Rescued From God's Righteous Wrath Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Paul's reasoning is complex but clear. He proves that all of us are under a just condemnation for sin, but that all who believe in Jesus are rescued from that condemnation and given a robe of righteousness by God himself.

This is the best news anyone's ever heard. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, take us again into Romans chapter 3 as you teach today on being rescued from God's righteous wrath. You know, Dave, my heart breaks for the church today because oftentimes the gospel is preached without any reference to God's wrath. So people listen to God's grace and they're not even sure that they really need it, but it's nice to have it.

We cannot really appreciate God's grace until we understand his wrath, his holy wrath against sinners. That's why I believe so deeply in this series of messages that I trust is used by God and is being used by God to help people to understand the wonder of God's salvation. For a gift of any amount, these messages can be yours. Now, let me tell you that then you can listen to them again and again, share them with your friends. In the process, you can be reading the book of Romans so that you allow its message to sink deeply into your soul.

Thanks in advance for helping us. Now, if you want to connect with us, here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com.

That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And now, let us open God's word, Romans chapter three, and understand God's wrath and the wonder of his grace. Now, notice what the text says. We have our Bibles open. We are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood. This was to show God's righteousness because of his divine forbearance, his divine patience. He passed over former sins. The first purpose of the cross is to vindicate God.

And how does Jesus do it? Notice the word propitiation. You know, today there are people who say, hey, you know, we can't read a Bible with those big words, propitiation.

What does that mean? So modern translations say an atonement, and that is right, but propitiation is really a good word. It means God turning away his wrath. That God, who is very angry about sin, Romans 1, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness.

That God is now saying that my wrath against sin is going to be appeased, and it is going to be appeased by Christ's blood and sacrifice as my anger against sin is borne by the sin bearer. I can imagine somebody sitting there and saying this. You know, sometimes I know exactly what you're thinking.

I'm glad I don't always know what you're thinking. You're saying, oh, it sounds very pagan to me. You know those pagan deities? They needed blood sacrifice in order to be appeased.

People killed animals for them. Sounds as if the God of the Bible is a rather pagan God. My friend today, rather than trying to see any similarity between this God and the pagan gods, rather bathe yourself in the glory of the huge difference, the glory of the difference. First of all, let's remember that it was God himself who initiated the salvation because of his love for us.

Would you remember that? John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God loved the world. And we should not think that Jesus was doing something that he didn't want to do. The whole Trinity was involved in redemption. And so please keep in mind that it is because of God's love that he provided a way by which his anger against sin and his justice would be satisfied, and it is all motivated by love. That's one difference.

But the other difference leaves us breathless. It is this, that Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, actually is the one who provides the sacrifice. That means that God himself does the redemption for us as sinners. He doesn't ask us to bring a sacrifice, doesn't ask us to contribute to what he's doing, but to simply receive it. And so it pleased the Lord to bruise Jesus, and it pleased him to do that.

Why? So that God himself would be totally satisfied with what God himself did in Jesus. Phil Donahue, talk show host of another era, sit on one occasion, something like this, and I'm paraphrasing. You know, if God is in heaven, if he cares about the world, why didn't he come and redeem mankind and send, rather, he sent his son Jesus to do it? The answer is, Phil, in Jesus, God did do it. He did redeem us.

Do you understand what this means now? God can demand an infinite sacrifice, because all of our sins against him are infinite. But God also supplies the sacrifice that he needs. There is no other religion in all the world where God becomes the sole Redeemer of man and his sin. There is none other out there. That's why you've heard me say many times that there's nobody else out there like Jesus.

Don't tell me about the other prophets. Don't tell me about the other gurus that tell you this is the path. Do this. Do this. Do this.

No. What I need is a sacrifice for my sin that a holy Father accepts in such a way that I can be redeemed because it is a gift. And that leads to a third aspect of salvation, and that is grace.

You'll notice I read it a moment ago. It says that we are justified, verse 24, by his grace as a gift, as a gift. And it has to be a gift, because the kind of righteousness that God wants, as I'll point out next time in the next message, is the kind of which you and I have none. If it isn't a gift, we're damned, I'm sorry to say.

It is a gift. And what else is in that text is when it says it is a gift, in Greek, it's the word Doron that is actually used there. Did you know that it's used in the 15th chapter of John where Jesus said, they hated me without a cause?

