I think that chapter 3 reads very similarly to the passage I looked at last week in that it explains the bad news that mankind is sinful and needs a savior from that sin. If you didn't read last week's message, you may want to take a look at that as in chapter 3 of Romans, I will be looking at another side of the gospel.
You may have heard the "God, man, Christ, response" outline of what the gospel is (Greg Gilbert's book What is the Gospel? does a great job of explaining it) and I think that this passage is riddled with those themes. In verses 1-8, Paul writes about how God is fair and just and because of this, must judge the world. Verses 9-20 look at how mankind is sinful, no matter who you are. Verses 21-31 then finish the chapter by explaining that Jesus died for sins and that faith in that act give you eternal life. That is the good news! Last week, like I said, we focused on the bad news of mankind's sinfulness. This passage continues to speak about that, most notably in verse 23 (For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God). But today, I want to focus on Jesus and his role in the good news.
Lets backtrack for a second. We have sin as human beings and God is perfect. Therefore, God must judge the sin because he is the creator of everything. He is perfect and therefore imperfect things cannot survive in his presence. Thus, sinful mankind stands before God, deserving a punishment of death and eternal suffering. But wait; God in his love made a way for us to be made right in his eyes. Now I think most people could say "through Jesus", but lets really get into exactly what Jesus did. Verse 25 is key in this passage, it reads: For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. (NLT). God literally placed Jesus on the cross, In Our Place. Instead of us getting the ultimate death penalty, Jesus took it for us. We were standing in the path of an oncoming train and Jesus pushed us out of the way and took the impact. He took the bullet for us. Lately a lot of evangelical pastors are trying to teach otherwise (I would encourage you to read the book of sermons by Michael Lawrence and Mark Dever titled It is Well which thoroughly explains how Christ was a sacrifice for sin and died in our place.). The Bible however is quite clear here in Romans, and in several other parts of the Bible, that Christ was a sacrifice. Much like the Israelites sacrificed animals to take the place of their sin, Christ (the lamb of God) was sacrificed for us.
That is the message I want to get across this week. With the recent misconception that Christ wasn't a sacrifice for sinners, or that Christ's death is mean or bad and couldn't be of God, I think it is important to see this passage right here in Romans 3, that clearly states that Christ was a sacrifice for us, and that is the good news of the gospel. If the gospel was only "Jesus Christ died, and simultaneously, unrelated, mankind gets eternal life" that isn't really good news, I mean for mankind it is but Jesus died for no reason. NO!!!! that is not the gospel. The gospel, the good news, is that mankind was dead, mankind was under God's just wrath and punishment, but Jesus paid the price for us, he died in our place, he saved us from it, by sacrificing himself. That is why at the base level of our humanity, when someone takes a bullet in a movie, when someone gives up themselves for others in a movie or on TV, we feel good about right? Think of the movie Armageddon where Bruce Willis takes the place of Ben Affleck and dies, in his place. It is sad sure, but it is heroic, we feel good after we see it. The death of Christ is this and much much more. Sure it is graphic, violent even but it is also Jesus giving up his life for you and me, and it is good news and happy news because now, we no longer face God's punishment, Jesus paid it all.
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