Romans 3:24-25 - Restoring Man's Relationship With God.
Romans 3:24-25 (NCV) and all need to be made
right with God by his grace, which is a free gift.
They need to be made free from sin through Jesus
Christ. 25 God gave him as a way to forgive sin
through faith in the blood of Jesus death. This
showed that God always does what is right and fair,
as in the past when he was patient and did not
punish people for their sins.
Romans 3:24-25 (MSG) God did it for us. Out
of sheer generosity he put us in right standing
with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the
mess we're in and restored us to where he always
wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus
Christ. 25 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the
world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in
him sets us in the clear. God decided on this
course of action in full view of the public - to
set the world in the clear with himself through
the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of
the sins he had so patiently endured.
INTRODUCTION
Salvation Is a Gift; You Dont Work for a
Gift
If you were to ask a hundred people on
the sidewalk, How do you get to heaven?
youd get a lot of different answers that could be
summarized by the idea that you have to earn your way
to heaven. Youd hear things like, Try to
be good and do your best or Work really
hard at being a moral person or Do more
good things than bad things in life. All of
these ideas are based on works, not grace.
But salvation is a gift, and you dont
work for a gift. Its free! You cant earn
it, you cant buy it, and you cant work for
it.
This is a fundamental difference between
Christianity and every other religion. Christianity is
the only religion thats built on grace. Every
other religion is based on works, and you can
summarize them in one word: do. There are
certain things you have do in order to gain Gods
approval, to gain bliss, to gain heaven. There are
always rules, regulations, and rituals - something
you have to do.
On the other hand, one way you could
summarize Christianity is with the word done.
Jesus Christ has already paid the price for you on
the cross. Its done!
A guy asked me one time, Pastor Rick,
what can I do to be saved? I said, Youre
too late! (That kind of shocked him.)
Youre about 2,000 years too late! What needed to
be done for your salvation has already been
done, and you cant do anything about it.
Jesus Christ already did it. He paid for
your salvation on the cross, and its now a
free gift thats offered to you. Thats why
when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he said,
It is finished. He didnt say, I am
finished, because he wasnt. Hes still alive
today. The it is your salvation. The plan to
provide grace for every person is finished.
Romans 3:24 says, All need to be made
right with God by his grace, which is a free gift.
They need to be made free from sin through Jesus
Christ (NCV).
You wont get to heaven based on what
you do. You get to heaven based on what has
already been done for you by Jesus Christ.
When we really understand grace, well
accept it, because it is the greatest gift were
ever going to be offered. [Daily Devotional by
Rick Warren: https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
COMMENTARY
Where the Wrath and Love of God Meet
In our culture, sin is no longer
considered an issue. Although some people might admit
to making mistakes or being wrong, few will
actually say, "I have sinned." The Lord, however,
takes sin very seriously. Until we learn to see
transgression as He does, we will never understand what
happened at Christ's crucifixion.
The cross was God's perfect answer to a
terrible dilemma. Because the Lord is holy and just,
He hates sin and must respond to it with
punishment and wrath. Yet He also loves sinners and
wants to be reconciled with them. The cross of
Christ was the place where God's wrath and love
collided.
The only way to rescue fallen mankind
from eternal punishment was to devise a plan
whereby the Lord could forgive sins without
compromising His holiness. There was no way to overlook
transgressions; His wrath had to be poured out - either on
us or a substitute. But there was only one
possible substitute: the perfect Son of God.
So Jesus came to earth as a man and
suffered the Lord's wrath for us as He hung on the
cross. Sin was punished, divine justice was
satisfied, and now God could forgive mankind without
compromising His character. His wrath was poured out on
His Son so that His love and forgiveness could
be lavished upon us.
Because of human limitations, we'll never
grasp all that happened while Jesus hung on the
cross. We can begin to comprehend only the physical
suffering He endured, but in the spiritual realm,
Christ bore so much more - the very wrath of God.
This costly redemption plan proves God's great
love. [In Touch Daily Devotional by Charles
Stanley at www.intouch.org re vss. 23-26]
Justice and Mercy
The sinful condition of mankind presents
us with a dilemma: How can a holy, righteous
God forgive our sins? If He deals with us only
on the basis of His justice, every human being
would suffer the eternal punishment of His wrath,
which their sins deserve. But if He extends mercy
instead of justice, no one would pay the penalty for
sin, and God would then cease to be just.
There was only one way the Lord could
stay true to His nature and at the same time
forgive our sins. The solution was to satisfy His
justice by pouring out His wrath on a substitute.
Then the penalty for sin would be paid, and He
would be free to extend mercy to sinners. This is
the only plan that accommodates both aspects of
His divine nature. So Christ came as our
substitute; He took the punishment for our sin, enabling
us to experience the Fathers mercy. Now, by
placing faith in Jesus, anyone can be justified -
that is, declared legally righteous.
