Justified and Redeemed
Download MP3All right. If you have a Bible, and I hope you do because we're digging in. Romans 3. If you would turn to Romans 3. A few weeks ago, I was, on a flight going from Birmingham to Denver, and across the aisle from me was a former member of redeem of member of Redeemer.
Jeffrey Heine:And, she had moved away a few years ago. She was just coming back to visit some friends, but we were on the same flight. And I mean, and within 10 seconds, she was already diving in. Like to the person next to her, she was already just asking some deep questions. Within about 20 seconds, this guy's already talking about some serious trauma that has happened in his life.
Jeffrey Heine:Within about 2 minutes, she is going full blown gospel on this guy. I mean, she is just Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And maybe it's because she knew her former pastor was there. You know, I don't know. She's like, she's wanting to impress, but she is just going full blown Jesus on this guy.
Jeffrey Heine:And then within about 20 or 30 minutes, no lie, she's laying hands on him, and she was praying for healing out loud. The entire plane is, you know, just listening in. And, it was really remarkable, to see her and just the boldness of her faith. And then I'm looking over at the guy who's sitting next to me, and, he had brought out what appeared to be a journal. And he was writing in it.
Jeffrey Heine:And, because I don't respect anybody's privacy, I was I was looking at what he was writing. I mean, how can you not? It's it's a public journal at that point. If you pull it out on a plane, it's it's for everyone to read. And so I'm just kinda glancing down, and, he goes, there is a woman across the aisle, and she is just going, Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:And he goes, Why can't I be so bold? He wrote that, and he underlined it. Why can't I be so bold? Do I really believe this? And so I gave him a minute or 2, and I'm just sitting there.
Jeffrey Heine:And finally, I just I just turned, looked right on, and said, so why haven't you told me about Jesus? He's like, what? I was like, I've been just sitting next to you all this time, and you haven't said anything about Jesus. And, and he just he's like, I mean, I and so we have this great conversation during this flight about why he hasn't been sharing his faith with me or his faith. Yeah.
Jeffrey Heine:And, and really, a lot of it comes down to fear. Not of fear of being rejected, but fear of not knowing what to say. And I found that for many Christians, we can say the gospel. We know the story of the gospel, but we can't really explain the gospel. And we have this fear of, well, what if what if this person asked me some question, like, why are Christians always talking about the blood of Jesus?
Jeffrey Heine:You know, being washed in the blood. Sounds pretty creepy if you ask me. Pretty primitive. What what's all that about? You're like, or why do you have to believe in Jesus?
Jeffrey Heine:That he's the only way to quote be saved. Why can't that just work for you and what works for me works for me? Why can't God just forgive people? I mean, I keep talking about this blood, this cross, and everything. Why can't God just say, I forgive you?
Jeffrey Heine:And he just forgives everyone. Isn't that what a loving God would do? Just, hey, you're all forgiven. And we shrink away because we're honestly, we're scared. Well, what if these questions get asked?
Jeffrey Heine:I don't really know the answers to them. Once again, we can say the Gospel, but we have a hard time explaining the gospel, which is why I'm really thankful for this section we have in Romans, in which Paul is going to explain to us how it is that the gospel works. He not only tells us Jesus does save, he tells us how Jesus saves. And so Romans 3, beginning in 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.
Jeffrey Heine:The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and 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 to be received by faith. 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 the one who has faith in Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Pray with me. Father, we just simply ask that you would open up our eyes to the truth of your word. May my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Jeffrey Heine:But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. This thought actually struck me as, as we were singing, that if you follow when Acts or when Romans was written, it's likely in Acts 20. That the very beginning of Acts 20 is when Paul was writing Romans, and it hit me that the very first story after that, after he wrote Romans, is he is preaching someplace, and a young man named Eutychus is sitting in the window of a, you know, second story place, and he falls asleep as Paul is preaching, and he drops down dead.
