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Scripture: Rom. 3:23
I. The source of man’s sin:
А. Sin came from Satan.
B. Sin came into the world through Adam.
C. Man is born in sin. Because man is the seed of Adam, man is sinful since his very birth.
II. Man’s sinful life:
А. Man is born in sin; therefore, man lives in sin.
B. If man lives in sin, all his living is sinful, whether consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or unintentionally.
C. Give practical examples of how man commits sins.
III. Man falls short of the glory of God:
А. The glory of God is the standard of human morality. The glory of God is the manifestation of the character and the disposition of God. This glory should be the standard for man’s living and man’s morality. Whether a man is sinful or not should not be judged according to man’s moral standards but according to God’s glory. Some deeds are not sinful according to human moral standards, but they are quite short according to God’s glory. For example, God’s divine disposition is manifested when He forgives man’s sins. But man thinks to himself, “As long as I do not offend others, it is not a sin for me not to forgive them when they offend me.” How short is this lack of forgiveness when compared to the glory of God.
B. According to this divine standard, we realize that there is no comparison between man’s moral standard and God’s divine disposition and character. Not only to hate people is sin, but also not to love people is sin.
C. Man is made according to God’s image. Man is the picture of God to express God. But now, because sin came in through Adam, man is full of sins and filthiness, so man certainly comes short of the glory of God.
IV. The way to salvation:
А. Confess that you fall short of the glory of God.
B. Christ is the effulgence of the glory of God. Receive Christ as your Savior, and He will enable you to live out the glory of God.
C. Live in the presence of God by the life of Christ.
Scripture: Rom. 3:24
I. Grace:
А. Grace is the expression and manifestation of God’s love.
B. Grace is something freely given of God or done by God.
C. God freely saves and justifies us; He did something for us and gave us something freely.
II. Redemption:
А. Redemption is necessitated by God’s righteousness. God’s righteousness requires that He accomplish redemption for us.
B. God’s redemption is accomplished by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
C. The death of Christ on the cross satisfies the requirement of God’s righteousness so that God’s grace can come to us freely.
III. Justification:
А. Justification is the grace of God to save us according to the righteousness of God. Therefore, justification is both grace bestowed upon us and God’s righteousness accomplished for us.
B. It is God’s love that causes Him to have grace upon us, and God’s righteousness that causes Him to accomplish redemption for us.
C. Therefore, because of justification, God can reckon us righteous and is able to save us.
Scripture: Rom. 3:25-26
The propitiatory sacrifice is propitiation place in the original language.
I. God set forth a propitiation place through Jesus:
А. In the Old Testament the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was the meeting place for God and man. In the Holy of Holies there was an Ark that contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments express the righteous requirement of God. This means that if a man wanted to be in the presence of God, he had to fulfill all of these Ten Commandments. But the real condition of man is that rather than keeping the Ten Commandments, he breaks them. Therefore, according to the Ten Commandments, God has to condemn man.
B. However, God is also full of compassion. His love causes Him to be gracious to man. Here we see that God’s love is conflicting with God’s righteousness. In order to fulfill both His righteousness and His love, God sent Jesus to be our propitiation place.
C. Jesus Christ was given to us by God’s love and grace, but the shedding of Jesus’ blood for the forgiveness of our sins is according to God’s righteousness. Because His blood satisfies the righteous requirement of God, enabling God’s love to come upon us, Jesus becomes the propitiation place of God.
D. In the Old Testament the propitiation place was on the top of the Ark, completely covering the law inside the Ark. This signifies that Jesus Christ and His redemption completely satisfy the righteous requirement of God. Thus, God can no longer put the demands of the law upon man.
II. By the blood of Jesus:
А. In the Old Testament the blood was sprinkled upon the propitiation place for the people of Israel. Every year on the Day of Atonement the high priest had to bring the blood of atonement into the Holiest of all and sprinkle it upon the propitiation place. Then, upon the propitiation place God manifested Himself to meet with man. There man was also able to meet God and obtain grace from God. Under the propitiation place there was the righteous law of God, and upon the cover there was the blood of atonement. The righteous law was putting demands upon man, but because of the blood on the propitiation place the demand of the law was satisfied.
B. Likewise, in the New Testament the blood of Jesus Christ satisfies the righteous requirement of the law of God. With the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s righteous law can no longer put any claim upon us. Thus, the blood of Jesus Christ opens a way for God to grant us His grace without causing God to be unrighteous. Therefore, it was through this blood that God established the Lord Jesus as the propitiation place.
III. By the faith of man:
А. The righteousness of God has already accomplished everything for us so that we might obtain God’s salvation. However, we must receive this salvation by faith. To receive is to open our heart to believe in Christ and His redemption.
B. To believe is not only to agree or to confess but also to receive in the spirit.
IV. To manifest the righteousness of God:
А. By our faith and through Christ, God not only gave us grace but also manifested His righteousness. Every believer who obtains redemption through faith in Christ has both the grace and the righteousness of God. Because Christ has accomplished redemption, His blood has satisfied the righteous requirement of God. Thus, today if we believe in Christ and His redemption, God has to forgive us and justify us for His righteousness’ sake. If God would not forgive or justify us, He would be ungracious and unrighteous. So today God’s forgiving us and justifying us by faith manifests not only His grace but also His righteousness.
Scripture: Rom. 3:22a, 28, 30; 5:1
I. The works of man fail:
А. The requirement of God’s law is perfect.
