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The good news that Paul wants to share is that the death of Jesus on the cross is the way God pays the sin debt that we owe.  Paul has explained with painful clarity that no matter how hard we try, we can’t make ourselves good enough for God to accept.  “We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God” (vs.23).  Trying to be good enough for God is like me playing horseshoes;  the horseshoe might wobble in the general direction of the stake, occasionally it gets in the right vicinity, once in a blue moon there might be a “leaner”.  But a ringer? Forget about it.  So the cleansing and empowering God gives us come to us “apart from the law” (vs.21).  We can’t fix ourselves; the law drives the stake into the ground too far away from where we stand.  The best we can do to feel good about ourselves is to compare ourselves to someone even more inept than we are.  

The good news that is “apart from the law” is “witnessed by the law”.  God always knew that the cross would be coming, so way back in Moses’ day, He directed sinners to find an animal (sheep, goat, bull, or even a bird), bring it to His altar, put their hands on it as a reminder that this animal represented them, kill it and sprinkle its blood on God’s altar.  Of course, the blood of sheep and bulls cannot remove sin, but the law is giving a witness that without the shedding of Someone’s blood, there can be no forgiveness for sin (Heb.9:18-22).  The prophets also bore witness to the good news, predicting the place (Micah 5:2), the time (Dan.9:24-26), the way (Isa.7:14) and the reason (Isa.53) for the gift of Jesus.  The good news of the cross was planned and prepared by God well in advance.

Because of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, we are “justified as a gift (we can’t earn it!) by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” vs.24).  His death is the sacrifice for your sin.
These days, scoffers tell us that the death of Jesus is “divine child abuse”. A father who would kill his own son is some kind of twisted, messed up father.  But the Bible tells us that God -the one God – exists in three persons.  The God who rules heaven and earth is the same God who gave his life to pay our sin debt.  That God who died on the cross told His disciples that He would be returning to heaven, but He would continue His ministry in the disciples’ lives by dwelling in their hearts through God the Holy Spirit.  One God rules all, delivers us from sin, and lives in our hearts.  Don’t ask me how, but the Trinity tells me that when Jesus died on the cross, God hurt Himself, not some other person.

This brief passage contains at least three powerful pictures of the good news.  Verse 24 tells us that there is redemption in Christ Jesus.  To redeem someone means to buy their way out of slavery.  Of course, it is humbling to think of ourselves as slaves, but the Bible says whoever sins is a slave of sin.  We are not too far past New Year’s Day, when some ambitious people make resolutions.  Research tells us that these good intentions rarely last past January 9.   We are slaves of sin; if you don’t think so, just try to kick a bad habit.  The devil took control of human nature back in the Garden of Eden.  God bought us back by the blood of Christ, and we now belong to Him.  We still have a master, but He leads us with love.

  
A father helped his son make a toy boat with a handkerchief for a sail.  Together they went to a nearby lake to play with it.  A sudden gust of wind sent the boat’s string out of the boy’s hand.  Sadly he watched it float away until he couldn’t see it any more.  One day he passed the second hand store and there was his boat in the window.  Excitedly he ran in to tell the owner the boat was his.  “No,” the owner said, “it’s mine.  I found it at the lake the other day.”  “That’s where I lost it”, the boy cried.  “Finders keepers” was the owner’s reply.  The boy ran home, broke open his piggy bank, and returned to the store, where he bought his boat back.  He held it up to his eyes and said, “You’re twice mine!  I made you and I bought you!”  That’s the good news for us lost sinners.