Jeffrey Heine:And, Paul actually has to go, and he resurrects him, and and then everything is okay. But, Paul was likely preaching on this passage. Okay? This is his Romans was in his mind. He was hitting Romans 3.
Jeffrey Heine:It's super dense. Very theological. The young man couldn't keep up with it, falls asleep, and dies. But that's what we're going to enter into this morning. I like to think of it as dense in a good way.
Jeffrey Heine:Like I I mentioned last week, it's like a rich dessert. You just you have to take it in little slices and savor each little bite. But this is not a this is your best life now kind of theological twaddle. You gotta put on big boy theological pants as we jump into this. We're just gonna look at 3 words.
Jeffrey Heine:I think that's the best way for us to look at this text before us. We're just going to define 3 words. Righteousness, justification, and redemption. Righteousness, justification, and redemption. I want to chew on these words.
Jeffrey Heine:I want to see how they add to the sweetness of the gospel. So the first word is righteousness. Paul begins this section with that those words, but now. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. Now when Paul introduces this section with this, but now, he is saying that for the first time in human history, this is coming.
Jeffrey Heine:This is happening. Something new is unfolding before us. We can now know God's righteousness in a different way. In the past, we knew of God's righteousness through the law, but something new has happened, has broken through. And this new thing, it wasn't just sprung on us.
Jeffrey Heine:He says, it didn't appear out of nowhere but the law and the prophets. They've all been pointing to it. All along, they've been guiding us to this one focal point, this unique event happening in human history. And it's this. That now with Jesus, the son of God, if we have faith in Jesus, this new righteousness of God is revealed.
Jeffrey Heine:So what does the word righteousness mean? It's not a word we use much anymore. Probably most of us have some kind of vague notion of it means, you know, goodness, maybe perfection, maybe without sin. And and all of those are are in the ballpark. I think the, the best, the best definition I've heard of this, it comes from a commentary on Romans that Tim Keller wrote.
Jeffrey Heine:And he defines righteousness as this, a validating record which opens doors. Righteousness is a validating record which opens doors. In other words, righteousness is your resume. If you want a good job, you send in your resume. And you list all of your your your good experiences, all of your skills.
Jeffrey Heine:You list all the things that will make you worthy. Worthy of getting this job. When you present your resume, you're saying, accept me. Look at me. Look at all my credentials.
Jeffrey Heine:I deserve to be a part of this company. And this is how every religion or really every person instinctively relates to God. We try to put together the best resume that we can. We try to put together a really good performance record. And we hope that it's enough to get us in.
Jeffrey Heine:For those of you who are in school, this is why your parents keep saying, well you gotta be in this club. You gotta be in this club. You gotta do all these things. You gotta get in all these volunteer hours. It's not because they care about the charities.
Jeffrey Heine:They care about your resume. They want you to get a good resume that will open doors. Get you into a certain college, get you a certain scholarship. So they're they're padding that resume. They're building it up for you.
Jeffrey Heine:This is why some of us go to church. It's why some of us put money in the offering. We hope that it adds a little bit to our resume, adds to our performance record, maybe tilts the scales in our favor. So one day we might get in. But Paul says he's already shown us our track record.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what Romans 1 and 2 are about. He's already shown us our track record, and none of us are righteous. We've all sinned. But thankfully, for the first time in history, God has revealed to us a new righteousness, a new way to be righteous. God himself is giving us his own righteousness.
Jeffrey Heine:So this new, perfect, flawless record or resume is being given to us through faith in Jesus Christ. Alright. All y'all with me so far? Because it's about to get fun. Okay?
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. That phrase we have, the righteousness of God, can also be translated as the righteousness from God. You could translate it as the righteousness of God, and that would be the ESV. Or you can translate it as the righteousness from God. And if you have a n I v, that's how it's translated for you there.
Jeffrey Heine:Which is it? Is it of God? Or is it from God? Is Paul talking, in other words, about a righteousness that God has? Or is Paul talking about a righteousness that God gives?
