Romans 3:23–31Scripture
Romans 3, chapter 23–31. Last week I cheated a little bit and I went to and looked at 25 and 26.
And this week I want to maybe do an extension to what we were focusing on last week. I think it's important. Listen, we are moving into the part of Romans where, over the next three chapters, up till now we've been looking at the depravity of man, the sin of man, and how sin has infected every man and every woman and every boy and girl in the world, Jews and Gentiles alike. All right, and so I think that's important, but now we've made a turn. And last week we talked about two different types of mindsets, and if you weren't here last week, I would encourage
Point 1Faith originates with God, not with us
You to go back and listen to last week's message, because I think it helped set up the next three chapters. But these two mindsets are these: one is a secular mindset, which we know that everything begins with us and radiates out from us, right? That's one way to see life, that's one way to see relationships, and that's one way we often, even in the church, engage the interpretation of God's word. So things like theological words or ideas or principles that we learn in the Bible, we somehow or another will take in a secular way and we will start with us. So when we talk about faith, we'll say faith starts and originates with me.
We don't say that it starts with God. And
I just want you to know that everything that you see, and you included, and the world began with God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:39
Everything originates from him. When you get to a place where you begin to break down and understand God's word or develop theological ideas and concepts, if the starting place is you've already got it wrong. So as we then particularly go into this part of the Scripture, which is an essential turn in Romans, where we're learning about salvation, we're learning about faith, we're learning about these things, we need to understand that it begins with God, not with us.
Now, you can miss the whole next three chapters if you get faith wrong. Let's just say faith, and you think faith starts with you, something you muster up, you start, you initiate. Then what? Several things it's going to do to your heart. One, it's going to develop frustration in your heart.
Another thing, you won't live with full assurance, because if it begins with you, we've already proven that we can't be trusted with anything. All right, so then your salvation, you proclaim it with your mouth, you wonder if it's ever really true because you see your life and you know your heart. Now, we know that God makes us a new creation, but there is still this issue of sin we wrestle with, and he is constantly sanctifying us day by day. I don't even know that when you were saved you immediately became perfect and did everything right. There is a work he is doing. He is the beginner and he is the perfecter of the faith, which he gives. It comes and it originates with him. So if things then originate with him, that is a biblical mindset, or what they say is a biblical worldview. So that's the simplest way I could say these two things: a secular mindset or a secular worldview, everything begins with us; a biblical worldview, everything begins with God.
So as we then jump into these verses that I'm about to read, it is important that we consider the terms that are repeated often in these verses and understand that these things begin with God, as do all things. All right, Romans 3:23–31 says this. Keep that in mind, biblical mindset: 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 forth as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. He diverts wrath around those who believe in Jesus Christ. The wrath that's coming from God due to sin, it's Jesus instead of us. That's what propitiation is. So God saved you from himself through Jesus Christ, and his wrath hit Jesus for all who have faith in him. And we know that faith is a gift, right? This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? Then, if everything begins with him, what becomes of our boasting? If salvation comes from him and not from us, we can't boast, because it's all about him.
It is amazing that we sing songs about magnifying the Lord, but then when we talk about salvation we take credit for it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 5:19
We magnify the Lord in our worship and we denounce him at lunchtime because we think things begin with us.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 5:32
Listen, you want to magnify the Lord?
Understand that everything originates and begins with him. That's how you do it, and not just at worship time, not just in church service, but in every conversation that you have. And then verse 27: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. That's the beauty of this. We have no room to boast, and that's what gives us assurance, because we know, I mean, we know deep down inside we really don't have a lot to boast about. We're kind of, we know we're broken. And as I said two weeks ago, and it went through the church in a wave and kids were calling their parents filthy rats, because I said we're nothing more than filthy rats and we have a disease and we are reproducing like crazy, and you should go listen to that sermon, it's actually awesome, and everybody was calling each other filthy rat in small groups, and that's not what I intended, but it's true. It is true, we have a sin problem, amen, and he is the answer to that problem.
