Father, we just want to know you.
And I just ask, Lord, that your word, as we look at it, as we hear it read,
and as we go off and reflect on it later in the week,
that you would just minister to our hearts and our minds.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Now, there's this new show on Amazon Prime
that me and Amy, my wife, have been getting into lately.
And it's called The World's Toughest Race.
And this one, I don't know if they always have it in Fiji,
but this one is based in Fiji this year, or whenever they recorded it.
And what this race is, is basically an Ironman on steroids,
if you know what an Ironman is.
It, like, pushes the human body to, like, the max physical limit.
And it also pushes the human body to the max mental limit.
And the course that they're going through in Fiji
is the most intense course you'll ever see in a race.
It involves going through into the ocean,
way off, like, 100 kilometers, and then back.
And then it also involves going into the Fiji Mountains,
into the jungle, and working through it to get to these checkpoints.
And at the same time, they have to get these medallions.
And these medallions signify your progress through the race.
But another thing in this race is you have to hit certain checkpoints,
or as they call them, camps,
to get, at a certain time, to continue on in the race.
And if you don't, you're disqualified.
So it's constant pushing people.
You barely get to sleep.
You barely get to eat.
But they have to keep going.
And I just want to, I bring this up,
because I want to focus in on this one scene
that's a couple episodes in.
It's not a spoiler, because a lot of teams lose in this.
There's only one winner.
What happens is this team is so far behind.
They're in last place.
They're stuck on the island that they had to take these boats to
by paddling, and then they get back.
But they decided to camp there for a night,
because they felt wary.
And in the morning, they had to start going across.
And they're like 100 kilometers behind.
And as they kept going, they kept pushing it,
saying they're going to get there, they're going to get there.
And then when they get onto the main island of Fiji,
one of the race officials comes up to them and tells them
that it is mathematically impossible for you to make it to the camp
in time to continue on in the race.
And I say this, I bring this up,
because the text that we're going to look at
kind of says that to us in the Romans epistle.
It says that even though you can do all these things,
you still fall short of the glory of God.
All have sinned.
All fall short.
And as we continue on through this summer sermon series
called The Crucified Messiah,
this week we're looking at, it's called
Jesus' Death is Your Justification.
And I admit, this is a hard thing to hear,
that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
It seems like, how can then, how does the Christian walk so good
if all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God?
How can we do this?
Is it even possible?
But there's this other truth in the text
which surrounds that one verse that says that,
which is a great truth.
It is a truth that we should meditate on every day
in our Christian walk.
It is like the foundation of Christianity
and that is justification.
So if you haven't already,
turn with me to Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 25.
And we'll take a look at it.
And as you're turning there,
or looking up in your phone,
I'll just give a bit of context.
Paul is writing to the church in Rome.
This church is made up of Jewish people,
Jewish Christians, and Gentile Christians.
And he's writing to them because there's this conflict
between the Jewish and the Gentile Christians.
There's this conflict that the Jewish people think
they know the right way, how to do things,
and they're better than the Gentiles.
But the Gentiles think they know what they're doing
better than the Jewish Christians,
and they think they're better higher up.
So Paul is trying to show them that
no matter how high you feel or how low you feel,
that is not what matters.
That is not what matters.
So let's take a look.
Let's look at this.
And beginning at verse 21.
Now some of you could be asking,
what is the righteousness of God?
The righteousness of God,
what Paul is talking about here,
how he talks about it always in all his epistles,
is the justifying act of God.
And what he's talking about here,
he's talking about the cross.
He's talking about that moment in history
when Jesus went to the cross to die for sinners,
to die for people.
And then he rose from the dead.
So he's talking about that.
It has been manifested apart from the law
and apart from the prophets.
Now, what he means by apart from the law,
we will look at in the couple of verses following.
So I'm just going to mention
what he means about the prophets.
The prophets talk about,
all through them,
they prophesy,
they speak about a future event.
And that event is the cross.
And I'll just look at one of them
that Paul is referring to right now.
And that is found,
I'll just read it,
you don't have to turn there.
That is found in Isaiah 53, verse 5.
There's also many others in Isaiah.
But I'm just going to highlight this one.
Isaiah 53, verse 5.
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
And with his wounds,
we are healed.
That is a great text.
That text speaks of a future event in that time.
And that future event was the cross.
And that's what Paul is trying to get the two sides,
even though there's no two sides.
It's just one Christian body.
But unfortunately,
there seems to be distinctions that happen.
So the Old Testament points to an historical event,
the cross.
So we're going to continue
in verse 22, the second half,
going into verse 23.
Now this, some of you could be saying,
it seems very harsh.
It seems like this is the great leveler.
This means that no one is greater.
No one is lower.
No one measures up.
All have sinned.
But some of you could be thinking,
well, like, surely I'm better than that person.