Jeffrey Heine:Do you see the distinction? Righteousness of God is what he has. Righteousness from God is what he gives, which is Paul talking about. And I'd say both. He's actually talking about both.
Jeffrey Heine:God is giving us his own righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Let me throw in one more translation issue, And I promise this is the last translation curveball I will give you. There's more out there, but we're just gonna look at these 2, because it's important. In verse 22, when we read the words faith in Jesus Christ, This can also be translated, and perhaps you have a footnote, as the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Context is the only clue you have as to how you will translate this.
Jeffrey Heine:Is this faith in Jesus? Or is this talking about the faith of Jesus? The faithfulness of Jesus Christ? And can I just say at the start, like, whichever one you pick, they both work in this context? They both really do.
Jeffrey Heine:And and neither one of those translations is going to lead you astray as to what Paul is talking about here. But I believe the faithfulness of Jesus Christ is the most helpful. It's the most helpful way that you can understand what Paul is really getting at, in this sentence. So let me sum it up for you. Because I know we've just thrown out a lot.
Jeffrey Heine:There is a new righteousness that's being revealed to us because for the first time in human history, someone has come and actually lived a perfect life. Jesus, the Messiah, the King, the Christ, he has come into this world, and he and he alone has been faithful to keep God's law. He is the only one in human history who has ever done so. He's the only one who is now has the perfect record. That flawless resume.
Jeffrey Heine:No one else kept the law, but Jesus did. And because he is the Christ or because he is the King, that means he is a representative of a people. And so he did it on behalf of us. And so his righteousness now becomes our righteousness if we trust him for it. In other words, Jesus is offering us his resume.
Jeffrey Heine:He's saying, I did the work for you. Here's my resume. Use this to now open doors. And the doors of heaven and the doors of a relationship with God are now open wide. So that's what I believe is the thrust of that one verse there.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. So let's let's keep moving here. Alright? Now, let's look at justification. That is righteousness.
Jeffrey Heine:Now let's look at justification. Verse 24, we read these words. And are justified by his grace as a gift. Are justified by his grace as a gift. This one verse is really what launched the Protestant Reformation.
Jeffrey Heine:You wanna know the difference between Catholics and Protestants? It's this verse right here. Catholics, they believe that justification, is the process. It's the process by which God makes you into a righteous person. And he does this by fusing his own righteousness in you through through the sacraments, through things like hearing of God's word, through baptism, through taking of the Lord's supper, that every time you participate in one of those sacraments, God's righteousness is gradually being given to you.
Jeffrey Heine:And then over time, you've you've stored up enough righteousness that you are now justified. You can you can achieve this justification. And if you don't achieve that justification in this life, you go to purgatory. Where the remaining sins are purged from you, and then you will be justified. K.
Jeffrey Heine:So that's that's what Catholics believe. That justification is a process over time through through going to church, taking the sacraments, all this, because righteousness is is gradually coming to us, and eventually, we are justified. Protestants believe that justification is not this process in which we're gradually becoming righteous. Instead, justification is when we are declared righteous. God just says, you are justified.
Jeffrey Heine:The image that Paul has is, once again of a courtroom here. We're standing before the judge. We are condemned. We're we're awaiting our verdict, and then for some reason, through sheer grace known only unto God or the judge, he says, you're pardoned. You're forgiven.
Jeffrey Heine:You can go. You are justified. Now you're still a sinner. He doesn't say you didn't do the act. You are still a sinner, but he's not gonna treat you like one.
Jeffrey Heine:You're still a criminal, but you're not getting what you deserve. He declares that you were pardoned. That you're justified through sheer grace. That's what we believe as protestants, that we are still sinners while at the same time justified. But it's a step further.
Jeffrey Heine:Justification isn't just forgiveness. Forgiveness is acts like a pardon. Forgiveness says you are free to go. Justification says not only are you free to go, but you are free to come. You're free to come.