Verse 28: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Paul, I really, he asks these rhetorical questions that he knows the answer to, and it's kind of a little bit like Jesus actually, it's interesting. Yes, of gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Notice that both the uncircumcised and circumcised are justified not by works, not by either being circumcised or not being circumcised, but by faith. So the outward does not determine the inward determines the outward, and only God can change the inward part of a man, because man is dead in sin and his trespasses. This is very important. Then it goes on, since God is one who will justify, I'm sorry, I'll get to 31. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. Here's the title of my sermon, all right, and I'll never do this, I always have a title in my sermon, but I'm going to tell you today, because I want this is the point I'm trying to get across today, and I thought it was kind of catchy and funny, but this is what's been in my head all week long: What's faith Got to Do with It? All right, and I've been singing that song all week long. I love it, and it's been dancing around my head.
But faith has everything to do with it. Just know that faith does not initiate from you, it initiates with him, and knowing and understanding this helps us glorify the Lord and really celebrate the salvation that comes from him. So I want to, and I broke this down, and you can write this down and read through this, and this is the section, and I'm going to start this section with this, and it seems like I've already talked about it, but I'm going to give some scriptures for us here. Here's first point: Faith originates with God. That's a biblical worldview. So let's take this issue of faith. Now, I wanted to stop right here and I'm extrapolating this from Romans 3:23–26, and then I'm going to give some supporting verses, right? But I remember not too long ago, actually, well, it seems like forever ago and it seems like yesterday, I don't know how that works, but when you get older it seems like forever ago and it seems like yesterday, so you look at it, you're like, stuck in a time warp, right? And your mind thinks you're 20, AKA why my foot is broke, and your body knows you're older, right? What was that? Do you have my phone down there? Let me see that real quick. I'm so sorry. I read a really cool mug, speaking of this, and this is kind of a little bit of a tangent, but faith originates with God. But I got to tell you this, because it's hilarious. I love this mug, I'm going to buy it. I found out you can buy this mug, it's going to happen, and it says this. It has the little bitty Yoda, Baby Yoda, whatever that thing's called, I don't know why that's on there, but on the mug it says, "My mind still thinks I'm 25. My body thinks my mind is a total idiot." And I love that, and I am the living testimony that is accurate today. But faith originates with God. I remember back, not too long ago, at the age of five, I remember walking down the aisle, grabbing my mom's hand. There was a call to response to the gospel, and I was under my grandfather's preaching, and I remember walking down the aisle. It was very clear. I remember feeling as a five-year-old that I was such a terrible sinner, you know, and I was, I shouldn't laugh about that, I was. But I'm like, how much of a sinner can you really be at five, actually? A very big sinner who needs help no matter what your age is. And I remember praying through, I remember God calling me, I remember all of that. And so all through high school, of course I grew up in the church, and all through high school I had visions and ideas of what I was going to do with my life, and then felt nudged to enter full-time Christian service. And so I went to college, went to school to get a pastoral degree, and then met my wife, actually in the Kansas City area, it's olathe, Kansas, it's Kansas area, not Kansas City, but Olathe, Kansas. We met at college there and it was wonderful, and in like four months we were married.
Right, it's really a whirlwind, and listen, I don't mess around when I decide I want to do something, I do it, and she's kind of the same way, and we have kind of traveled everywhere. During the first five years of ministry, full-time Christian service, I remember some just really terrible things just seemed to happen in chains. It's not just one thing happens, it's typically if one bad thing happens, ten bad things happen. Can you relate? Kind of like snakes, if there's one there's more. And that's why the devil's involved, the serpent and all that stuff. But so anyway, I just remember just a string of horrible things happening. Brook actually became pregnant. That was not horrible, that was wonderful, but that was, you gotta really watch how you line these up in a sentence. And so she became pregnant, but had developed toxemia, which turned into full-blown HELLP syndrome, and the baby was going to die. The baby was in the NICU after delivery. Brook was on a liver donor list, and I remember just wrestling with the Lord. One night I came out of ICU, we could only visit her every three hours for like so many minutes, and she was really not doing good. I remember one of these times I was coming in for my visit and overheard one of the nurses saying she's on the donor list but we don't think she's going to get a donor, and her decline is so rapid and so quick that she's not probably going to make it through the night. I just remember, I remember thinking to God, what are you doing? Like, I was frustrated.
I don't know if you've ever been there with God. Maybe you've never been frustrated with God, but I remember asking questions like this. Now listen, a secular mindset regarding God affects how you deal with him in trouble. Now, you talk to him in trouble, and I'm not trying to guilt this, because these are things that, it just, these moments and the way you behave really show where your mind is. But I remember saying things like this, I wrote some of them down, right: God, I put my faith in you.