What it really means is this. God is saying I loved you without a cause, without a cause. Oh, you say I always thought that God loved us because we are so valuable. We are just so valuable. We are valuable in this sense, that our value is conferred onto us by God because of his desire for a relationship with us. But apart from that, we're not very valuable at all, and the Bible would say that we really do deserve hell. I like what Luther said. Luther said, God doesn't love us because we're valuable.

Now think about this. God doesn't love us because we're valuable, but because he loves us, we are now valuable. Our value is derived from God who sent a redeemer to redeem us from our sins.

That's where our value comes. And you know what? He did it without a cause. He looked at you and said, there's no reason for me to do it except that I'm a God of grace, and I'm going to save that sinner. I'm going to save that person who is a slave to pornography or other sexual sins, and sexual sins aren't the only ones. I am going to save that person who is subject to lying, and I'm going to do it all, and all that they need to receive is the divine gift and bring nothing to the table except their great need.

So as we kind of wind this down and understand this passage, a couple of observations are in order. The first observation is this, that God is the one who initiates salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. And not only did God initiate salvation, but God actually brought it about. God paid for the salvation that he demanded in Jesus.

And that's why, by the way, the Trinity is so critical. The only way that God can be a redeeming God is that if the Trinity is there and one member of the Trinity satisfies the entire Godhead when it comes to the matter of justice. And so God not only planned the salvation, God executed the salvation. God made salvation available for whom? As I quoted last time, the vilest of sinners who truly believes that moment from Jesus, a pardon receives.

He made it available for you, and he made it available for me. And so we must keep in mind that we are indeed saved by the initiative of God. But salvation also reveals God. That's why it is the big crux of all of history. If you were to say, what is the most important event that has ever taken place on planet Earth, ever, ever, ever, it is the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus. Because it represents God's farthest reach. God came our way.

The chasm that exists between us and God, the inability for us to be able to attain his glory, all of that was done, thankfully, by God. And God says, I am not just descending to mankind with a ladder and then asking them to crawl on the ladder toward me. No, they're dead in trespasses and sins.

I'm going to go and I'm going to scoop them up. I'm going to pick them up and grant them the ability to believe so that salvation is entirely of God. But nowhere in all of history do we see the attributes of God as clearly as we do at the cross. Oh, yes, nature represents the power of God and the heavens declare his glory and his great strength and omnipotence.

That's true. But you see, it is at the cross that the dissidents, if I can use that word, the dissidents between love and justice was resolved. God's love wanted to redeem humanity.

His love wanted to do that because he loves the world. But justice wouldn't allow it. And God has both attributes in equal equilibrium and in right proportions. So you see, until the issue of justice was satisfied, yes, in the Old Testament, God overlooked their sin knowing that Jesus was going to die. And the Old Testament saints, they looked forward to the coming of Jesus.

And we look back at the coming of Jesus. But nobody ever gets to heaven without Jesus. Nobody ever gets to heaven without Jesus and the sacrifice that was made. So there you have the love of Jesus at the cross, the love of God at the cross. You have the justice of God at the cross. You have the grace of God at the cross, redeeming us without a cause.

There was nothing good in us. You have the love of God, as I've already mentioned, at the cross. And that's why the work that Jesus did on the cross is absolutely central, central to the Christian faith and is his great redeeming work.

I like to think of the death of the two people that were crucified with Jesus. To use them as an example of how the cross of Jesus Christ divides the world, really. The world is not divided racially.

It is not divided economically in all the ways that we divide it. From God's standpoint, the entire human race is divided into two categories. And the categories are represented by the one thief over here. And this thief said, if you're the Christ, come down from the cross. By the way, if Jesus had come down from the cross, you and I would still be in our sins and we'd have been left unredeemed. Aren't you glad that Jesus didn't come down from the cross when he was asked to? So the one thief says, come down from the cross.

The other thief, perhaps being able to turn his head to see the words over the cross, Jesus, the King of the Jews. Thanks to himself, a you know, if he's a king, he must have a kingdom. So all that he does is he looks at it. First of all, he talks to his companion, both of them bad to the bone thieves with a long rap sheet. And he talks to his companion and says, why are you ridiculing him? You know, we're going to die here in a moment. And then the other thief looks at Jesus and says, remember me.