Gods plan of salvation is simple
enough for a child to understand. Yet at the same
time, the complexities of the transaction that
occurred at Calvary are far beyond human
comprehension. Although we may not fully grasp what
transpired there, we can know that the cross is the
greatest possible display of the Lords love for
us.
Can you even imagine the cost of your
salvation? The magnificent plan of the Father and the
willing cooperation of the Son prove your tremendous
value in Gods eyes. From His perspective, you
are worth all the pain and suffering that was
necessary to secure your eternal presence with Him in
heaven. [In Touch Daily Devotional by Charles
Stanley at www.intouch.org re vss. 21-26]
Gods Great Gift Isnt Traditionally
Wrapped
The greatest gift ever given wasnt
bought in a store. No cash exchanged hands. It
wasnt even traditionally wrapped - instead, this
gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed
in a manger.
Yet it cost the Giver everything.
The Bible says God sent his Son to Earth
as the greatest gift ever. He came to die and
make you right with God. Romans 3:24-25 says,
Out of sheer generosity God put us in right
standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of
the mess were in and restored us to where he
always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of
Jesus Christ. He sacrificed Jesus on the altar of
the world to clear that world of sin (The
Message).
So why did Jesus have to die? Lets go
back to the basics.
Nobodys perfect. Ive never
met a single person who is perfect, and
neither have you. I dont measure
up to my own expectations, much less
Gods perfect standard - and
neither do you. Weve all blown it. The
Bible says, All of us have sinned
and fallen short of Gods glory
(Romans 3:23 CEV).
God is just. God wants to be fair.
When somebody breaks a law, there
must be a penalty for it. When you
break mans laws, you pay mans
penalty. When you break Gods
laws, you pay Gods penalties. The Bible
says, The payment for sin is
death (Romans 6:23 NCV).
Jesus paid the price for our sin.
The Bible says, God took the sinless
Christ and poured into him our sins.
Then, in exchange, he poured Gods
goodness into us (2 Corinthians
5:21 TLB). Jesus took on my sin and
your sin and all the sin that has
ever been committed. Thats the Good
News, the Gospel. Jesus paid the
price you could never pay.
Accept Gods free gift. God
offers us the free gift of salvation because
Jesus took upon himself our sin -
but its a gift we must choose to
receive. The Bible says, To all
who did receive him, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God (John
1:12 NIV).
If you havent accepted Gods free
gift of salvation, I pray you will make that
decision today. Its one thing to understand the
basics of how to have a relationship with Jesus.
Its another to accept the gift.
And if youve already made that
decision, I pray you share the Good News of Jesus with
someone who needs to hear it. [Daily Devotional by
Rick Warren: https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
CLOSING THOUGHT
Christ, Our Righteousness
The first three gospel writers spoke of
redemption as a pardon of sin, or justification. John
spoke of it as a life that Christ is to live in us
- regeneration. In Paul's letters, however, we
find both truths in beautiful harmony.
Paul first spoke of justification in
Romans 3:21-5:11. Then he went on from 5:12 to 8:39
to speak of the life that is lived in union
with Christ. In Romans 4 he told us that we find
both these things in Abraham: "Abraham believed
God.... To him that ... believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness" (v. 3, 5). Then, in verse 17, Abraham
"believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead." Just as
God considered Abraham's faith as righteousness
and then led him to believe in Him as the God
who can give life to the dead, so it is with
every believer.
Justification comes when the eye of faith
is fixed on Christ. But that is only the
beginning. Gradually the believer begins to understand
that he was at the same time born again, that he
has Christ in him, and that his calling now is
to abide in Christ and let Christ abide and
live and work in him.
Most Christians strive, by holding on to
their faith in justification, to stir themselves
up and strengthen themselves for a life of
gratitude and obedience. But they fail sadly because
they do not know, do not in full faith yield
themselves to Christ, to maintain His life in them.
They have learned from Abraham the first lesson:
to believe that God "justifieth the ungodly."
But they have not gone on to the second great
lesson: to believe in God "who quickeneth the dead"
and daily renews that life through Christ, who
lives in them and in whose life alone there is
strength and fullness of blessing. The Christian life
must be "from faith to faith" (Romans 1:17). The
grace of pardon is only the beginning; growing in
grace leads on to the fuller insight and
experience of what it means to be in Christ, to live in
Him, and to "grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:15).
[Andrew Murray 365-Day Devotional Bible by Barbour]
LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS TOPIC
1 John 5:11, 12 - ETERNAL LIFE IS A
RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!!!
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2022/20220320-1151.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