I've served you. I went to Bible college for you and forsook what I wanted to do because I felt like you wanted me to do that. I've been faithful. I've said no to things that other people have said yes to. I've committed my life to you and I've been faithful and I've sacrificed life, limb, and everything for you, and this is how you repay me? It was "I" to the fourth or fifth power. That was my statements: I did this, I did this. See, and it was here that I began, and I believe in some way or another, and maybe I couldn't have put it in these words, that I began to re-examine with the help of the Lord where my faith really comes from. See, I thought it was a choice, but see, God snatched me up and he took me and he did the work. I didn't do the work.
And so when you know that he did the work, then in moments of trouble you do not begin to list off the things you've done, you begin to give him praise for the things that he's done, and if he can do that, then he can do this. It's a change of heart, and only God can do that. And I'll just say this, sometimes he uses trouble to get your mind right. Sometimes he does. Now, I will say this: faith originates with God. Shawn, where do you get this idea? You know, do you get this from your theological background? Do you get this from the denomination you grew up in? Do you get this from the men you listen to? Did you get this from school? Why do you believe faith originates with God? Because the Scripture says it repeatedly. Now, I can't make heads or tails of this, and some of this bothers me, but it just is what it is, and I'm either going to take God's word for what it says it is or I'm going to come up with my own idea. Now, here's Ephesians 2. We need to get faith right, because we're going to be talking about faith for three chapters, and faith doesn't originate with you. Faith originates with God through Christ. Now, Ephesians 2:8–9, which we read last week, and I have a few more verses. Ephesians 2:8–9, I'll give you a moment to look it up.
Ephesians 2:8–9.
So I think we're good. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. Did you hear that? Pretty clear, right?
It is the gift of God, not a result of works. Now listen to this: so that no man may boast. Now let's go back to Romans, which we read this morning, which we're looking at, and if we go all the way to verse 27, he begins to, he's for four verses, actually three verses, from 23 to 26, he's talking about faith comes from Christ, we receive it, this is how it happens, and then verse 27, all of this faith, then what becomes of our boasting? Okay, so Ephesians: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no man may boast.
Hebrews 12:2. I'll give you just a moment to find that. This is an important one. I read it briefly last week and I'm going to remind us of it again today. I think it is important, especially since we're spending three weeks on faith. Hebrews 12:2 says, looking to Jesus, the founder, or some translations say the beginner, and perfecter, or some translations say finisher, of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Faith originates with God. Philippians 1:29 says this: For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. Acts 3:16, I'll give you a moment to look that one up.
This, of course, is the Apostle Paul, and so was the Philippians 1 there. Acts 3:16: And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. So Paul accredits his faith to Christ, through Jesus, to God through Jesus. Romans 4:1–4, this is an important text: What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? We're going to look at this next week. Now notice he jumps to faith here, notice he says that it doesn't come from the flesh of man. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
Now to say here, right here, this one really trips people up, and I don't want to get off on a tangent here, but I'll just speak to it a second. Some people get a little bit nervous here because it says, "Hey, see there, Shawn, it says that Abraham believed God, and so it was something he did well that saved him." The demons believe in God, they're going to hell.
There are a lot, Hitler believed in God. So it is not what we do. Believing is a part of it, but it is not what we do. All right, Romans 12, I'll say this: it is in knowing that our saving faith comes from God alone that we might be encouraged as Christians to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but to remember God decides the measure of faith each one receives. That's Scripture. God decides that.
Romans 12:3 says this. Sorry, I got a lot, so just try to turn there quickly. And I'm sorry, dog, I hear it. Romans 12:3.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. The Apostle Paul gives an example of the godly humility believers should have when they contemplate their own faith.
In other words, when we contemplate our faith we should enter into humility, not into boasting. It should lead us to humility, not to pride. And if we say that faith is from us, we will go to pride and not humility. Are you with me? Even though I was once a blasphemer, that's in the Scripture, and a persecutor and a violent man, Paul says, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. It originates with him. First Timothy 1:13–14 says this, 1 Timothy 1:13–14: Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Paul understood faith in Christ was given to him because of God's grace despite his sinful life. First Corinthians 4:7: For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it? I would go on to say, but as if it originated with you. I'll say it again, because this is a good one, this is a clincher, this is the uppercut when someone is not expecting it's the knockout punch: For who sees anything different in you?
What do you have that you did not receive? In other words, everything originates with God, everything. Paul understood faith in Christ was given to him because of God's grace despite his sinfulness. It's a gift.
