Rescued From God's Righteous Wrath Part 1

Looking to Jesus and the apostle Paul was trained in the law and in Romans chapter 3 builds a case with a revolutionary idea God demands perfect righteousness from us. He then supplies demands by conferring the righteousness of Jesus. Those who believe this process is called justification from the Moody Church in Chicago this morning to land when books are whose clear teaching helps us make it across. Vasculature. Today's topic sounds like being found guilty in court and then having the judge come down from the bench to pay the very fine he just assessed Dave that is the gospel and I love how you alluded to a phrase that God demands perfection and then he supplies what he demands. I never tire of explaining that to people.

People think that they are going to get into heaven because they're sort of good. Well, unless you're as perfect as God.

You'll never make it. That's why we stand in such great need of the righteousness of Christ you know to those of you who are listening to the ministry of running to win your being blessed because others have invested in this ministry, would you consider investing in the ministry of running to win so that even more people can hear the gospel I'm looking for those who are called endurance partners. That is, people who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts.

Here's what you do go to RTW offer.com. Click on the endurance partner button. That's where you can find information RTW offer. Of course, that's all one word RTW offer.com. Click on the endurance partner button or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now let us open our Bibles. Let us open our hearts to God's word.

As we look within ourselves and then we look outward to the wonder of God's saving grace. Today it is my privilege to preach the most important message that you will ever hear me preach is going to happen today. There are times when I may be much more eloquent than I will be today may be at some point all preach a message that is even more interesting, but never will I preach a message as important as the one that I am going to give you today today and also next time I'm spending two messages on this passage of Scripture and in the next message I'm going to tell you about the life of a man about whom more books have been written than any other man who has ever lived except Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul and I may even allow you to see his apartment where he lived in Germany.

That's next time. Today I have the privilege of expounding what I believe to be the most important paragraph that is ever been written in the history of the world. Now of course it competes with other wonderful paragraphs that are necessary but probably no passage in all the Bible packs so much truth in so many view verses that we must understand if you're listening to this and you are investigating Christianity. Please listen carefully, because by the time the message is over you will understand that Christianity is a religion like no other. Don't you dare put it on the same shelf with all the other religions of the world.

There is none like it. If you are already a Christian.

I want you to listen carefully because at the end you're going to worship and you're going to worship with a new sense of gratitude to a sovereign God provided a way for sinners. A man by the name of CD Canfield said that there are times when we have to get to the innermost meaning of the and today as best I know how we're going to get to the innermost meaning of the cross and it has some very good news for us sinners. The innermost meaning the passages Romans chapter 3. The apostle Paul has proven that every one is a sinner. If you been listening to these messages, you know that he proves that there is none that does a righteous, no not even one.

And in verse 20 he imagines that we are in the presence of God.

And there's a court seen and in the presence of the living God. Every mouth is stopped in the whole world becomes accountable or guilty before God. And then he begins to expound on God's answer to our dilemma. Horus was a playwright who lived in Rome. He was actually in Rome during the time of the Gustus and he wrote many different poems and plays, and he was also a critic of Roman plate and he said one of the problems with the playwrights in Rome is that they would have as seen on stage that was tangled and then they brought in a God. One of the Roman gods to resolve it any thought that they brought a God onto the stage too soon. He said that no God should ever be brought onto the stage unless the plot is so entirely hopelessly tangled in that only God can solve it by the time you get to this place in the book of Romans.

You discovered that the plot is so hopelessly tangled because we are in darkness and we are sinners that only God is able to solve it and so God comes on the stage to solve it by giving you three aspects of God that I want you to contemplate.

As we look at this passage, I'm going to plunge in. Actually in verse 23, though, we will be looking at other phrases within this marvelous passage all begin with verse 21 but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction for all… Linden all short of the glory of God. We need to be reminded that God is the final reality in the universe.

God not man, and that all sin is actually falling short of God's glory we minimize sin today by saying you know I'm actually a good person but I just made some bad choices, or we say that you know in comparison with somebody else I'm as good as those hypocrites at the and so we justify ourselves when actually what the apostle Paul is saying is that all come short. The imagery is that of an archer, you have a bow and arrow and and you take and you pull it back as far as you can and you shoot it as high as you can and you never hit God's glory and God's high standard, we all fall short of the glory of God, but contemporary man is very content as to where he shoots his arrow. There's a story that I told you in times past, but it fit so well here I have to tell it again. There was a man he was going through the country yard and he saw this barn and on the side of the barn. There were a number of targets and right smack in the middle of each of the targets was a bow and arrow was rather an arrow right in the middle and so he stopped to congratulate the farmer and say you know you must be a good marksman and the farmer said no.

