But ... Now!

In fact, man will spend his lifetime trying to come to terms with that message that whispers to his soul. How do I deal with guilt that I know is there? What do I do about my sin that I feel and sense? And what of this sense of coming judgment?

Why do I go through life feeling a sense of emptiness even though I fill my life with more and more things? How can I be right? Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Steven Davie. Today we're beginning one of Steven's most important teaching series because it deals with the most important issue people face. How can we be saved? A clue to the answer is in the series title, Sola Fide or faith alone. The Apostle Paul spent the early portion of the book of Romans revealing the darkness of sin and the consequences of sin. But beginning in Romans 3 21 and following, Paul reveals the solution to our sin problem and it all begins with God acting on our behalf to make salvation possible.

Stay with us to learn how. Sola Fide means faith alone and it refers to the issue of justification by faith alone and it answers the key questions. How can a person be right with God? How can you know for sure whether or not you are going to heaven?

How do you claim a right to entrance there? How can the holy justice of God be satisfied? Sola Fide. Martin Luther wrote in the mid 1500s, Sola Fide is the article with and by which the church stands without which the church falls. It raises up our conscience before God.

Without this article, the world is utter death and darkness. John Calvin added, unless you understand the doctrine of justification by faith alone, you have no foundation on which your salvation can be laid. Is it any wonder then that this next paragraph in Romans chapter 3 where the Apostle Paul explains the doctrine of Sola Fide, the doctrine of justification by faith alone would be considered so unbelievably important that all doctrines are married to it, all find their source in its truth. One man called this paragraph that we're about to begin studying, the center and heart of the whole book of Romans. Why would a pastor like a barnhouse of a former generation and a McLean, a great theologian say that if they could choose to have only a few verses, if they were given the choice, they had to pick verses that they could keep for themselves, they would choose this paragraph. Could it be because these verses reveal the atlas of our faith, the right we have to heaven, the satisfaction of our holy God, the key that unlocks eternal paradise. Ladies and gentlemen, it is because this paragraph clearly explains the truth of justification by faith alone. Sola Fide. Would you say that with me? Sola Fide. Well, Paul begins this paragraph with an incredible choice of words. Romans chapter 3 verse 21 begins with the words, but now. That's a lot.

We could stay there all morning. That's enough. But now.

How many parents have heard? I was planning on doing my homework, but how many husbands have heard their wives say I was really driving very carefully, but how many guys have had a girl say to them, well, I like you a lot and I think you're really nice, but how many have heard their boss say, I really like that idea, but I liked everything in your resume, but but is a conjunction that can make all the difference in the world, can it? And I just gave you a number of bad differences. What about the good ones? The doctor says to you, I was afraid at first when you described your symptoms to me that this was life threatening, but.

Or the coach that says, I didn't think there'd be room on the team for you, but. Here's a good one. When I first met you, I didn't think you were all that special, but. Here's another wonderful, insightful, spiritually mature one.

It makes me really upset when you forget our anniversary and Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, but I love you anyway. I just thought I'd toss that one out for these. You guys need some help here. We've been struggling for over a year without a job, but we didn't think we could ever have children and they told us we couldn't, but. They told us that we weren't to expect that loved one to live, but.

How about this one? My parents have always resisted the gospel, but. I have spent most of my life running from God, but. Isn't that a great word? It's a loaded word. What a life changing, perspective, altering, hope giving word that is. And Paul, by the way, used it often in his writings. He wrote to the Ephesian believers and he said, You were separated from Christ, Jesus Christ, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Paul preached in Acts Chapter 13 these words. And when they had carried out all that was written concerning Jesus, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead. David said, Many there be which say of my soul there is no help for him in God. But thou, O Lord, are to shield about me. See what comes after that little word has incredible significance. I read where the late Charles Evans Hughes, who served as the secretary of state, he was attending a Pan American conference and he instructed his translator to make sure that he kept, of course, the translation of Spanish and Portuguese flowing and to keep up with the speaker.