First Corinthians 4:7, by the way.
You don't have to do something before you get a gift. You don't have to dance like a monkey.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 23:52
The gift is yours, it's given without you having to first dance to get it. All right, Romans, the Bible, okay, so First Corinthians 4:7, is that what I just did? Yeah, I love that one so much, I want to
Point 2Faith comes through hearing the word of Christ
Read it a third time. The Bible specifies the way or the means that God gives faith to people. Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. That's Romans 10:17. Let's read it. How does faith come to us then? If God gives us faith, how does he give us faith? We should know that, right?
What's the how? Romans 10:17 says, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ, not a motivational word, but the word of Christ. Now I know, listen, I could get all y'all shouting and the moon and on, and because I've done it, because I'm good at giving motivational speeches up here, I've done that. People don't get saved and don't have faith through that. They just get powered up like your iPhone does when it's almost dead, and now they have quick chargers.
Sunday has become a quick charger for people to make it another three days and then burn out halfway through their week.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:10
Because we're not really helping people have faith, we're just charging them up a little bit so they can make it through their week. But see, faith comes from hearing the word.
Let me tell you, sometimes the word doesn't encourage. Sometimes it challenges.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:30
But that gives faith. Even challenging parts give faith and strengthen us. So faith comes from hearing. Why do we need to know that? Because if faith comes from hearing the word, then you should be telling the word to people. You're like, "Well, I'm going to give my testimony." Well, it's great, it's very great what God's done in your life, and all that's all wonderful and everything, but people only get saved and get faith from that. That's why we need to stop having classes telling people how to tell their story, because I don't save no one. You know how people are saved? By getting faith in Christ. How do they get faith in Christ? By preaching this.
You're like, "Well, I'm not a preacher." You know, I have to be a preacher to talk about the Bible? Some of the best sermons ever preached will be from parents talking to their kids at the dinner table about God's word. Some of us parents need to stop depending on the children's ministry and the youth ministry and the Sunday morning to reach our kids.
We need to begin sharing the gospel every single day around our dinner table, because our children will turn to God if we have the word in our homes.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:30
Listen, I know there's a lot of fun things you can do with your kids, understand that, and understand sometimes they don't want to just sit there and hear a message from you. That's not what I'm saying. Pepper it in, be seasoned, season your kids' life with the word. You don't even have to be like, "Hold on, open up the Bible." You don't have to do all that, just throw it in there. They'll think you're so wise, but it came from God, so you know that's boastful, I'm sorry, but you know what I mean. You don't have to trick them, you know, just throw the word in there, season your life with the word. Trick them anyway. This is all terrible advice. I hear myself, I hear myself. Just give me grace. Here it is: the word of God produces faith. Someone could receive faith while hearing a sermon teaching the gospel, someone else by reading about Jesus in the Bible. Any time the true gospel of Jesus is communicated, there is potential for faith. There's potential for faith.
Notice here that there's not a guarantee that every time someone hears the gospel through the preaching of the word they will turn and have faith, but there's potential for faith.
Our responsibility is not to make people have faith. Our responsibility is to preach the gospel. God does the faith part, we do the preaching part.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:04
This is why, and I'll say this, I've said this, the greatest sermon you ever preach is with your feet. Well, it doesn't say that here, but it's true, and our lives should bear fruit, but that's not his recipe for people receiving faith, by watching your life. You've got to say it. You've got to share the gospel with your mouth. That's how people get faith. You're like, "Well, Shawn, I'm just introverted." So am I. I know, it's shocking, especially after that little section right there, but so am I. I mean, God gives me grace to do what I do here. Meet me at a party, you won't like this church anymore, because I'm weird.
I'm just weird, but I'm passionate about preaching the gospel. You know why I can preach the gospel but can't talk to somebody at a party? You know why?
Because there's power in the gospel, and there's only my strength at a party. That's what he gives it. Faith is not the product of a preacher's compelling presentation. I used to think that we should do all kinds of crazy stuff, like come on Sunday, watch Shawn light himself on fire and shoot something out of the walls. I've done it, I've done it, I have literally done the craziest things you could ever imagine to try to capture people's hearts and draw them in to responding to the gospel.
