of Jesus Christ.

And we don't come out looking so good, at least if we're honest. But again, what Jesus is willing to do is make that exchange we talked about last week. He's willing to make that exchange with us, where we give him our sinfulness and he gives us his righteousness.

We talked about that. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21 says, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So the life lesson here is the law points out our weaknesses and our need for a savior. Thank you for listening to Cross the Bridge with David McGee.

We'll return to David's teaching in just a moment. The tragedy in Benghazi, the bombings in Boston, and the current unrest in Egypt are all vivid accounts of terrorism. Each time an event like this occurs, it often causes us to respond with fear. But it doesn't have to, because God knows your future and you can too. With David McGee's teaching entitled, Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism, you'll come to understand the realities of radical Islam while rejoicing in God's promises for your future.

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To help support Cross the Bridge and receive your CD or DVD copy of Know Your Future, call 877-458-5508 or go online to crossthebridge.com. Friend, do you have a heart for the lost? I invite you to send us the first names of your lost loved ones and we will have hundreds of people praying for them. Just go to crossthebridge.com and click on the prayer button and you'll enter their name. And if you put your name and email address in there, I'll send you free resources to equip you to pray and teach you how to reach your lost loved ones. Please don't wait.

This is so important. So please, again, go to crossthebridge.com and click on the prayer button and send us the first names of lost loved ones. We'll send you some free information and together we can partner to deliver the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world, the whole book for the whole world. And now let's return to Pastor David's verse by verse teaching in the book of Romans. Verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, being justified. Now we talked about being justified a little bit before, but that was a while back, so let's touch base on it again. Justification, it's a theological term, it's also a legal term. It means, you know, being declared innocent, but more than that, it's not just, hey, you got off on a technicality because you weren't read the Miranda rights or there's a legal search and seizure or something like that. It's much more than that. It's you're being declared completely and utterly innocent.

It's an amazing thing. Now we talked a little bit about the phases, if you will, of, of salvation and justification is not a process. It's an act. It's an event because when you come to Jesus, say, Jesus, I'm sorry, please forgive me of my sins.

Please help me to live for you and not live for myself. At that point, you're justified. It's just as if you never did anything wrong. It's not a process.

It's an act. Now, another part of salvation, and we've talked to the other two parts. There's a sanctification and glorification, you know, justification. I was saved. Sanctification. I am being saved.

What does that mean? Sanctification is a process. Sanctification is that daily thing where you begin to, to act more and more like Jesus, to love people more and more like Jesus. That's, that's, that's an act. And sometimes people confuse these two things. Justification happens, is an act, excuse me. Sanctification is a process over time, day by day. So we're immediately declared innocent, but does that mean that all the problems are worked out?

No means we begin really to address the problem. So here we get into the answer, the good news, if you will. And you know, there is no other good news. One of the things that's very interesting as you look at all the other world religions outside of Christianity is they all tell you what you got to do. You got to do this.

You got to do that. But in Christianity, it's what's been done. Jesus Christ died for you so that you can be declared innocent freely by his grace. And what is grace? Grace is unearned and undeserved favor. It's unearned and undeserved favor. So God gives us his grace. We haven't earned it.

He gives it to us. Now again, this justified being justified freely. God didn't charge us to represent us in the courtroom being freely. Now it's free to us.

It was very expensive. Very expensive to Jesus, very expensive to the father, but this is again, the only way to be pardoned. And this is a legal term being justified, meaning you're innocent of all charges.

You're free to go, if you will. It mentions redemption. Let's understand these terms.

We hear them a lot, but you know, a lot of times we speak Christianese and it's hard for people to understand what it is we're talking about. So let's understand these sorts of. Redemption is a very strong word and speaking to the crowd, they would have understood because there was the issue of slavery back in this day and being redeemed mean what that really means is if you went and you purchased somebody who was in bondage, who was in slavery and then set them free, you set them free. You purchased them and instead of saying, Hey, you got to do this, that and the other. You purchased them and say, okay, now you're free. Now, biblically, we're going to look at when that occurs to the Christian, to the follower of Jesus, you say, okay, I've been balled with a price.

I've been purchased. I've been redeemed and I can go free, but now instead of just free to do my own thing, I'm free to serve the person who redeemed me, Jesus Christ. So how are we redeemed?

We're redeemed by his grace through redemption. Is it by faith? It is by faith, but it's my faith in Jesus. It's not just faith and faith. Some people teach that faith has its own unique power and there's some truth in that, but you know, faith is more in the element or the instrument that's delivering. In other words, you can have faith that you're going to get in your car and you're going to be able to drive home, but you know, if your car hasn't been running and not functioning, then your faith is going to be misplaced. Certainly as you put your faith in Jesus, you're putting your faith in something, someone who is very strong. Philippians chapter three, verse nine says this, and being found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness of it just from God by faith. So Paul's dealing with kind of the same themes, if you will, in some of the other epistles and certainly in Philippians saying, Hey, you know what? It's not by the law by our actions, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we're given this, uh, righteousness.

Well, where else can we get this? Well, occasionally, you know, somebody will say, well, I'm a Christian, but I believe that there's many ways to God. And I'm sorry. That's if you are a Christian, that's not something you can believe, proclaim or teach. See, because either you're a Christian, you're saying, well, I'm following Jesus and I believe the Bible. And Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth of life. Nobody comes to father, but by me and John 14, or you say, you know, I'm not a Christian. And I believe that there are many ways to God. So you can't say I'm a Christian and I believe there's many ways to God, because then you're saying that Jesus was a liar. You can't really call yourself a Christian and say that Jesus was a liar. And Acts chapter four, verse 12 says this, nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

No other name, only the name of Jesus. So you and I don't get to redefine this. This has been placed in effect by God. So it's not for us to go, okay, well, I don't like this part. I don't like that part.

No, this is what God says. Okay. Here's the problem. Here's the solution. Well, God, I don't really like that solution. I said, well, it is the solution. It's not a solution.

It's the solution. We've used this analogy before, but imagine going to a doctor and the doctor says, well, I got, I got bad news. I got good news. Well, what's the bad news? The bad news is you're terminally ill. You're going to, you're going to die in 30 days.

That definitely is bad news. What's the good news? Good news is we have a cure. If you take this cure, you're not going to die. Would you look at it and go, gee, you only have one cure. You don't have one way to get better.

It's kind of narrow minded. So you're not going to say that at the point you're going to say, because you realize the problem, you're going to say, wow, I'm so thankful that there is a cure. You look at this disease that's killing more people than cancer or heart disease or any of these things ever have, the disease called sin, and you realize there is a cure. And His name is Jesus. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again.

So congratulations, friend, you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If this was your first time praying that prayer with Pastor David, we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Also, if you've been blessed by Cross the Bridge Ministries, would you consider supporting us with a financial gift? When you call with your gift, make sure to ask them about this month's special offer entitled Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism.

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