Title:Justice in the Gospel

Text: Various, Romans 3:25-26

Truth:The good news is that God has provided a way for sinners to be justified.

Date/Location: Not yet preached.

1. Principle of Justice

The Bible teaches that the righteous must be cleared, and the guilty must be condemned and punished. Deut. 25:1. This is a basic function of human government and courts. Romans 13:3-4.

The Bible teaches that the wicked must not be justified and the righteous must not be condemned, Proverbs 17:15. We sense a great miscarriage of justice when a guilty person is acquitted or an innocent person is falsely accused, convicted, and imprisoned.Illustration with Zimmerman and the frustration on either side if the wrong answer comes out.

It is not morally right to punish good people, Proverbs 17:26.

God will not justify the guilty, Exodus 23:7.

In fact, God is angry with the sinner because of his sin, Psalm 7:11.

2. Problem of Sinners

All are sinners, Romans 3:10. If you are a scientist, this should be clear from the evidence. It is very clear from the Bible. Psalm 14:1. Eccl 7:20.

This means that all are under God’s wrath, John 3:36. We learned in 1:18 that God’s wrath is a real concern, despite people’s hatred of the idea.

This means all are destined for condemnation and the punishment due for sinners, which is death. Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12. Evidently there is no way to get out of this, because it is an abomination to God to acquit guilty people, and we are guilty people!

3. Propitiatory Substitution, Rom. 3:25

But there is another key principle.

A. To propitiate means to satisfy that wrath. Jesus was the means of expiation (atoning for guilt or removing the grounds of guilt). The word actually is hilasterion which is also used in Hebrews 9:5 in the New Testament and in many passages in Exodus and Leviticus to refer to the mercy seat cover over the Ark of the Covenant. This is the place where the priest sprinkled the blood of the Day of Atonement sacrifice to make satisfaction for the sins of himself and the nation. It was also the place where God met with man (Exodus 25:22, Numbers 7:89).

In this way, we see that God has replaced the metal mercy seat with the person Christ Jesus. Jesus is now the place where God meets man and where God’s wrath against sin is dealt with.

Note that God set forth this means of propitiation. He actively initiated and pursued this outcome. Humans do not initiate in the matter of salvation. Probably in every other religious system, the initiative starts with man trying to propitiate God; in Christianity it is the opposite, where God set for His son as the propitiation.

In His blood = through death

B. Benefits of propitiation are accessible andonly can be received by anyone through faith. This means that the believing-in-Christ sinner is not subject anymore to the wrath of God, but is an object of God’s love. Furthermore, he/she receives the gift of righteousness or “justification” before God.

4. Principle of Justice Upheld

Romans 3:26 shows how God’s principle of justice is upheld. The sinner can be justified, and God can be just, without damaging himself or his reputation by acquitting a wicked person. How is that? Because the punishment for sin was truly poured out upon Jesus Christ in my place.Therefore justice was served. Happily, it can be served by another instead of by me myself.

This arrangement preserves God’s righteousness and allows Him to justify unrighteous people and permit them to have a relationship with Him.

So, I can live because Jesus died.

Conclusion

Let us be very clear on this point: God only justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Based on what we have learned, if God were to justify someone another way, then He would not be just because He would not have fully dealt with the sin of the person. Without Jesus, there would have been no propitiation and no demonstration of His righteousness. God would be accepting wicked people with no ransom price, with no satisfaction, and with no legal proceedings to show they are righteous.

Appeal. Jesus died for sin so we could die to sin. Jesus died to satisfy the principle of divine justice because we did not and could not. MAP