B. In contrast, the works of man are imperfect and defiled.
C. Therefore, no one can be justified according to his own works.
II. The redemption of Christ is sure:
А. The redemption of Christ is entirely according to the requirement of the law.
B. Christ’s redemption also satisfies the requirement of the law.
C. Thus the redemption of Christ enables man to be justified by God.
III. Justified through faith:
А. Since the works of law are not dependable, but the redemption of Christ is so dependable and sure, justification must not depend upon man’s works but upon the redemption of Christ.
B. In order for man to depend on the redemption of Christ, he must believe in Christ and His redemption; in other words, he must receive Christ and His redemption.
Scripture: Rom. 4:4-5; 6:23a
I. Wages are justly received:
А. Wages are earned through working.
B. Wages are a payment according to righteousness, according to the work that a person renders.
II. Grace is freely received:
А. Grace does not require working.
B. Grace is freely bestowed and not earned.
III. Man’s sin earns him the wages of condemnation and death:
А. In the eyes of God, all of man’s behavior is sin, and this behavior is man’s work. Man does no other work but to sin. Therefore, before God we have done only the work of sin.
B. Man’s work of sin earns the wages of death. Thus, the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).
IV. God’s grace is freely bestowed through the righteousness of Christ:
А. Through the righteousness of Christ, grace came to us. The redemption of Christ has already fulfilled the righteous requirement of God, thus enabling God to bestow grace upon us.
B. Grace is bestowed upon us through the redemption of Christ. This is possible because His redemption reckons us righteous.
Scripture: Rom. 4:7-8
I. The blessing of having sins forgiven:
А. Unforgiven sin issues in condemnation, which leads to perishing; thus, this condemnation is a suffering.
B. With the forgiveness of sin man avoids destruction; thus, this forgiveness is a great blessing.
II. The blessing of being accounted as righteous:
А. On the negative side, the blessing of forgiveness of sin is the saving of man from destruction. On the positive side, the blessing of being accounted as righteous is the acceptance of man by God.
B. Forgiveness of sin is to be forgiven after you have sinned. To be accounted as righteous is to have God see you without sin, as though you have never sinned. So Romans 4:8 says, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall by no means account sin.”
III. How to obtain the blessing of being forgiven of sin and being accounted as righteous:
Develop this point.
Scripture: Rom. 4:25
I. Crucifixion:
А. The crucifixion of Jesus is not a sacrifice or a martyrdom, although it is commonly considered to be so.
B. The crucifixion of Jesus was to redeem sinners and bear the sins of men. Romans 4:25 says that Jesus was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification. His being delivered refers to His going to the cross.
II. Resurrection:
А. On the negative side, the crucifixion of Jesus took away our sins; on the positive side, the resurrection of Jesus justified us.
B. Through this resurrection we not only receive a righteous position but also a righteous life — the life of God in Jesus Christ. This life enables us to live out a kind of righteous life that exactly matches our righteous position.
III. How to partake of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus:
Develop this point.
Scripture: Rom. 5:6-8
I. Christ did not die for the righteous man:
А. The righteous man is one who is just and faultless toward God and man; he is one who has completely fulfilled his duty.
B. There are very few people, if any, who would die for this kind of man.
C. But Christ did not die for the righteous, because actually there are not any righteous men in the entire universe.
II. Christ did not die for the good man:
А. The good man is a moral person, even surpassing the righteous man. What the good man does goes beyond his human duty; he is not only just and faultless but kind as well.
B. There might be a few who would be willing to die for the good man.
C. But neither did Christ die for the good man, because strictly speaking, there are not any good men on the earth.
III. Christ died for the sinner:
А. A sinner is not a good man or a righteous person.
B. Christ died for such sinners who are neither good nor righteous persons.
C. Whoever considers himself a good and righteous man is not one who is saved by Jesus’ death; thus, he cannot obtain the salvation of the Lord Jesus.
D. Jesus died for the sinners, thus manifesting God’s love.
IV. How to participate in the death of Jesus:
Develop this point.
I. Man’s conflict with God:
А. Since the time Adam sinned, man has had conflict and discord with God.
B. We have had conflict with God from the time of our birth.
C. We are in conflict with God in all our daily living and walk.
II. Man as God’s enemy:
А. We have not only received from Adam a life that has conflict with God, but in this life we also have Satan’s nature and are enemies to God.
B. From the time of our birth, we are against God and are God’s enemies.
C. Our human living is against God.
III. Reconciled to God:
А. God sent the Lord Jesus to take away our sins through the redemptive work of the cross, thus resolving the conflict between God and us.
B. God sent the Holy Spirit to move us and to cause us to repent and turn to Him.
C. Once we believe in the Lord Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and we are justified, accepted, and reconciled to God.
IV. How to be reconciled to God:
Develop this point.
Scripture: Rom. 5:12
I. The origin of sin:
А. The originator of sin is Satan.
B. Satan originated sin when he rebelled against God.
II. The entrance of sin:
А. Sin entered into the human race through Adam. We can use hereditary disease to illustrate the entrance of sin. For example, the germs of venereal disease are passed down from parents to children. Likewise, sin was passed down from one man, Adam, and entered into the descendants of Adam.
B. All humanity inherited sin; therefore, not one man is without sin.
III. The result of the entrance of sin:
А. The fruit of sin is death.
B. Death passed on to all men because all have sinned.
IV. How to escape sin:
Point out the ways of escaping the punishment of sin and the power of sin.
