Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20000730.htm

ROMANS: CHARTER OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
"Part VI: The Salvation Sufficiency Of Faith Alone In Christ's Death"
(Romans 3:21-30)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

One of the most debated issues in Christendom involves what is needed for a person to enter God's heaven. Consider the following:

(1) Herbert W. Armstrong of the worldwide Church of God, in the November 1963 issue of "The Plain Truth," (pp. 1, 4, 7-8) said that salvation comes by keeping the Mosaic law.

(2) Albert Pike, a chief proponent of Freemasonry, in Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1914, p. 639) said: "Notwithstanding the death of the Redeemer [Jesus Christ], man can be saved only by faith, repentance and reformation." (emphases ours)

(3) In defense of her beliefs, Marge Francis of Gaylordsville, Connecticut wrote in the July 7-13, 2000 issue of The Voice that "Jesus' Mother, Mary, is the Mediatrix of all." Since this role for Mary is held by the Catholic Redemptorist Fathers to mean "Sinners receive pardon by . . . Mary alone" (The Glories of Mary, p. 82, 83), This belief holds one must rely upon Mary if he would enter heaven. (4) Walter Abbott, The Documents of Vatican II, p. 33 reports that the Catholic Church asserts: " . . . the [Roman Catholic] Church . . . is necessary for salvation . . . through baptism men enter the [Catholic] Church. Whosoever . . . would refuse to enter her or to remain in her could not be saved."

(5) Some Christian believe one must believe in Christ but then not die with unforgiven post-salvation sins or fail to enter heaven.

(6) Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, denied sin even existed, saying man was incapable of sin and thus did not need the Christian's idea of salvation, Science and Health, p. 475.

(7) However, our Nepaug Church Statement of Faith says in Article III, Section 6: "We believe that salvation from sin is only thru faith in the atoning death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as one's personal Savior." In Section 5 of that article we hold that believers are kept saved as they are sealed by the indwelling Holy Spirit "until the day of redemption" when believers enter heaven.



Well, is there a passage in the Bible that clearly, undeniably reveals just HOW to enter God's heaven?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Since one of the most debated of doctrines in Christendom is what a person really needs to DO to enter heaven, is there a Bible passage that explains it in a clearly UNDENIABLE way?!"
  1. Paul claimed God's righteousness was manifested apart from the Mosaic Law as testified by the Old Testament itself, Romans 3:21.
  2. This righteousness is by faith in Jesus Christ for every person in the world as all have sinned, coming short of God's glory, 3:22-23.
  3. In explaining the application of that righteousness, Paul revealed HOW Christ's death so appeased God's WRATH against man that faith in Christ ALONE was ALL that was needed to be saved:
    1. Romans 3:21-23 reviews what Paul taught about the condemnation of ALL men since he noted God's wrath against all men in Rom. 1:18:
      1. Paul claimed in Romans 1:18 that God's wrath was leveled against all men for rebellion against God and repression of the truth.
      2. Then, in 1:18-22a, we have seen how the evolutionist has rebelled and suppressed God's revelation in creation, inciting God's wrath.
      3. Next, in 1:18, 22b-32, we saw how Paul showed the pagan rebelled and suppressed God's truth, also inciting God's wrath.
      4. Next, in 1:18; 2:1-16, we have seen Paul exposing the moralist's rebellion and suppression of God's truth, inciting God's wrath.
      5. Finally, in Romans 1:18; 2:17-3:20, we have seen Paul revealing the Scripture-based man in rebellion and suppression of God's truth, leading also to his inciting God's wrath.
      6. Thus, Paul revealed in Romans 3:21-23 how God deals with the bleak plight of the world in which all its individuals stand totally unshielded from God's wrath against them, cf. Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, p. 167-168.
    2. Well, in Christ's death, God's WRATH was so SPENT, all who have sinned (Rom. 3:23) are pronounced righteous from sin by God as a free GIFT IF they believe in Christ's death, Romans 3:22a, 23-24:
      1. The Romans 3:24a word translated "justified" (KJV, NIV) means "to be pronounced righteous," UBS Grk. N.T., p. 537; Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 196.
      2. The One making this proclamation is the very GOD Who harbors wrath against all men who have sinned, Romans 3:25a, 26.
      3. This pronouncement is given to the sinner as a GIFT, Rom. 3:24a:
        1. Paul taught the pronouncement is actually a "gift" by using the Greek word dorean, the noun meaning "gift", Ibid., p. 209.
        2. Here, dorean means "as a gift, without payment, gratis." (Ibid.)
        3. This gift of a righteous acquittal from God is given "by His grace," by God's favor that thus comes without man's merit.
      4. Paul shows how the cross make's this gift not merited by man:
        1. God set forth Jesus crucified on the cross as what the KJV calls a "propitiation" through the sinner's faith in Christ, Rom. 3:25.
        2. This word is treated by some to be merely an expiation, or a covering for sins as God is viewed NOT to be angry at sinners, cf. Catholicism's The New American Bible, ftn. to Rom. 3:25.
        3. Yet, the relevant word in Romans 3:25, ilastarion, appears elsewhere in the N. T. only in Heb. 9:5 for the Old Testament's mercy-seat, Moulton & Milligan, Voc. of the Grk. N.T., p. 303.
        4. That "mercy-seat" was used once each year not to deal with individual sins by the people of Israel, but generally for the sinners themselves who were under God's wrath, Lev. 23:26ff.
        5. This fits with the context where, since Romans 1:18, something must absorb the wrath of God against sinners themselves!
        6. Thus, Christ's death so SATISFIED the righteous demands of God against the sinner, that when the sinner simply believes in Christ, God's fierce wrath against him is so spent that God can pronounce him absolutely righteous as a gift to the sinner, 25a.
        7. Accordingly, the sins done before Christ's cross were totally removed at the cross to avert all of God's wrath against all who believed in God as Savior before the cross, Rom. 3:25b (4:3).
        8. Thus, presently, any time any sinner believes in Christ, God is both just and the Justifier of that person so as to pronounce him perfectly righteous in God's eyes, Romans 3:26.
        9. Hence, Paul concludes man's works do not even compute into salvation: salvation is God's gift by faith, Romans 3:27-28.
        10. God then pronounces righteous every man, regardless of his human heritage, by faith ALONE in Christ alone, 3:29-30.
Application: (1) We must BELIEVE on Christ's work FOR us on the cross to be pronounced righteous by God. (2) Now, ONCE we have DONE so, we can REST in the truth that we WILL enter heaven due to GOD'S GIFT to us by faith ALONE in Jesus Christ!

