As we open the word of God this morning you will immediately recognize that this is the same text that we studied last week.  I want to assure you that I have not gone bonkers, and that we are studying this text deliberately.  The truth is that there is so much in these 11 verses that we could spend a whole month studying them and would continue to discover wonder upon wonder of the grace of God.  Let us then, with a keen sense of anticipation hear the word of God today.  (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)

   You will remember how we discovered last week, that while we all stand before our holy God guilty of sin and deserving of his judgement, we fall short of the standard of holiness and purity and right living.  We have done what he has told us in the law not to do.  But, says our passage, in spite of that we have been declared justified.  This means that when God looks at us now he sees us, instead of guilty, not guilty - it's just as if we'd never sinned in his sight.  We are now justified.  The white board of our lives has been wiped clean of all the graffiti of sin and, says Scripture, our souls are now white as snow.  Just as if I'd never sinned, justified.

   Now God, in his grace, has done all this.  Because of his grace, that is, his unmerited favour, we are now justified.  We have done nothing to deserve it nor will we ever do anything to deserve it.

   It cost us nothing, we need only receive this new standing by faith.  It did not cost us anything.  But those astute ones among you will point to today's title and say, "What's this about the cost of grace?  I thought it didn't cost anything?"  And it's true, our new standing before God did not cost US anything BUT it cost the Son of God his very life.

   You and I are justified, not because we have born the cost, but because God's son bore the cost.  He took all our sin, all our guilt, on himself and died in our place.  So we read in our text, verse 25, that God put Christ Jesus forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood effective through faith.

   Now, why did God in Christ do this?

   The verse continues, he did this to show his righteousness.  That is, he did this to show that he was a good God.

   Did he have to show he was a good God?  Yes.  Because, Paul goes on to say, do you know that previously God simply passed over sins?  He simply looked the other way.  He was so patient that he let sin go unpunished.

   "Well, what so bad about that?", we ask.

   Think about it for a moment.  What kind of just God is that?  What kind of righteous God simply looks the other way when a sin is committed?  There are many in our world who feel that if there is a God, and he is love, then he must let us all off lightly.

   "How can a loving God condemn anyone?", people ask.

   But God simply looks the other way in the face of blatant sin.  That makes nonsense of right and wrong in the universe.  He would not be practising justice.  Sin has to be dealt with.  God is just and he cannot look the other way when you and I sin; there must be a penalty.  Justice demands it.  God's character demands it.  There must be a penalty; there must be a cost.

   And the penalty is death; the cost is life.

   So, here is a dilemma.  God is a just God who must practise justice because his character demands it and the nature of the world demands it.  He must punish sin.  And yet here is a God, we have learned, who is slow to anger, abounding in love, and mercy  (Psalm 86:15 see first sermon in the series).

   If he practises love and forbearance, he is not just.  If he practises justice alone, he is not loving.

   Now hear the good news.  Only God could come up with the solution, only in his wisdom could he solve this, and the solution is this - the cross of Christ where justice and love meet.

   Justice is done because the judgement of sin is meted out and paid in the body of Christ.  Love is displayed because he bears the cost himself.

   Some say that that the idea of Jesus bearing our sins in our place is barbaric.  But, my friends, it would only be barbaric if God had laid the penalty of sins on someone else.  It is not barbaric that he laid the penalty of sins on himself.  Instead, it is the most amazing and wonderful love the world has ever seen and will ever see.

   The story is told of two boys who grow up together.  They are good friends.  In later life they find themselves facing each other as judge and accused in a court of law.

   One followed the legal profession, the other a business venture that later became illegal.

   Everyone close to the case wondered if, for friendship's sake, the judge would give a lenient sentence.

   But the judge said, "I would not be a just judge if I did not give the maximum penalty because the offence is so serious."

   But the judge knows that the accused man cannot pay.  So, after he delivers the judgement he puts down his gavel, takes off his robes and he descends into the well of the courtroom where, much to the shock of everyone present, he takes out his chequebook and pays the full fine so that accused can be acquitted and go free.

   So God took off the robes of his heavenly majesty, stepped down into the world, and bore the penalty; he paid the price in his own blood, he died for our sins.  He made it possible for accused sinners to be acquitted and to go free.  Justice and love meet each other on the cross.

   This is what Paul says in verse 26, God in Christ died so as to prove that he himself is righteous, that is a just God, and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.  That is, that he is a loving God, justifying the one who really doesn't deserve to be justified.  But, in his sacrificial love, God has made it possible for you and me to be justified.

   All of this can best be shown this way.  All of you take your left hand and hold it out in front of you, palm up.  This hand represents you.  Now take a hymnbook and place it in your left hand.  This book represents your sin.  The weight of it is on you.  God hates sin, and in his justice he must judge it.  We, therefore stand condemned before a holy God.

   Now, take your other hand.  Place it palm up in front of you.  This hand represents Jesus Christ the Saviour.  There is no sin upon him, the Heavenly Father loves him because he is perfect and obedient even to death.  He is the beloved Son with whom God is well pleased.

   Now take your left hand, with the burden, and put it on top of your right hand.  This is what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ took your place on the cross.  He took your sin and carried it with him to death on the cross.  (see I Peter 2:23-24 and Isaiah 53:4-6)

   Not only has our sin been transferred to Jesus Christ, but his right-standing before God has been transferred to us.  Where there used to be the weight of sin, there is now a clean slate.

   That's the good news of the cross.

   So, what do we have to boast about?  Paul asks, can we boast about how good we are?  No, since we haven't won God's favour by our goodness, by our own keeping of the law.  It is God's grace that has done all this, that we receive by faith.  It's the same for everyone, it makes no difference if you are Jew or Gentile.  We don't receive this justification because of good works, but only through faith.

   O, we could boast about our faith.  No, you can't boast about that - it's not the goodness of our faith that has saved us, but it is the goodness of the one in whom we have faith that has saved us.

   What can we boast about then?  We can boast about our God who came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.  Who in love and infinite grace bore the penalty for our sin, who has given us life to the full, and a hope for tomorrow, that is based, not on our puny good works or our fickle faith, but on the steadfast reality of the Cross of Christ.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - October 2001