Romans 3:25 gives us another picture of the Gospel: it is God’s “propitiation”.  This word means “a gift that satisfies anger”.  Remember when Jacob had stolen his brother’s blessing with lies and tricks, arousing so much anger that he had to run away from home so that Esau wouldn’t kill him?  About 20 years later, he hoped things might have cooled off enough for him to return home, but on his way, he heard that his brother was coming toward him with 400 men.  Jacob arranged a series of gifts to precede him as he continued toward his brother.  First came 220 goats, followed by a flock of sheep, then camels, cows, and donkeys.  He hoped that by the time he arrived, his brother’s anger might have melted.  That’s propitiation.  Our sin creates a reaction from God.  “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness” (vs.18).  God’s wrath is not a temper tantrum; it is His recognition of a wrong that must be corrected.  Sin can’t be ignored, discounted, or trivialized.  It shouldn’t be celebrated.  It is a horrible offence to a holy God, and it must be made right.  God Himself provided the gift that satisfies his anger.  He was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself (2Cor.5:19).  

A third picture of the good news is the Greek word used for “propitiation”.  It refers to a specific object called the “mercy seat”, created 1400 years before Jesus as Israel became a nation.  The law – the 10 commandments- had been given and immediately broken, but the gospel comes “apart from the law”.  The stone tablets containing the commandments were deposited in a gold box, with a special lid which included two golden angels stretching their wings toward each other.  God told Moses that He would use that lid as His throne.  He travelled through the desert and took up residence in Jerusalem on the mercy seat – the lid of that gold box.  The Temple was nothing more than the palace that contained God’s throne.  Once as it travelled, the box was tipping and someone tried to steady it, and he was struck dead.  God’s throne is high voltage and can only be touched once a year by the high priest, who would bring the blood of a sacrificed animal and touch that throne with that blood.  There and then, the faith of man would touch the grace of God, and forgiveness would happen.  

The blood of Jesus cleanses the faithful from all unrighteousness, through the grace of God.  Through the death of Jesus, He bought us back, and freed us from slavery to the devil so that we could love and serve the One who loved us.  God’s grace meets our faith at the cross.  All sin must be paid for.  You can try to do that for yourself by keeping the law, or you can believe that God has provided the gift that satisfies anger and corrects sin – the sin bearing cross of Christ.

I Am Guilty, Too  -Romans 2:1-3:20

A self-satisfied old lady walked to the church next door to her house every Sunday.  The preacher regularly spoke of sin and the coming judgment, and every week, the lady would shake his hand and say, “You really gave it to them today, pastor!”  One Sunday, a fierce snowstorm enveloped the area.  The little lady struggled next door to find that only she and the pastor were in the building.  The pastor went to the pulpit full of the confidence that today, his message of judgment and repentance would finally be heard by this parishoner.  At the conclusion of the sermon, the lady shook his hand as she went out the door, saying, “If they had been here today, you would have really given it to them.”

Why is it that we happily receive the message of grace, but we manage to redirect the message of God’s wrath to “them”?  Paul asks and answers this question in Romans 2 and 3.  He wants us to know that:

1.  God’s doesn’t recognize the distinctions we make.  “Man looks at outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” (1 Sam.16:7).  In the context of Paul’s letter, Jewish Christians had the outward appearance of holiness.  They had a culture based on Mosaic law, “the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (2:20), they congratulated themselves as a guide to the blind and a light to those in darkness (2:19), the outward rite of circumcision put them in a holy huddle that excluded Gentiles (2:28).  But this outward respectability means nothing to God, who brings to light the things hidden in darkness.  A great example of sanctimonious snobbery is Jonah, who was bragging about his goodness while he lounged belowdeck, while the pagan “sinners” tried to bail out the sinking ship.  

2.  It feels good to judge others.  To take joy in another’s failure makes me feel better about myself.  If God grades on a curve, I might be better than average.  But in order to decide that someone is wrong, I MUST HAVE A STANDARD OF RIGHT AND WRONG.  Once I am aware of that standard, I have to realize that I am also wrong.  God’s law is unattainable.  The sinner whose failure I am enjoying may be missing that standard by a mile while I only miss by a quarter mile, but I am still wrong too (2:21-22).  Adultery misses God’s standard; but so does lust.  Theft is obviously wrong, but how about being over zealous about a tax deduction, or borrowing something I never return, or letting my employer pay me for time I am wasting at work?  “Righteous” people know God’s temple is holy, but they may be making a house of prayer a den of thieves. Overt sins and hidden sins are equally offensive to God. 