Lesson: Since the WRATH of God against EVERY man was so FULLY SPENT against CHRIST on the cross where He died FOR us ALL, NO MORE work or merit on MAN'S part is even RELEVANT for his destiny. Man is justified as a GIFT from God by faith ALONE in Christ ALONE!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 While admitting he was worthy of death, the thief on the cross asked Jesus to remember him when He entered His kingdom. Jesus replied, "Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:40-41, 42-43 KJV)

Jesus' reply to this man reveals how we gain heaven as follows:

(1) The thief was a sinner as Jesus did not correct his assertion to the other thief that he deserved punishment: he deserved damnation!

(2) Yet, the thief entered heaven without giving to the Church: as a crucified man, his possessions were confiscated, Mtt. 27:35!

(3) The thief went to heaven without baptism, communion or going forward in a church service as he was restricted from doing so.

(4) The thief went to heaven without penance: though admitting he was guilty of death (Luke 23:40-41), and having previously mocked Jesus on the cross (Mtt. 27:41-44), he asked Jesus to remember him without confessing these, and Jesus still said he would enter heaven.

(5) The thief went to heaven without last rites: Jesus, the only "qualified" one there to give them was the first to die, John 19:31-33.

(6) The thief missed confirmation en route to heaven: this ritual allegedly gives the Holy Spirit for salvation, but the Holy Spirit was not given for another 50 days on Pentecost, cf. Acts 2:1-4.

(7) The thief bypassed purgatory to enter heaven: though he admitted he was worthy of capital punishment, he went to heaven the day he died without time to suffer for his crimes, Luke 23:41, 43!

(8) The thief on the cross went to heaven without speaking in tongues as that gift came 50 days later at Pentecost, Acts 2:1-13!

(9) The thief went to heaven without reincarnation: though a criminal, he went to heaven that day, not allowing enough time for several reincarnations to provide enough self-improvement to reach it!

(10) The thief went to heaven without asking for Mary's help!

(11) The thief went to heaven without Jesus adding the condition that he confess any post-salvation sins before he died: the thief's salvation included the eternal security that he would to make it to heaven in the end!