He said there's a man in our community who is feebleminded and he goes around and he takes his bow and arrow and shoots arrows into my barn and then he paints the targets around them. That's what we do as human beings we think to ourselves, we shoot at our target and we hit our target and God exists to come around and to confirm us and to say oh you're okay and to so-and-so's okay and you're all okay. God's glory. If you visualize a wall goes up to the clouds and maybe my bow and arrow hits within 20 feet or 100 feet, but yours is 150 feet but but nobody can attain the glory and the holiness and the purity of God.

Therefore, all will have sin and fall short of the glory of God. Let's take David as an example in the Old Testament. David committed murder and adultery and then later on when he's confronted with it by the prophet Nathan. What happens is a God that recognizes the David need some prodding to admit his sensory sense of the prophet David can assess and Nathan says you have insulted God. He says you have indeed despise the Almighty. Your sin was against God. David now I can imagine David arguing with God and say what you mean. My sin was against God.

I was even thinking about God. I saw this woman and she put me into a trance and all that I cared about was a relationship with her and why did I kill Uriah. I was scared that I was going to be found out and humiliated and ruined my kingdom.

So that's what I wasn't thinking about you. God would come along and say, David. I'm the one that created you and you are accountable to me. I'm the one that instituted marriage and said that there should be faithfulness within the marriage bond.

I'm the one David who gave you the commandment thou shalt not commit adultery.

And even though you weren't thinking about me.

Your sin was directly focused on me and you belittled my glory. And furthermore, you weren't even thinking about it when you get it which really made it worse. As for something what adulterers stays awake at night thinking to himself, you know what I've done, I traded the glory of God. For this sinful relationship and how God must be hurt because I've done it. Most wouldn't think of what they're doing is thinking of the same thing David was thinking of it either a number one. How can I live with my guilt and how can I manage how many pills can I take so that I can sleep at night and secondly how can I keep it under wraps.

So nobody finds out. So you see, all have sinned and whether it is lying. Whether it is the other sins that we've heard about such as pornography, the testimony that was given here. The fact is that all of us fall short in one way or another of God's standard which is his glory.

Now you understand why we need to bring God on the stage to be able to figure this out, and to reconcile us. So first of all, you have the glory of God that is part of the gospel we've sinned, and we become short of the glory of God. Now let's look at the justice of God nine to read this paragraph and read a few verses and then I'm going to expound it to you and I just tell you look in the eye this morning and think that I am the most fortunate person on all this whole world. That's the way I feel today because I can stand here. I can open God's word. This paragraph and by his grace and power. I can explain it to you. Could there be a bigger privilege than expounding the word of God. I don't think so. If there is I haven't heard of it. What here's what I want to do now notice in verse 25 verse 24 we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. Now listen everybody awake at this juncture, I hope your Bible is open and if you're using the one that is in the seat ahead of you. It is page 941, 941 but don't go for it now because everybody will know you didn't bring your Bible to church. As you should. You'll notice it says 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 all who believed on Jesus. What is going on in this text in order to understand the purpose of the cross, we must realize this, that what's this business of former times God because of his patients overlooked sin and how does that relate to the cross. Well let me tell you that. Let's go back to David.

That's the best way to illustrate it. David come short of the glory of God. It's a deliberate sin. It's going to ruin his family and destroys kingdom, and all but he confesses his sin and that what happens after the prophet Nahum Nathan, I should say, God says David, you're forgiven with a convincing me, not simple. David Pearson is been put away. Maybe coming short of the glory of God is really not that serious. Engineers God is saying, hey Dave yeah yeah you really messed up that you're forgiven is it serious serious intent to violate God's glory. There was a problem in the Old Testament God appeared to be dishing out forgiveness so quickly without any permanent sacrifice. He was just giving it out. Look at David John Piper, who has helped me inform my own thinking about these matters gives this illustration.

Let us suppose that there were some assassins who tried to assassinate the president and that they were able to blow up the White House and several of his staff are killed, but he himself escaped rather miraculously and lives and and they are arrested and are brought to court and the judge says are you sorry you were sorry will then find you just go we forgive you your outing.

What would that say about how valuable the president of the United States is, it would say we don't value it very highly. And in the Old Testament the way in which God was forgiving people.

It appeared as if you know marginalizing his glory, belittling it coming short, not that big. Years ago there were some atheists that wrote a tract and they said you know a person should be judged by the company that he keep so what they did is they looked at the Old Testament and they ask themselves the question.

Who does God hang out with.

That was the question Abraham. Abraham lied in fact am from Egypt. He brought a slave girl and eventually had a relationship with her and fathered a child. I me what kind of a husband was that and then he ends up all things in Abraham's bosom, which is kind of synonymous with paradise and we say to ourselves in a moment how the world and he get there honey to get from point A to point B and then they said what about 10 know, of course, Noah got drunk, as you know, and that we could go through the whole list could make Moses had a very hot temper.