Jeffrey Heine:It's as if the judge says, I pardon you of your sins. And would you like to come over for dinner? And the judge now treats you like a son. That's what justification is. It's when God doesn't just forgive you and say, I'm not gonna punish you, but then he begins to treat you like he treats his son, Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:And now come. Come to me. Come sit at my table. I now treat you like my son because we've been given his righteousness. Does it make sense?
Jeffrey Heine:That's justification there. It's not just forgiveness, which says you may go. It's also you may come. You were forgiven, and now you may come into my presence. And notice that Jesus does it all.
Jeffrey Heine:You are completely passive in this. You are treated now like the one who earned that perfect record, like that one who conquered sin and death himself. Next word is redemption. Redemption. Now, this idea of redemption, it has its roots in the old testament.
Jeffrey Heine:You you will find this this principle, this idea in the old testament. Back in the old testament, if someone owed a debt that they could not pay, What they could do, really, their only option at this point was they would sell themselves in slavery to the person that they owed the debt to. They would give them their property. They would sell themselves to slavery, because in this day you couldn't file for bankruptcy. There was no protections like that.
Jeffrey Heine:You couldn't go and a loan out in a bank. This was really your only option is, I gotta find a way to work off the debt. And so that person would take over your property, and you would work for them. You'd become a slave for a period of time until the debt was paid. But often, you can never pay off the debt.
Jeffrey Heine:The debt would be so great, you're essentially going to be a slave for the rest of your life. The only way you could possibly get out of this situation is if you could find a Goel. It's the Hebrew word for a kinsman redeemer. If you could find a Goel. A goel was a relative who could come and pay off your debt for you.
Jeffrey Heine:This person had to be a blood relative, and they had to do it voluntary out of their own will. They could not be coerced into doing this. Had to be just a sheer act of love. I'm doing this on my own. And that go well could come and pay off the debt and buy back your freedom.
Jeffrey Heine:Restore your status. You read about this in Leviticus 25. It lays out the rules for a kinsman redeemer. Now, the greatest Goel that we have in the Old Testament comes from the Book of Ruth, which, if you're familiar with the book of Ruth, is 4 chapters. But it is even though short, it is the most beautiful, heartwarming story that you could read.
Jeffrey Heine:We don't have all the details of Ruth's life. They're not given to us. But we do know this, that she was a Moabitess. She married a Jewish man who was sojourning in the land of Moab, along with his brother and his mother. So Ruth grew up outside of Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:So she had never been to Israel. She's a Moabitess. She's outside of the family of God there. But she's married to that Jewish man. And then just a a plague hits Moab, and it kills her husband.
Jeffrey Heine:It kills her father-in-law. And it kills, it kills a man's brother's wife as well. I mean, it kills his brother as well. So it just devastates his family. So all that's left is Ruth, Ruth's sister, and Ruth's mother-in-law.
Jeffrey Heine:The mother-in-law, Naomi, says, there's nothing there's nothing left for me here. We have no one to take care of us. We're both widows. And says, Ruth, you go back to your people. I'm gonna go back to my people in Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:I don't have any I don't have any land there, but at least they're my people. And Ruth says those famous words. My wife actually has a ring that has these these words inscribed on it. It says, your people will be my or where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people.
Jeffrey Heine:Your God, my God. And Ruth refuses to leave Naomi. And so Ruth goes back into Israel. But the situation doesn't get any better. I mean, if you were in a patriarchal agrarian society, and you were a widow, you were like the poorest of the poor.
Jeffrey Heine:You have you have no means to take care of yourself. And so Naomi's like, we gotta do something. And Ruth goes, I'll go out and I'll glean in one of the fields. Because that's what that's what you could do if you're the poorest of the poor. You could actually go to a field, and after the harvesters have already gone through it, you could pick up the scraps.
