I have never been able to come up with snappy sermon titles.  Some preachers have that gift; I do not.  You may yawn when reading today's sermon title - The Work of Grace, Justification - I will be the first to admit that the title does not convey the wonder of what we are studying today.  The work of grace is far from boring; it is the most thrilling, most exciting news and gift that you and I can receive.  Don't let the title fool you.

   And our text is Romans 3:21-31

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.  Where, then, is boasting?  It is excluded.  On what principle?  On that of observing the law?  No, but on that of faith.  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.  Is the God of Jews only?  Is he not the God of Gentiles too?  Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.  Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith?  Not at all!  Rather, we uphold the law.
(Romans 3:21-31) (NIV)

   To understand and to grasp the thrilling nature of this passage we must begin our study in the middle of the passage with verse 23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  That is to say that all have sinned and fall short of God's standard of goodness.

   This is the point that Paul makes in the opening chapters of the book of Romans.  In the first 3 and 1/2 chapters Paul sets before us a court scene.  The court involved is the supreme court of the universe.  God is presiding as judge and three classes of people who encompass all of humanity are all summoned before his divine majesty.  In Chapter 1, beginning at verse 18, the atheist is brought before God.  In Chapter 2, verses 1-16, the hypocrite is brought before God.  Then, in the rest of chapter 2, the Hebrew is brought before the Judgement seat.  So you have this summons to all of humanity, and in chapter 3 you have the verdict, in verse 10, "There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no-one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10-12) (NIV)

   So the whole world stands guilty before God.  We have no good works; we have no acceptable morality; we have no effective religion.  In the court scene we all stand condemned before a holy God.  It is so bad that the 10 commandments and the rest of the law of God cannot even help.  In fact, God's law only serves to condemn us because none of us can live up to its standards.

   And Paul summarizes all of this in verse 23 of our passage, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  All are guilty before the holy God.

   And you say, "Even you pastor?"

   And I say, "Yes."

   "But you're a pastor."

   It makes no difference.  ALL, ALL, have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

   You look around and you say, "Well it's obvious that there are some people who have really fallen short of the glory of God, those people who are liars, or gossips, or the sexually immoral, or murderers.  But there are other people who seem so good, who do so much for this community.  Sure, they may not have a real passion for God, or go to church, but they are kind, and compassionate and generous.  Surely they haven't fallen short of the glory of God."

   Listen - ALL, ALL - the Bible says, ALL, have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  As one pastor has said, "Some may be in the obvious pit of human degradation and some may be so good that they seem to be standing on the very top of the alps.  But," he says, "both groups are unable to touch the stars."  All have sinned and fallen short of the holy standards that God has set.

   So, after opening his letter with this bad news, we come to chapter 3 verse 21 and that marvellous little word, "but".  But.  Every time you see that little word, "but", in the Bible, you ought to stop and take a look because things are going to change.  Get ready to soar, because Paul is going to tell us that a work of grace has been performed and by it we are declared not guilty, or justified, before our Holy God.

   The verse reads, "But now a righteousness from God," that is, a right-standing before God, has been made known.  It is apart from the law, but, says the rest of the verse, the law and the prophets point to it, testify to it, tell us about it.

   Verse 22 goes on to tell us that this righteousness comes to us from God as we have faith in Jesus Christ, "for all who believe".  So here we are standing before God, guilty and ready to be condemned, but something has happened, so that we now have a right-standing before Him.  What happened to our guilt?  What happened to our standing before God?

   And Paul says, let me explain just in case you missed my point in the first 3 and 1/2 chapters with verse 23, make no mistake, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

   Okay, you're sharp; you've got that.  But the question remains, what happened to us?  Paul has already intimated in verse 21 that something has changed, and he lays it out in verses 24 and 25.  They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.

   So here we stand before the Holy God, guilty of sin, ready to be condemned, but we are now declared justified.  What does that mean?  Justified?  Is that a good thing?  My friends, it is the best.

   For that word, "justified", can be transliterated into our North American language to mean, "just as if I'd never sinned".  That's what the word "justified" means.  This is what I want you to take in this morning - you and I are justified - because of God's grace, his unmerited favour.

   The idea of justification is best illustrated in a story about a very rich English gentleman who buys a Rolls Royce car.  Now, anyone involved with automobiles will be able to tell you that the Rolls Royce car is one of the best cars ever built.  The exterior is flawless - it has fourteen coats of paint by the time it is delivered to your door.  The interior is meticulously assembled.  The wood, the interior panelling, is made from a special wood that grows only in South Eastern Europe.  They cut down the tree.  They saw it in half and all the panelling for one side of the car comes from one side of the tree and the panelling for the other side comes from the other side of the tree.  So, the grain-work is absolutely matched and what is left over goes on permanent file, in your name, in a factory crate, just in case you have an accident and need to have it replaced.

   And, before the car is delivered to the customer, an inspector from the factory gets in the trunk with a doctor's stethoscope and he listens for any audible squeaks.  That's before you get the car.  Half of all the Rolls Royce cars ever made are still on the road.