Wow. He doesn't have the nerve to say, bring me into the kingdom. Why would this thief who maybe never even heard of Jesus before that day, why would he even think for a moment that he of all people, sinner that he was, would enter the kingdom?

He doesn't even ask for that. He simply says, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus is still King on the cross. Jesus, the one, the only one qualified to open paradise and heaven says to him today, today, you're going to be with me in paradise. Breakfast on earth, supping with Christ in heaven later that very day. The first, the last companion on earth, the first companion in heaven is this thief.

Why? Because the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was also purchasing for thieves the redemption that all of us need because all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And there is no other way except through Jesus, our savior. Let me read the words of Horatio Bonar.

He wrote these beautiful lines that I want you to grasp. Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.

Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load. Thy grace alone, O God, to me can pardon speak. Thy power alone, O son of God, can this sore bondage break. No other work except thine, no other blood will do. No strength except that which is divine can bear me safely through. Salvation through faith alone because of Christ alone by grace alone. A rescue program for sinners that actually works. And aren't we all proof of that, that it actually does work?

I have to ask you, so have you trusted Christ as savior? Maybe you're here today, your arms kind of folded, saying, well, we're listening to this guy. Maybe somebody brought you and you didn't want to be here.

Maybe you're listening on the radio and you're trying to find a different station and you ended up on this one. Right now, you can look to Christ and be saved. He who believes in me shall have eternal life.

He bore it all. What love. Let's pray. Father, we ask in Jesus' name that you'll take these words and we pray that the words may be powerful and abiding, especially in the lives of those who've never trusted Christ as savior, though they may think they have. We ask, O Father, that graciously you'll work in their hearts and help them to see that they must come to Christ.

There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. We thank you for our savior who did it all for us so that we can believe. Now before I close this prayer, you're sitting in the balcony.

You're in the lower floor wherever you are or listening by way of internet, radio, whatever other way. Would you pause a moment and just reflect and ask yourself whether you've trusted Christ as savior? And if not, would you reach out to him in faith and say, today I believe and trust my eternity to him. Father, we love you because you first loved us.

We wish that we loved you better, but we do love you. And we thank you immensely for Jesus, our savior, in whose name we pray. You know, my friend, I love to tell the story of a well-known Christian leader who was dying. And the people around him reminded him of all that he had done for Christ and all of the preaching and the books he had written, but he had no peace until someone said to him, you know that we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ alone through faith alone. And then he died in peace.

When it comes my time to die, that's the way I want to die. I bring nothing to God except his grace and the wonder of his salvation. I believe that these messages on the book of Romans are being used mightily in the lives of many people. And there are many of you listening who could listen to these messages again and again.

Perhaps you've missed some. You can share them with your friends. You can share them with your children.

For a gift of any amount, they can be yours. The title of the series is Rescued, What God Did to Save Us. Here's how you can find out information. Go to RTWOffer.com. That's RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Ask for the series of messages titled Rescued. It's the series on the book of Romans, the opening chapters of Romans that underscores the wonder of God's grace given to sinners.

Once again, go to RTWOffer.com. And thanks in advance, by the way, for helping us share the gospel of Jesus Christ with many or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Again, the sermon series Rescued, What God Did to Save Us. It's time once again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian faith. The Christian faith grew out of the Jewish faith.

In fact, Paul likens the church to a branch whose roots go back to ancient Israel. Michael listens to our program and wants to know this. How do Jewish holy days apply to us as Christians? Should we observe them?

Michael, I think the key to your question is actually surrounds the word observe. If you mean, should we acknowledge them? Should we learn from them?

The answer is yes. If by observing them, you mean that we should observe them as the ancient Jews did, I don't think so. In fact, let's take, for example, the Day of Atonement. When you go back in Old Testament times, you realize that this particular day is a wonderful illustration of redemption. And certainly, we can contrast that with the New Testament where we have the privilege of being in God's presence and where the veil of the temple was rent into. So, we should learn from the Jewish holy days, we should study them, we should understand them, but as pictures that in effect predicted the coming of Jesus Christ and the larger fulfillment in the New Testament.

So, if you define the word observe as acknowledge and learn from, yes, observe in the general sense of the word, no. Michael, thank you for your question. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, you can. Just go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer, or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Through the book of Romans, a man came to faith in Christ, a man whose actions began a tidal wave of spiritual power across the world. His name was Martin Luther, and next time we'll begin tracing his story, a man who was rescued from despair. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.