That's a very common human thing that we do.
We end up always measuring ourself against other people.
And Paul here is trying to show that
no one is better.
No one can achieve what he's talking about here
over some other person who they deem is not as good.
But surely I have some leg up on people,
on those kinds of people,
you could be thinking.
You see, we all fall short.
All have sinned.
Your sins merit ultimate penal suffering
and rejection of God's presence.
And there's nothing you can do to change it.
Now, why am I guilty?
It doesn't seem fair.
It seems like there's no evidence against me.
But Paul,
Paul here is talking about how there is evidence.
And that evidence is found in Genesis,
when Adam and Eve ate the apple,
when they decided they want to become more like God.
They want to become all-knowing.
And because of that,
God had to curse humanity
because of that moment.
It's called the fall.
Because of that.
Because of that moment,
no one measures up now.
It's very similar, if you think about it,
to the cancel culture
that's happening right now in our culture.
The cancel culture basically is
if someone does something
that they consider wrong
or if they do something
that they consider,
it could be the slightest thing.
They decide to cancel them
and just say,
you're canceled.
And basically,
they boycott.
Either they boycott businesses
or they boycott people.
And they try to ruin the person's image.
Even if there's no evidence
that happens.
They try to force people
to submit
to them
of fear being canceled.
But if you look at this,
the Bible
has canceled
us all out.
All
the evidence
is stacked against us.
And there's nothing
you can do about it.
When you read through the Bible,
the evidence becomes
more and more
stacked against us.
By the time you get home
from the church service today,
there will be more evidence
stacked against you.
It's just,
we are lost
in our own selves.
All evidence
is against you and me.
The case
has been laid out.
The jury
has read the verdict
in a sense.
And they read out
guilty.
We find the accused
guilty on all accounts
against them.
The text says,
all are guilty.
All have sinned.
No one is righteous.
Now,
if I was to stop here,
this would seem
like the harshest
church service
you've ever been to.
It would,
it would be very,
it's very depressing
if that's where I stop.
But there's a great truth
in this text.
There's a great truth
when you continue on.
It is the most
uplifting thing
that you can,
like,
grasp.
And I'll continue.
And I just want to mention,
we all know what it's like
to fail and fall short.
So I'll continue
and I'll read
the second half
of verse 22 again.
For there is no distinction
for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God
and 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
to be received
by faith.
This was to show
God's righteousness
because in His divine
forbearance
He had passed over
former sins.
See,
this is a beautiful thing.
Everything is stacked
against us.
But Paul here shows
that Christ came
into the world
to take our place.
To,
in a sense,
you can visualize
a courtroom
that we are standing
in the docket
before the judge
and the jury
has just read out
the statement
that we are guilty
and the judge
is about to give
the sentence
and the sentence
is death.
But Jesus comes
and He says,
hold on.
I am going to
take their place.
I am going to
take their place
and take on
the judgment,
the verdict
that they deserve
so they can be justified
and it is a free gift.
He did it freely
as when we were
lost in ourselves,
He came.
He took on
the criminal's sentence
and He died
on the cross
and rose again.
It's kind of like this.
There's this story.
I don't know
the big details
or where exactly
it was,
but the story is
there is these prisoners
in Japan
during the time
of a war
and they are forced
to build a road
with shovels.
They have to shovel,
they have to chug out
all the dirt,
all the rocks
and then put new
gravel down.
And then one night,
after every night
they would count
the shovels
to make sure
nothing has gone missing
or anything like that.
And one night
when they are counting
the shovels,
one of the shovels
is missing
and they searched
and they couldn't find it
and they were furious
and they lined up
all the prisoners
and they said
that we will kill
all of you
if no one comes forward.
And then right before
when they are counting
down to execute
the prisoners,
one of them
steps forward
and says,
I did it.
I lost the shovel.
And they killed him
right there
in front of everyone else
and they sent the rest
away back to the camp.
And then the next day,
after the work day,
they count the shovels
and all the shovels
are there.
you see,
that man
took the place
of everyone else.
He didn't have to,
but he did.
Jesus came forward
even though
he was innocent.
And you see,
when you put your faith
and trust in Jesus,
you are justified.
God,
some of you
could be looking
at the text
and be like,
well,
Matt,
that sounds nice.
But this blood,
this blood seems
so barbaric.
Why blood
and not just
a handshake?
Well,
as I mentioned
before,
earlier in the text,
he talks about
the law.
And this right here
is what he's talking
about.
He's talking about
the Mosaic law.
You see,
God made a covenant.
He gave a law
and this law
was a guide to holiness.
It was a guide
to holiness
for the Israel people.
But
the people of Israel
always failed.
They always failed
no matter how hard
they tried.
They always failed.
So they had to have
sacrifices.