3.  God’s silence does not indicate His approval (2:3-6).  This is the sneer of last day sinners who presume God has never acted and never will (2 Pet.3:3-4,9).  God is not slow, He is patient.  The coming judgment is so severe that He graciously gives sinners  time and opportunity to repent.  But the Lord God is holy and all-seeing.  No sin escapes His notice and all sin must be paid for.  “There is no righteous person, not even one…every mouth must be closed and all the world must become accountable to God”(3:10,19). Paul asserts that we are all sinners, deserving of death.  

But wait; there’s more.  

A rabbi friend of mine told me this story: A rabbi noticed his umbrella was missing, and he suspected someone in his congregation had stolen it. He decided to preach on the 10 commandments on the next sabbath, emphasizing commandment 8; “Thou shalt not steal”. He would emphasize the terribly offensive evil of theft, the mightiness of God’s wrath, and the forgiveness available if the thief repented and returned the stolen property. When he was done, his umbrella would be returned. That sabbath, he ascended the pulpit, and announced his topic, the 10 commandments. Since he wanted to emphasize #8, he decided to start at the end with #10, and get there faster. So he shouted, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife”. And that reminded him of where he had left his umbrella.

The first chapter of Romans gives us a laundry list of sins, most of which we don’t do or we can overlook in ourselves, because they are so much more obvious in others. But while we are ignoring our own sin and feeling superior to lesser mortals whose sins are obvious, the Holy Spirit is preparing a boomerang. I am a sinner. The good news is no good to me until I know that. So Paul asks the searching question, “Do you suppose, you foolish person who passes judgment on those who practice such things and yet does them as well, that you will escape the judgment of God?” (Rom.2:3) When we look for sin, we better start by looking in the mirror.

One way we deceive ourselves is by comparing ourselves with other, more blatant, sinners. We may look down on thieves while we cheat a little on our income taxes, or bring something home from the workplace, or waste time at work (Rom.2:21). We may bemoan an adulterous friend or fallen celebrity while we deal with rampant lust inside our hearts (2:22). We may be ready to contend for the integrity of our holy place, while we find accepted ways to make that “house of prayer” a “den of thieves” (2:22). Jesus thought the church big shots milked the temple like their personal cash cow, and we can make our religion profitable too; just look at the health and wealth gospel preachers.

Paul calls on us to shake off our self satisfied sanctimoniousness and pray the words of Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts, and see if there is a wicked way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.”

See you Sunday.

Here’s a little insight into the author of the letter to the Romans: He formed a plan to take the Christian faith to Spain, the farthest outpost of the Roman Empire, but on his way to executing this plan, he stopped in Jerusalem to deliver a gift of money to impoverished Jewish Christians. In the process of doing this good deed, he was ambushed and almost lynched by those who opposed his ministry. He was arrested and investigated by the authorities for causing a public disturbance. A trial ensued. Paul sought a change of venue and appealed to the Roman Emperor (Nero!). On his way to Rome, the ship he was travelling in was beset by a two weeklong tempest, finally sinking. Paul swam to a nearby island. As he was putting driftwood on a fire being built on the shore, he was bitten by a viper.

As far as we know, he never made it to Spain; his appeal to Nero ended in his death. But instead of letting a black cloud form over his head and moaning his way through snake bites, shipwrecks, angry mobs, and four years in jail, he stayed amazingly positive. He said, “We have been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9,MSG).

Do you face frustrations? Me too. I’m an old man trying to learn how to use a computer to blog. But “God hasn’t left my side.” The man who wrote to the Romans was one tough, wise, faithful man. He is worth listening to. The same God who never left his side can come alongside of you and me.

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