Romans 3:21-28

²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, ^m through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

History is filled with examples of many suffering because of the failures of the one. In 1968 the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl melted down and while the total death toll from the fallout is still unknown, the fatalities from radiation related cancers could be as high as 200,000 people. The decisions of a small handful of engineers and plant operators changed the lives of thousands. What was true of this disaster is also true of nations, and even of our entire human race. 

We are born sinners by nature, but we also sin because we choose to sin. A brief look at the 10 Commandments is enough to point our failure to keep God’s Law. We stood condemned for our sin. The beauty of the gospel is that Jesus came into the world and became a true human. He became like us in everything essential to our humanity but lacking the one thing that led to our condemnation—sin.  He was the true heir of the promises of God. He was a son of Adam, he was a son of Abraham, he was a son of the promised tribe of Judah, and he was even the rightful heir to the throne of David. He lived the perfect life we could not live and kept the Law that we all have broken. He willingly offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins and made atonement (at one ment) between humanity and God. 

But how does that apply to us? How does Christ’s sacrifice save me and how does his righteousness get applied to me so that I can be justified before God? The answer is in Romans 3:28, “[He] justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” 

That’s it? Yes, that is it. Our works could not save us before Christ, and they cannot save us after Christ. Salvation is only found by placing one’s trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Imagine you racked up a large debt and your bank account was one million in the red. Now by some miracle I was able to Venmo you ten billion dollars. You would have way more than you need to pay your debt, but until you transfer that money into your bank account your debt still remains. Faith is recognizing you have a debt and accepting what I have already supplied via Venmo. There are many reasons why some may not accept the payment. Perhaps they are ignorant, perhaps they don’t believe, or maybe their pride keeps them from accepting the gift, but until they accept what has been freely given, they will remain in their debt. How do we accept Christ’s payment, by calling on him in prayer to save us from our sins and committing to following him as the Lord of our lives. Baptism is the public act that declares our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 

So why do we who are already forgiven still worship Christ? It is not so that we can be saved—that has already been accomplished. We continue to worship, serve, and give because now we are Christ’s. We love him and are thankful for what he has done. We want to learn more about how we can grow in him and follow him more closely. We have been saved by faith and now we strive to live by faith.