But he then said to his interpreter, these interesting words, he said, Listen, while a running translation is important, I want to make sure that you give me every word after the speaker says but because that's what he really intended to say. For nearly three entire chapters, the apostle Paul has revealed the darkness of sin, the depth of mankind's depravity, the righteous judgment that is deserving upon the whole world, the hopelessness of man to ever find God or even care to search for him, the fact that no one is justified. No one is righteous. No one is acceptable. No one is suitable.

No one is good enough. No one can ever hope to live with God forever. In fact, he ended verses 20 and 21 with this rather ultimate verdict, this portrayal of sinful mankind. And now he pictures standing silent before God, no defense, no reason, no excuse, just silence. And that is the picture.

But now everything changes. This is the conjunction of Romans 6 23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. This is the conjunction of John chapter nine where you may remember the story of the blind man who'd been born blind and he'd lived his entire life now as an older man had never seen and Jesus Christ came and you may remember the story in John nine where he healed the man by putting clay on his eyes and then telling him to wash it away and he could see and it was an amazing miracle that so authenticated the claim of Christ to being that Messiah because only God can restore sight in that miraculous way. And of course, this troubled the religious leaders who by now of course didn't like the Lord and wanted to end his ministry. And so they brought this blind man in who could now see and they began to interrogate him and question him and ask him theological questions and the man was befuddled.

In fact, at one point he simply answered them, why are you asking this? Do you want to believe in him too? And they mocked him. They even brought this man's aged parents in to validate that he was in fact their son who had been born blind. And finally, they looked at this man who could now see and they said to him, what do you think of this man who healed you?

Who do you think he is? And they tried to press him into saying that he was a sinner. That is he was an ordinary man.

Say that he's a sinner. And he said, I can't say that. In fact, he said in that gospel account, he said, I don't know whether he's a sinner or not, but one thing I do know once I was blind, but now I can see.

I couldn't see. I was blind, but now I see. This is the incredible revelation of justification in Romans chapter 3. The truth, by the way, of our hopes swings on that little conjunction.

I'm so glad it's there. The truth of the gospel. Paul in effect says, listen, everything I have said about sin, everything I have said about mankind, everything I have said about the hopeless character and nature of man is true. But now after the darkness, light, the darkness of sin has been portrayed, but now the deliverance of salvation is pronounced.

And so Paul begins to explain on the heels of that wonderful conjunction. But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested. But now apart from the law, very significant words. In other words, he says, this salvation that I'm now about to describe to you, which is the hope of mankind is apart from the law. It's a very strong phrase or word in the original text.

It could be translated having absolutely nothing to do with, in this case, the law. In fact, the same Greek phrase occurs in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15, where we read that Jesus Christ was in all points tempted just like we are yet without. There's the word yet apart from sin. In other words, Jesus Christ's life had absolutely nothing to do in and of himself reflecting anything sinful. He was absolutely the opposite of sin.

And so this is the word here. Paul is describing justification as being apart from the law. That is it has absolutely nothing to do with the law. That's why a person who believes he's going to heaven because he's been a pretty good person, is deceived on a number of counts. He's deceived because he actually hasn't kept the law and he can't admit it.

He doesn't recognize his own depravity and so he's deceived himself. It isn't the righteousness of man that Paul is declaring that brings salvation. It is the righteousness of God. You and I had nothing to offer God but sin. Tomorrow we will have nothing to offer him but what? Sin.

A year from now, if we're living, we'll have nothing to offer him but what? Sin. God has everything to offer us and it begins by imputing to our bankrupt account, the righteousness of God.

Now Paul goes on to say, in effect, this isn't really something new. He says the message of the gospel goes all the way back to the law and the prophets. In other words, it was manifested by the namas, the law, the five books of Moses. And you think now where was the gospel manifested in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy? Well certainly we could go to Genesis chapter 3 where we have the first indication of a Messiah that would come who would be the seat of a woman who would crush Satan the serpent but that serpent would bruise his heel, a reference to the suffering Savior.

Satan would be defeated and the Savior would suffer. Certainly we could go to Leviticus and look at the system of offering sacrifices and see how bloodshed was required, the life of one for the sin of another, all picturing the coming Redeemer. There's one illustration. In fact it is the illustration the Apostle Paul will use in this paragraph.