   Well, this fellow bought a Rolls Royce car, took it to the South of France and it broke down.  Here he was, stuck in the South of France with a broken-down Rolls Royce car.  He called the factory, and the factory flew a man down to the South of France, found out what the problem was, flew back to get the part that was needed, flew back to the South of France, and fixed the car.  All the while, the owner of the car was put up in the best hotel on the Riviera until his car was fixed, until he was sent on his way rejoicing.  And when he got home he was expecting to get a large bill for all this super service.  This was in the days before warrantees.  But it never came.  So he wrote to the Rolls Royce company, and said, "Dear sir, my car broke down in the South of France and you gave me this superlative treatment, thank you very much, I would like to pay my bill; please send me my bill."

   Within a week he got a letter back from the Rolls Royce Company.  It said, "Dear sir, thank you for your letter, but we have no record of anything ever having gone wrong with your car." ¹

   That's what it means to be justified.  It simply means that God has no record of anything ever having gone wrong in your life.

   O the wonder of that truth.  "Hey God, you mean to tell me that with all my sins, all the ones I know I have committed and are still lurking in my mind - you mean, you look at me and don't see any of them?"

   And God says, "That's right.  You are now justified." (verse 24)

   Now this is great news - this is far better than being forgiven, which we often talk about.  To be sure, forgiveness is an important part of God's grace, but we are not only forgiven, we are justified.

   There is a great deal of difference between being forgiven and being justified.  I would much rather be justified than be forgiven.  A forgiven person comes into court and pleads guilty and asks for mercy.  A justified person comes into court and says, "You've got nothing on me."  And it's true.

   We have a perfect standing before God so that we are fully acceptable in his sight.  We are justified, just as if we'd never sinned.  So when you and I stand before the judgement seat of God and the video tape of our life is plugged into the machine and played, it's blank; it's been erased.  There is no record of that sin you committed which continues to haunt your sleep and cause you guilt.  The tape is blank - there is no record of anything ever having gone wrong in your life.  You've been justified, just as if you'd never sinned.

   Well how did this happen?  How can we, who are obviously guilty, all of a sudden be declared not guilty?  The text continues in verse 24, "By his grace."  Because of God's unmerited favour we are justified.  Grace is getting something that we don't deserve - we deserve his eternal punishment but instead, he offers us a perfect record, an eternity with him.  Not one sin is debited from my account.  We are now justified by his grace.

   And notice that our text says that this is a gift.  The New International Version states that we are, "Justified freely by his grace."  It means the same thing, God's grace is a free gift to you and to me.  There is nothing we have done to deserve it and there is nothing we can do to try and earn it - if we tried to earn it - it would only insult God anyway.

   Have you ever earned a gift?  If you have, it's no longer a gift.

   My mother gives each of her kids a birthday card and in it is always a cheque.  The cheque always amounts to two dollars for every year of our life.  So, on my last birthday she gave me as a gift of $76.00.

   Now suppose I was to write her a thank you note and insert a cheque back to her for 38 dollars.  What would happen?  The next time she saw me I would imagine she would say, "I received a nice thank you note from you but what's this cheque for?"

   "The check?  O, you gave me $76.00 so I'm giving you $38.00.  I'm giving half of it back."

   "Why?"

   "To be honest, mom, I want to stay on your good side because I want to make sure I get another cheque next year."

   "What?  That's ludicrous.  I gave you that money as a gift, because I love you."

   And so with God, there is nothing we can do to buy his love, to buy a right-standing before him.  It is a free gift to be received.  You can reject it if you want but can only receive it as a free gift.

   Listen, God's grace is extended to you simply because you are.  You don't have to look nice; you don't need a big bank role; you don't need to be able to speak publicly; you don't need to perform well.  Your value is inborn.  Period.

   So, our young people - listen to this - you are valuable to God just because you exist.  You are valuable to God; it has nothing to do with what you look like, nothing to do with what you do, or what you have done, simply because you are.  God loves you.

   I know it's hard to understand because all around you there are people who accept you or reject you because of your looks, or your grades, or your ability to play certain sports, or to excel in certain tasks.  It's not that way with God.

   And you folks who have not accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour - if you keep telling him that you cannot accept him as Lord and Saviour because you have nothing to offer him, or because you have no skill, or you have no ability, or you have no knowledge of Scripture like those church people, or you have no ability to pray like those church people, or you have nothing to offer - good.  You are closer to God than you believe, because that is exactly what he wants you to offer him for a right-standing before him.  Nothing.

   I know it's hard to accept because in our world, when something is offered "free" there are often strings attached.  "Nothing is free," we say, and we are sceptical of anything offered for "free".  But not with God.  He justifies us freely by his grace.

   Some of you may still be asking, "How did this happen?  How did I become justified in God's sight?"  And we will examine it more fully next week, but let me just say that when we receive God's grace, we are justified in his sight through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.  Because Christ died on the cross all the sin that was in our account is now removed and we are now justified, just as if wed never sinned.

   That's what verse 25 means, God has put Jesus Christ forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood.

   So Paul is able to write in chapter 8, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1) (NIV)

   And all of this is through faith.  You need only believe that God has taken away your sin through the sacrifice of his son.  Why?  Because he is a God of grace, and delights to give good gifts to his children.

   Can I give you one glorious result of being justified?  We read about it in [Romans] chapter 5 verse 1, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (NIV)

   Peace with God.  There is no more struggle, no more striving to please him through our own goodness, no more struggling in rebellion and self-will.  We are justified and we have peace with God, the ruler of the universe, the judge of the people, the Sovereign King who is holy and pure.  We have peace with God.

   So we give thanks to him for his indescribable gift.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - September 2001

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