That's why he killed an Egyptian hit him in the sand manslaughter.

The whole works and then at the end of his life blows it again because of anger, so there's there's them. David then murder and adultery is called a friend of God, look at who God associates with and so you see there was a scandal that needed to be addressed, namely, how how is God's name cleared when he's associating with sinners, for whom there was no permanent sacrifice because please remember that the blood of bulls and of goats didn't permanently take away sin and and so what Paul is saying here is that the first purpose of the cross is to vindicate God. What God was saying in Old Testament times. Is this I'm withholding my wrath. I'm withholding my wrath, my wrath against sin is huge and it is what shall we say, impeccable, and it is continuing to be great but I'm withholding my wrath I forgiving David, I'm the friend of Abraham.

I'm going to bless know I'm withholding my wrath until Jesus comes.

And Jesus will absorb the wrath of all those whom I have forgiven in the past whose death was never really paid and when Jesus dies on the cross on him. I will lay the end T of David. No, Moses and all the other testament believers who trusted it's all going to be there at Jesus Christ's death and resurrection best way to understand the Old Testament believers as they were saved on credit.

Now if you're listening here as an American you understand very well what that means you go to a store you can't afford it but you put it on credit than than you pay for it sometime later. God says I'm going to take the sin and I'm not going to acknowledge it and don't overlook it until Jesus dies and Jesus Christ death has to vindicate me and clear my name, because these sins that these people committed were huge sins they were violating my glory will Pastor Luther what would've happened if Jesus had not died what he had not come in died and you've got all these people already in paradise.

Paradise would have had to be emptied and the people in paradise. The knoll is and the Jonah's and the Abrahamson that David they would have to be emptied. Paradise would be and they would eventually have to be thrown into hell. Because God is eminently just, and there is no way he can lead bygones be bygones. Now notice what the text says we have are Bibles open.

We are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood. This was to show God's righteousness because of his divine forbearance is divine patients. He passed over former sins.

The first purpose of the cross is to vindicate God and and how does Jesus do it. Notice the word propitiation, you know, today there are people who say hey you know we can't read a Bible with those big words propitiation what does that so modern translations say and atonement, and that is right, but propitiation is really a good word. It means God turning away his wrath will my dear friend, I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is our most precious possession inherent running to win.

We are committed to helping people to understand it better that they might be better worshipers. All of us need to be and that we might never lose sight of the wonder of God's grace.

I had a friend who said that he was in Vietnam and he was walking past some shops and suddenly he heard something very familiar it was running to win. I don't know exactly how they were able to access the program, but of course we're on radio. We are on the Internet and as I think to myself of the many people who are listening to this ministry. It is because others have invested in this ministry and that's why it can be so widely distributed. When you stand with us were looking for those who are endurance partners. Those who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. Here's what you do for more information, you go to RTW offer.com now RTW offer that's all one word RTW offer.com. Click on the endurance partner button and you'll have all the info you need or if you prefer you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. I can't help but think that there are many of you who are blessed by this ministry.

You've never connected with us. This would be a great opportunity for you to learn more about us and help us as we get the gospel of Jesus Christ to thousands of thousands, and newly beginning a ministry in Nigeria.

Here's what you do go to RTW offer.com. Click on the endurance partner button or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337 thanks in advance for being a part of this ministry, because together as God's people.

We are making a difference is time now for you to ask Pastor Luther a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Keeping straight all the events in Jesus life involves a clear understanding of what certain events are called an anonymous run into when listener wants to know this are the Olivet discourse. In the sermon on the Mount, the same event with a different name, or are they actually separate events. My friend very separate events. The sermon on the Mount was given early on in the ministry of Jesus. It actually begins in Matthew chapter 5 is chapter 5, six and seven were Jesus preach this very famous sermon. The all of the discourse is given on the Mount of olives. As you might guess it is near the end of Jesus Christ ministry. The content of these two discourses are very different. The sermon on the Mount laying out righteousness, the need for how we should live in this world and how we should live in the kingdom. When you get to the all of the discourse. Jesus is there with his disciples. He's overlooking Jerusalem and he's talking about the end of time. That's Matthew chapter 24 says you read those they both have their challenges to interpret, but they are very different events given at a very different time. Thank you Dr. Luther for keeping those two things separate. If you'd like to have your question answered.

Go to our website@rtwoffer.com and click on ask Pastor Luther for all of us at 1-888-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us running to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago annoying 60614. Next time, why all of us are under adjust condemnation for sin, but all who believe in Jesus are rescued from then condemnation. This is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church