And because he chooses this one, we ought to take a closer look. So take your Bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 22 where we discover the full account of Abraham and his faith. Abraham was told by God, you may remember this account, to take his only son Isaac and go to the mountain ridge called Moriah and offer on that ridge to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering unto the Lord.

Of course this was a test the text tells us. God isn't in the child sacrifice but this would be a test to see whether or not Abraham believed the promise of God that that covenant would come through his son. Of course in this case his only son Isaac.

And so they arrive and begin to make their way up this ridge of little hills and this ridge of mountains called Moriah. Look at verse 7. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son.

And he said, Behold the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, verse 8, God will provide for himself the lamb. You ought to underline that.

That's very significant. God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering my son. So the two of them walked on together. If anything Abraham thought that Isaac if killed would be resurrected from the dead or maybe God would indeed provide this lamb. Evidently a conversation had ensued or of course he probably knew going all the way back to the first father and mother Adam and Eve of the death of one and I believe it was probably the death of a lamb.

So he is encouraging his son that God has something in mind. Verse 9, they came to the place of which God had told them and Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Now remember Abraham is an old man by now.

I don't think he picked Isaac up. I think Isaac probably climbed up there himself. I doubt Abraham would have been able to lift his 30 year old son. By the way you note the submission of the son to the father. Again another wonderful picture of the submission of Christ to the father being obedient to death even death on an altar we call the cross Philippians 2 8 verse 10. Abraham stretched out his hand and he took the knife to slay his son. But there's a wonderful word again but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said Abraham Abraham and he said Here I am. And he said Do not stretch out your hand against the lad and do nothing to him for now I know that you trust God you fear him since you've not withheld your son your only son from me. Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Now here's the prophetic announcement verse 14 and Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Jireh or Jehovah or Jehovah Jireh which is translated The Lord will provide as is said to this day in the mount of the Lord it will be provided. Now this is future tense.

He is speaking here not as isn't this great. God provided the lamb but future tense. One of the reasons was God didn't provide a lamb. Did you notice what he provided a ram not the lamb.

But he's also speaking in future tense because he is speaking prophetically and God has something wonderful in mind. The coming lamb in John Chapter 1 verse 29. John the baptizer saw Jesus coming and he said to everyone Look behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In other words here is the fulfillment of Abraham's prophecy thousands of years earlier. He's the lamb.

He's come to be sacrificed for the sin of the world. Now I want you to notice something else specifically prophesied not only that God would provide a lamb but look at verse 14 again that God would provide it the lamb that is in the mount of the Lord that is on that very ridge God would provide the lamb. Now Mount Moriah was nothing more than really a small ridge of hills yet very significant ones on Mount Moriah. Solomon would later build his temple where God's glory would descend. That temple of course would be destroyed just a stone's throw from that temple would be a city built for the covenant people a sacred city called Jerusalem where the people of God lived on and off either obediently or disobediently to him. But by the time of Jesus Christ that ridge of Moriah had lost that name.

It was no longer referred to as Moriah. It had been given a slang Aramaic expression called Golgotha because of the shape Abraham's prophecy would come true. The very place where Isaac had been offered as a burnt offering for sin the very place where Abraham prophesied that on this mount I believe one day we can find out but it is at that very location where Abraham's altar was placed where the cross was anchored on this mount God will provide the lamb and it came true. So Paul says that this gospel has been prophesied it has been spoken of it can be seen in the very books of the namas the law.

But he also says it's known by the prophets others who prophesied like King David who wrote in Psalm 22 of Christ's crucifixion with unbelievable precision. Listen as he writes I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax.

It is melted within me. A band of evil doers have surrounded me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones.

David never had his hands pierced or his feet. He's speaking prophetically of Christ. They look they stare at me.

They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. That's why Paul could say the gospel isn't new. God's plan of redemption has been promised through the sacrifice of his son. Now in verse 22 Paul goes on to clarify and we don't have time really to get much further into this but he says even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe there is the first reference of faith. You could go through that paragraph by the way and you could circle the many times that it appears.

It's a key word and there are some other key words that we'll look at. So the darkness of sin has been portrayed. Then you have that conjunction and the deliverance of salvation then has been pronounced and now the deliverer of sinners has been proclaimed. Here is hope.