Listen, if it's not the gospel, they won't respond. They may come down front, they may cry tears, but every person that comes down front, ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says it is not saved. It makes me feel better because I've manipulated emotions, twisted hearts, and made people cry until they just needed to respond. I'm not saying all of it's not genuine, but the Bible does say there will be people who came down to the altar, to an altar call, whose lives have never changed. Nothing looks different from the day they were a sinner to the day they professed to be a believer, and everything has remained the same. It actually says in the Bible that there will be people who will remain in church, serve in church, who will prophesy in my name, cast out devils in my name, do mighty works in my name, and will go to hell because he doesn't know them. That's crazy. It makes you wonder what power they're working under. It isn't God's. And isn't it amazing that not only can we fail to realize that we're working in the devil's power and not God's power, but also people in the church can't recognize the difference, because they remain there in church doing that shenanigans. Faith is not the result of positive self-talk. This is good, this is good. Now listen to me right here. I spent all week on this, and I've been under a lot of conviction about this, because I've said stupid stuff like this: you just need to speak more positively about yourself. Listen, that's New Age wackiness.
You don't need to have better self-talk. You need, and I'm going to say that, I'm not going to say this word, I'm not going to say you need to stop talking to yourself altogether, all right? I'm trying to grow up a little bit. You need to stop talking to yourself altogether, just stop it, and you need to replace it with God's word. Some of you need to begin to listen to what God has to say, and that just requires you to, quite honestly, be quiet. So we don't need us to talk positive to ourselves, put lipstick things on our mirror and speak those and declare those things over our life. That's ridiculous.
Read the Bible over your life. That's what you need. That's what we all
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:21
Point 3Where faith comes from decides whether we boast
Need. Amen. We need some more of that in our life. All right, there's an issue with boasting and I want to tell you what it is. Romans 3:27–28, I'll remind you, then what becomes of our boasting? Once we get faith right, and it's not about self-talk, and the means to receiving it is not by you telling your story to somebody, manipulating people from the pulpit, we know that faith originates from God, and the way that he gives faith to people is through the preaching of the gospel. That is it. That's the first part. That's what faith is and that's how we get it. You need to understand that's what faith is, that's where it comes from, that's how we get it. Now, there's an issue in boasting, and the issue with boasting is this: that many of us, even inside the church, have a secular mindset. We think everything begins with us. That's the issue. So what we're dealing with here, if we're going to have our mind renewed, is to allow God's word to renew it, which means if you have an opinion today that maybe even differs with what we're talking about today, you don't need to try, you need to let God's word form what you think. His word renews your mind.
If you don't allow that, then there's great issue with boasting. Romans 3:27: Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Listen to this. By what kind of law is our boasting excluded? I love this, and I, by what kind of law is our boasting excluded? By a law of works? In other words, let me paraphrase this, by a law of works is the law of works, thinking that things, let me say this, thinking that things originate with you will cause you to live a boastful life, period. So that's how I would rephrase this: thinking that things begin with you causes you to live a boastful life. So here's what Paul says: Then what becomes of our boasting? Is it excluded? By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, because that causes boasting. No, but by a law of faith. What is the law of faith? Faith comes from God, originates with God, and he gets it to his people through the preaching of God's word. How can you boast in anything regarding that? You can't. You just can't. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Let me talk to you about a couple things that lead to a boastful, a couple thoughts, couple ways of thinking that is secular that leads to boasting, that we say, and that is a common part of our language: Did God choose us, or did we choose God?
You're like, "Both." Where does it originate? God. Titus 1:1 says this: Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Notice who chose.
God chose. God chose us before the foundation of the world. God chose. Ephesians 1:11 says this: In him we also have obtained an inheritance, praise God, amen, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Not
Yours. It doesn't say works all things
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:32
according to the plan of his will once you choose him with your free will.
It doesn't say that, nor does it say it anywhere in the Bible. Secular mindset versus biblical mindset. You didn't choose him. He chose you.
It originates with God. It does not originate with you. Does your belief system begin with you or with God? I wrote this down this week, kind of in my personal journal, and I'll share it with you: A secular mindset subverts Scripture, boasts in self, robs God of glory, and undermines the true gospel.