And they used animals.
They used,
for the sin sacrifice,
a perfect lamb.
But that still didn't
cover all the sins.
It still,
it always required
a sacrifice constantly.
It never fully
did the job
in a sense.
You see,
in North America,
the culture
talks sin down.
It seems like
such a faux pas.
It says,
just live a good life.
Live your best life now
and you'll be fine.
You'll go to heaven.
But sin is serious.
And the Bible,
all through the Bible,
it is talked about
and it's very serious.
It goes against
God's plan.
It goes against
His very nature.
And only something
as serious as sin
had to happen
to break
the judgment
that was against us.
See,
God sent His Son
because He had
to send His Son.
Jesus came into the world,
lived a perfect life.
He willingly
came forward
to be the sacrifice
for you and me.
And He died
the criminal's death
on the cross
to save us
from eternal judgment.
He took on the judgment
so we could be justified
before God.
It had to be
something final.
And that was death.
It basically,
it had to be so final,
it had to be death.
It is like when the casket
is lowered into the ground.
There's that moment
when you're there
and it just seems like
this is the most final thing
that you'll ever experience
in this life.
It seems like the most final,
like,
it almost seems like time stops.
But the world
keeps going around you.
Jesus had to come
to die for us.
But that wasn't
the final thing.
You see,
Jesus rose from the dead
three days later.
He ascended into heaven,
as we said in the Creed.
Jesus' death
justifies all
who put their faith
and trust in Him.
Soon as you put
your faith and trust,
and that faith is a gift.
That is a God-given gift.
You are justified.
Just to drive home
more of the illustration
of the casket.
Just over a month ago,
one of my friends
and my wife's Amy,
dear friend,
passed away.
It was very sudden.
And when we were
at the funeral,
it seemed like
that was it.
That was the end.
But that was not the end.
She had her faith
and trust in Jesus.
And she is with Jesus
right now in heaven.
You see,
when you put your faith
and trust in Christ,
you are justified instantly.
There's nothing
after that
that you have to do.
You are justified
by faith,
not by works.
And I'll just read
the text again,
beginning at the second part
of verse 22.
For there is no distinction
for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God
and 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
to be received
by faith.
This was to show
God's righteousness
because in his divine forbearance
he had passed over
former sins.
The penalty due to you
for your sins
and my sins,
whatever they were,
was paid for,
paid for you
by Jesus Christ,
the Son of God,
in his death
on the cross.
See,
the life where you live
can feel
like the toughest race,
the hardest race
in the world.
It could be
at times
that you feel
so lost
or so bogged down
of something
you've done
and you feel ashamed
or you could be
going through
a high time
feeling like you're
just doing a great job
in the race.
Nothing can hold you back.
But you see,
regardless of your situation,
you are justified
by faith,
not by works.
John Bunyan,
in his allegorical book
called
The Pilgrim's Progress,
I don't know if people here
have read that,
but it is a great book.
It is a great book
to read and reflect on.
And I'm just going to
say one of the scenes.
The main character
is called Christian.
He just uses these
very defined titles.
There's Christian
and there's other ones.
And he's with his
companion,
Hopeful.
And he comes
to this river.
And this river,
the only way to cross it
is by faith.
And they start
going through the river
and he begins to sink
because his focus,
he was focused on,
for some reason,
he just starts
getting bogged down
like,
I can't,
I will never make it
in this river.
I will never get through
because of the things
I've committed.
And then his companion,
Hopeful,
cries out to him
as he's sinking,
saying,
Be of good cheer.
Jesus makes you whole.
And then Christian,
the main character,
cries out
the beautiful verse
that's in Isaiah.
He cries out,
and this is God
talking through Isaiah.
When you pass
through the waters,
I will be with you.
And through the rivers,
they shall not
overwhelm you.
When you walk
through the fire,
you shall not be burned.
And the flame
shall not consume you.
See,
if you're here
and you haven't put
your faith and trust
in Jesus,
now is the time.
Now is the time
to just call out
to him.
It doesn't have to be
a big fancy prayer.
It just has to be,
Lord,
help me.
And if you are here
and you have your faith
and trust in Jesus,
know that you are justified.
And as we come
in a few moments
to the table
and we reflect
on the bread,
Jesus' broken body
for us,
and as we reflect
on the wine
or the grape juice,
Jesus' blood,
know that you are justified
and you can come
to this table
just filled with joy
regardless of what situation
you feel like
you're in right now.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank you.
I thank you that
sometimes your text
is hard,
but there's great truths
in it regardless.
Father,
thank you for Jesus.
Thank you for the cross.
Thank you that
we are justified
on faith
and not by works.
Thank you, Lord.
It doesn't matter
where we stand.
Jesus paid it all.
Jesus paved the way.
And I just pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.