This is what changes everything. The righteousness of God through faith in Christ. Ladies and gentlemen the first thing that we need to learn about Sola Fidei. The first thing we need to learn about salvation justification by faith alone is that it isn't something you provide for God it is something God has provided for you.

We have broken the law. We are without excuse. We cannot do enough good things to somehow counterbalance the scale and hope that God will see all the bad things and say well you know what you did a few more good things in your life so come on in. Now we are condemned and we would be silenced should we be standing before a holy God in that day. But Paul says but now there is hope for the hopeless the depraved the sinful the inexcusable the indefensible but now there is hope for the hopeless there is now pardon for the sinful but now there is grace for the guilty.

Paul answers it is by faith in Jesus Christ the one who came to seek out and to save sinners the one who came to forgive. Well we'll stop with our text here but I want to tell you a story by way of illustration. A mother who illustrated the forgiving heart that mirrored in a small fraction of a way in her own life the inexcusable indefensible sin of her daughter. It's a true story I read about a few years ago and it happened in Brazil in a little house in a village with a dirt floor. The house had a dirt floor and a red tile roof lived a mother named Maria and her daughter Christina. Maria's husband Christina's father had died when Christina was just an infant and Maria had done her best to raise her daughter as best she could provide.

She provided a meager life by cleaning homes in her little town. As Christina grew up became an attractive young teenage girl she had a streak of independence in her and she would often talk to her mother about you know let's leave this place. Let's go to the city. Let's move to Rio de Janeiro.

There are opportunities there. There's work there and her mother would always react with a mixture of horror and fear. She would tell Christina those streets are cruel. She knew full well what Christina would end up doing if she moved there and tried to make a living there because she wouldn't be able to provide and make a living. That's why the morning that Maria found her daughter's pallet empty it broke her heart because she knew not only where her daughter was headed but she knew more than likely what her daughter would become in order to survive.

Christina had no skills for earning money. Her mother knew that when pride met hunger there was no telling what a human would do to survive and so she immediately gathered up her clothing and all the money that she had and she got on that little bus and headed toward the big city and as soon as she got there she went to a little drug store that had one of those little photo booths in it and she went into the photo booth and began to deposit her quarters and she took as many pictures of herself as she could. When all of her money was gone that she could spare she took those pictures and she wrote on the back of each one of them the same message and then throughout the city she went. She went to hotels. She went to back alleys. She went to street corners where prostitutes gathered and she would tape her picture to some mirror in the lobby of a hotel or on the wall near a corner or on a bulletin board in a public place hoping that her daughter would see her picture.

She did that for weeks until her money ran out. She boarded that rickety old bus and headed back to her little village weeping all the way there. A few months after that Christina was descending the steps of a hotel her face filled with sadness her innocence gone. She was walking down the steps and she looked across the lobby and she thought she spotted a familiar face and she quickly went across the lobby and as she got closer her heart began to beat even faster and she reached it and sure enough it was the picture of her mother. She stood in that hotel lobby breathless her eyes filling with tears as she saw the picture of her mother.

Eventually she happened to turn the photograph over and when she did she read the note written by her mother that read wherever you are whatever you have done whatever you have become I will forgive you please come home and she did. That's the message of Sola Fidei reduced to its simplest terms. Jesus Christ says no matter what you've done no matter what you've become I will forgive you. Justification occurs when a person places their faith in the words of the Savior and in the person of the Savior and discovers the wonderful meaning the joy behind those words but now. Wow what an important lesson you're listening to wisdom for the heart with Stephen Davey Stevens entitled this lesson simply but now this was lesson one in a series from Romans called Sola Fidei if you know anyone who is confused about salvation who doesn't understand salvation by faith alone or who is curious about the Christian faith please encourage them to tune in there are six lessons in this series so we'll be in it all next week between now and then we'd enjoy hearing from you and learning how God uses these daily Bible messages to encourage and challenge you you can send a card or letter to Stephen if you address it to wisdom for the hearts P.O. Box 37297 Raleigh North Carolina 27627 I'm Scott Wiley I hope you have a great weekend and that you'll be right back with us on Monday for more wisdom for the hearts. Peace.