We do this a lot on Sunday innocently, I think. I don't think we're just malicious against God. I just think it's innocent, but I think it really shows our mindset. I believe that pride is the greatest problem in the human race. I'm running out of time, so I'm going to skip over that. Listen, how many of you know pride is a misuse, pride goes before, pride's an issue. Listen, you can't go wrong by just, if you don't know, listen, everything originates with God, but if you're wrestling in your mind whether something originates with God or originates with you, just give it to God, because I mean, I would rather God have it than, I mean, no offense to anybody on the front row, have it. Your front rowers, you're serious, but although, your front rowers, I'm not giving my eternal future and destiny to you, amen. I don't trust you with it, like I don't trust me with it. So at the end of the day, and we talk a little bit about the sovereignty of God, so I mean he is in control and it is his will and he's working his will to make all things happen.
The sovereignty of God: either God is sovereign or you are. Which is it? Because there is no world, our universe, our galaxy, or eternity where both of us are sovereign. Sovereign is complete, it is utter, it is all-encompassing. God accomplishes our salvation without our help. All right, he just does it. How? Now, it's hard for me to reconcile this in my brain. Can you relate? Is anybody here with me today to think this is a little, I mean, like, can we trust God? Trust me, you can trust God with it. You don't have to understand it. That's just what the Bible says.
Point 4God accomplished our salvation completely outside of us
How then can we be put right with God? His wrath, Paul says in Romans 1:18, is being revealed against us, we read that, right? And we are storing up wrath for ourselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Romans 2:5. This is a summary: if we are so proud and sinful and God is so angry, how then can we be saved from the wrath of God? How can people who have so belittled and dishonored the glory of the infinite God ever be set right with God? The answer is actually given in Romans 3:21–26, which we just read, which we have been pondering for the last several weeks. The answer is that God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to suffer and to die and to bleed his blood in the place of proud, ungodly sinners, so that four things would happen. Write these down. The injury that we have done to God's glory through our pride and sin would be repaired. You could say the injury of sin, but our sin is caused would be repaired, because Jesus gave his life to glorify the Father. That's in verses 23 and 25 of Romans 3. The wrath of God would be absorbed by Jesus and turned away from us as he gives himself as a propitiation by his blood shedding. It's verse 25. An infinitely valuable ransom would be paid to release us from the guilt of sin, the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Number four, the righteousness of God would be demonstrated and vindicated. Let me break this down into smaller pieces. Number one, God's glory upheld, that's the easy way to say it. Number two, his wrath propitiated. Number three, the ransom is paid, and number four, his righteousness is demonstrated. His righteousness is demonstrated. Notice out of all four of these, it's what God did.
It's not only what God did, but it's what God did completely outside of us before we had anything to do with it.
A great salvation is accomplished outside of you before anything is applied inside of you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:27
Don't let that be lost on you.
He did it all. All of these things, and this, a lot of big things, he did outside of you. I remember that song, what is that, it's a Toby, I'm not saying this is a good song, but I don't know, it's a song, by the way, I don't really like country, no offense, I know a lot of you guys do, and I'm not a fan. I'm a fan of some country, but I'm really particular. I'm old school, like if I'm gonna listen to country, it's gonna be like Willie Nelson or something. I like real country singers, and not people who wear cowboy hats but don't sing country.
Are you with me? That's just, that's like, you know, that's like gluten-free bread. Like, it's straight from the pits of hell, like it's just, it ain't real or anything. I'm sorry, I know some of you eat gluten-free, I apologize, but I mean, I'll eat my real bread and you can eat your fake bread and we'll all just be happy together. But is it Toby Keith, I think, is what's that, me song, what is that?
"It's All About Me." Yeah, that's it. I want to talk about me, I want to talk about, I want to talk about me, or no, me, I, or something like that. Well, this song, yeah, I want to talk about, yeah, anyway, it's awesome, so I kind of like that song.
Before I met God, actually it was after I met God, I kind of liked that song. I don't know why I did. I don't know why I did, I just, it was catchy, and so, and I would sing it around the house all the time and kind of drive Brook a little bit crazy, and it was fun, so I did, I sang it, and when my young, my second son was born, the doctor, they were having a C-section and the doctor asked if he could turn the radio on, and boom, that song came on. Who? Oh no, was, who's your daddy? Yeah, that's right, you ruined my story. It's still Toby Keith, it was in the same genre. I actually had a shirt that said "who's Your Daddy," and I said, "I am," you know what I mean, and we were wearing that, I was wearing that, and then it came on, "Who's Your Daddy," hey, who's your, anyway, who's your man, and that ruined the whole story. Anyway, but there is this Toby Keith song that says, I want to talk about me, I want to talk about I, and that's the way a lot of us read the Bible. It really is. Listen, it doesn't begin with you, it begins with God. Salvation and faith is what God did in Christ outside of us before we had anything to do with it. A great salvation is accomplished outside of you before anything is applied inside of you. Just in case you didn't know, God slayed his Son, Jesus, before the foundations of the world, before it worked itself out in real time. Are you with me?