Jeffrey Heine:And so you would work all day just to pick up a little bit of scraps, hope it would be enough for you to maybe make some kind of bread. And so that was gonna be their existence. And so, she went off to do that. But that was a very dangerous thing for her to do. For 1, she was a foreigner.
Jeffrey Heine:She was a Moabitess. And 2, the harvesters didn't have the best reputation. Thankfully, she chose the right field. She chose a field by a man named Boaz owned it. And he was like, that that woman is putting herself in a very vulnerable, dangerous position.
Jeffrey Heine:To tell you how vulnerable it was, he actually had to command all of his workers, you don't touch her. Because he knew they would. You don't touch this woman. A matter of fact, you can even leave a little bit of extra grain for her to pick up. He was extraordinarily kind to her.
Jeffrey Heine:And so Ruth, she comes back, and she reports to Naomi. She's like, here's here's the grain I got. I went and I worked in a man named Boaz and his field. And and Naomi says, Boaz? You Boaz's field?
Jeffrey Heine:Boaz is a He's a kinsman. He's family. And then the wheels begin turning. And they come up with this plan. And it also is a dangerous risky plan.
Jeffrey Heine:But Ruth goes that night to where Boaz is sleeping out there by the threshing floor, and she quietly goes up, and she lays down right next to him. Boaz wakes up in the night, and there's there's a woman there. It's like, who is this? She says, I'm Ruth. Will you be my kinsman redeemer?
Jeffrey Heine:She basically asked, will you marry me? I mean, that is a bold thing from a foreign widowed woman to come and to ask that. And Boaz, he gets his garment, and he puts it over her saying yes. And he becomes her kinsman redeemer. And not only does he go and he pay off all of her debts, restore their the land and the property and everything that they had before.
Jeffrey Heine:But look at what being a kinsman redeemer actually does. It's more than that. It's more than the paying off of the debts. It's covering a person with your love and your protection. It's now saying, and everything I have is now yours.
Jeffrey Heine:My status is yours. My love is yours. My home is yours. You once were not family, but now you have become family. I mean, what a heartwarming story.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, wouldn't it be amazing if that could happen to us? I mean, why is a story like that in the Bible? Is it just there, you know, it's written during the time of the judges? This just, you know, you needed a break. You read Judges.
Jeffrey Heine:This is so depressing. You're like, we need one heartwarming story. It's a picture of redemption. Of the true Goel, the true kinsman redeemer, one who became our flesh and blood. He became our flesh and blood.
Jeffrey Heine:One who paid off our debts voluntarily. His idea, I will do this out of love. But it's so much more than the paying off of debts. When Jesus became our redeemer, he's saying, now all that I have, all that I am is yours. You once were not family.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, you are family. Now, all of Heaven is opened up to you. God's presence is opened up to you. My love is lavished on you. That's what it means when we say we are redeemed.
Jeffrey Heine:We have been ransomed back. Jesus, actually when he says that he came to give his life as a ransom for many, it's the same word. He came to give his life as redemption for many. Jesus has become our kinsman redeemer. Aren't those three beautiful words?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, when you understand them, when you understand the righteousness that we have from God, the perfect resume, when you understand the justification, it's not just you are free to go, but you are free to come. And And when you understand that redemption, that Jesus at an incredible cost to Himself has ransomed us back and made us His own. And now everything He has is ours. That's the sweet gospel that we believe and one that I hope you have put your trust in. Pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord Jesus, for anyone here who's clinging to their own track record, their own resume, I pray in this moment they just drop it. We would never hold up anything before you to say, look at this righteousness. Now accept me. But we would recognize that Jesus has done it all. Jesus, we thank you for being our kinsman redeemer.
Jeffrey Heine:We thank you for the love you have lavished on us. You have not only paid off our debts, but now we are treated like family, and all that you have is ours. Lord, may we believe that with all our hearts, soul, and strength. We pray this in the sweet name of Jesus, our savior. Amen.
