“being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” – Romans 3:24 (NKJV)
Summarize in a Word: The
Great Redemption
Key Principle: Justification
is through redemption alone
Key Application: Cherish
the gospel
Main point of the Passage: We are
made right with God freely because Christ paid for it dearly.
Illustration: Professing Christians bored with Gospel
Exhortation: Thank God for the (free) gift of divine
Salvation
One of
the challenges of preaching the gospel to our community is that almost everybody
“understood” what gospel is. We can define the Gospel factually – the birth and
death, and resurrection of Christ for our sins according to the scripture. We
even profess to believe it but hardly live out its fruit. Everybody claims to
be Christian by birth, but (many) with either false assurance or no assurance.
They look beyond the gospel for assurance. To them, to listen to gospel again has
become boring. Gospel looks very dry, simple, cheap, available and irrelevant.
Some think they “know gospel enough” for them to escape hell, whereas other
people think Christ will let them enter heaven if they continue to live a moral
life, and attend church, and pray for forgiveness.
In
Romans 3:24, we see very clearly for the basis of our assurance. Sinners those who put their trust in the
redemption accomplished through Christ are justified freely before God. That
means he is counted righteous before God. His sins are forgiven. It also means
he has peace with God, being reconciled to God. Justification is free in the
sense we do not do anything in order to be justified. No works of human – good
works, penances, sacrifices, fasting, religious duties – nothing we do can
justify us. It is the sheer grace of God.
However,
it is neither cheap nor frivolous, because it takes Jesus Christ to justify us.
He bore the wrath of God, which was ours to redeem us from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin. Apart from Christ, there is no mercy and deliverance of God.
Once we were under the slavery of sin, darkness, guilt, spiritual deadness,
spiritual slumber, and under Satan. Christ bought us with His blood to set us
free that we might live in holiness, light, assurance, eternal life as children
of God. We are made right with God freely because Christ paid for it dearly.
God does
not justify us because we know the Gospel intellectually. It is for those who
put their faith in the person and work of Christ, being conscious of their sins
and the justice of God. There is never a moment we stop needing the gospel. Gospel
(Justification) is not just about deliverance from hell but also from the
practice of sins to repentance and holiness. Thank God for the gift of divine
Salvation. Cherish the gospel of the great redemption.