That happened outside of us before. Faith calls attention, last point, to the one who is trusted. You either trust in you and faith calls attention to you by the way you approach faith, or faith draws attention, calls attention to God. Whether you see faith from a secular mindset or a biblical one affects who gets the attention. So if you want to magnify the glory and you want to glorify the Lord and you don't want to boast in yourself, you might want to understand that faith comes from him. Don't re-establish boasting by trusting in yourself for salvation.
The whole point of this text is to try to move you away from boasting. I've found, though, that many people in the church, this text has moved people towards boasting, and then I've asked the question why, and I believe the answer is because they believe that everything begins and originates with them.
It's not a biblical mindset. Isn't it amazing that even God's word can move some away from God and bring the glory to themselves, or move people towards God that God might receive the glory in all things? The same word, two opposite effects. Crazy. On the other hand, faith does not call attention to itself but to the grace of the one trusted. Faith corresponds to grace, work corresponds to debt, therefore faith excludes boasting and work supports boasting. You are a beneficiary of grace in all that you are and have. You cannot boast in yourself. Paul says in First Corinthians 4:7, and this is important, what have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? When all is
Point 5Trust free grace alone and stop boasting
Gift, boasting is excluded.
When all is gift, boasting is excluded.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 47:04
But what happens if you try to perform a work of law as a way to get right with God? Three things happen if you try to do it in your own strength, if you think it originates with you, if you think it comes from you, if you try to do something to be justified. What are the three things that happen? Glad you asked. One, you nullify grace. To the one who works, the Bible says, his wages are not credited according to grace. Number two, you turn justification into a wage that is due that you have to pay rather than a gift that you pay nothing for. Number three, you re-establish boasting, which the entire plan of salvation was meant to destroy. So I plead with you today, humble yourself when considering faith. Humble yourself under the great saving work of God in Christ. Turn away from all pride and boasting and self-reliance. Renounce all efforts to show yourself worthy of the gift of justification and trust in free grace alone. Listen, in free grace alone. Everybody say "free grace." Now, you can substitute that with something if you'd like. You can substitute it with free will. You can make it originate with you. Which will it be for you today? And I'll say this, I'll say this,
I'm tired of trusting in me.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 48:27
Let me tell you what trusting in me and my decisions have brought me. It's made me a filthy rat. I want his free grace. And honestly, the Bible charges us to call people to repent and stop trusting in their free will to make it in life and be justified by God, but to trust in him, in free grace alone, apart from the works of the law, as the way to get right with God. Listen, don't respond to God's offer of salvation with Romans 4:4, respond with Romans 4:5. Let me break them down for you, and I'm closing with this right here. Don't respond with Romans 4:4. Here's Romans 4:4, we're going to look at it tomorrow, next week: Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. Don't nullify grace and turn justification into a debt, but respond with Romans 4:5. Here's what Romans 4:5 says: And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Trust the one who justifies the ungodly and you will be saved. Let me just stop here and say this: Paul is hammering so much that this all comes from God that there is a looming question circling that he deals with, and here's the question. He poses it at the end of this text, right before we go into chapter 4, in verse 31: Do then, having all of this, because it all comes from God, because it is not how it works, because it is free grace from God, it originates with him, he's the one who does it, he does it by the preaching of his word, and the preaching of his word alone, he turns hearts and he installs faith and empowers us to live holy lives, and he sanctifies us through the work of the Holy Spirit for those who have received it as a gift from God, here's the question: Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?
So since faith is from God, it originates with him, and he does it all, so the law doesn't matter anymore? He says, By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
You know how we uphold it, though? We're justified by God through faith, which originates with him, and we uphold the law by faith, not by our own strength.
Will it be a secular one, everything originates with you, or a biblical one, where everything originates with God? And let me tell you, if you get this wrong, you're not going to understand the next three chapters, so I pray you do some soul searching this week, you really dig down and you come next week prepared, because he's talking about the father of our faith in this next chapter and we're going to learn a lot from him.
We're going to learn a lot from him and his life, not because he did a lot of stuff right, but because of what God did in his life.
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