#23 - Joby Martin // Understanding Righteousness

We have reminded you that the entire Old Testament , the law and the prophets , the Hebrew scriptures , all point to the coming righteousness of God , the person and work of Jesus . And then we establish that for anyone who believes that you are made right with God . So now we'll pick it up in verse 25 .

He says whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood , that God put forward Jesus as a propitiation by his blood . We're going to come back to that word propitiation 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 . Let me explain what those last couple of verses mean . It means this that all sin must be paid for . Why ? Because God is just .

For God to overlook sin would make him an unjust judge and he will not do it because that would be out of character with who he is . I mean , imagine if somebody sinned against your loved one . Imagine if somebody molested and raped your daughter and then they caught the felon .

They take him to the courthouse and on the day of judgment , the judge looks at this person that has hurt your family and he says you know what ? Nobody's perfect , don't worry about it . You would look at that man as a judge and you would say you are an unjust judge and you were unfit for the role that you play . Well , god is a just judge .

Because of God's justice , all sin must be paid for . God cannot overlook sin , because that would make him an unjust judge . So , because of God's justice , all sin must be paid for . He goes on to say , in his divine forbearance he has passed over former sins . Because of God's mercy , god delayed the payment for sin .

This is why you and I are able to listen to the Daily Blade today , because if he enacted his judgment the first time you ever sinned , then you and I would never have made it out of the crib . Because God is merciful , he delays the payment for sin , but , the best part of all , because of God's grace , he makes the payment on our behalf .

It was to show his righteousness at the present time , so that God must be the just and the justifier for anyone who has faith in Jesus .

You see , at the cross of Jesus Christ , not only do you see the justice of God poured out on sin by the wrath of God being poured out on his son , for he was pleased to crush him , but you also see the mercy , the love and the grace of God , because that sacrifice covers the sins of everyone who would believe .

But what I really want us to lean into is this theological term the propitiation , he says , whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood .

That word propitiation means a payment that satisfies and here's why this matters , why this matters that when Jesus Christ died on the cross , for anyone who would believe , christ's sacrifice life , death and resurrection at the cross and through the empty tomb was the propitiation for your sin .

That means that Christ's payment fully and finally satisfied the law of God , the justice of God , the wrath of God . When Jesus pushed up on his nail-pierced feet , he says to tell us that means paid in full . And men , let me tell you why this matters . Let me tell you why .

If you understand that Christ is the propitiation for your sin , how it will change everything about everything about everything , about your whole life . Aw Tozer says the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God . And a bunch of you think that God is really frustrated with you .

And the reason you think that is because you're frustrating , that you're late and you're lazy and you break promises and you never live up to the things that you say you're going to do , and we think that God looks at us with a furrowed brow .

But pay attention to this If you were in Christ and Jesus is the payment that satisfies , then God is not dissatisfied in you . You hear that that if you are in Christ , the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to you and of course you screw up and of course you sin and of course you fall short . So run to him , quit running from him .

And when he sees you , he sees the perfect blood of his son , jesus Christ . We see this in the prodigal son , where the dad wraps the robe of righteousness around his son . We see this in the breastplate of righteousness . When you put that on , you do not see the flab that's underneath the breastplate , you see the perfect pecs and abs of a Roman breastplate .

And so I tell that , to tell you this God is not dissatisfied in you . What I want you to remember is that when Jesus was baptized , that he comes up out of the water and God , the Father , says out loud about his son behold my son , in whom I am well pleased and pop quiz , how much ministry had Jesus done at that point ? The answer is none .

He hadn't walked on water , hadn't turned water to wine , hadn't preached a sermon , definitely had not been crucified , dead and resurrected . And before he did anything , god placed his pleasure on him . If you were in Christ , then God is pleased in you . Now I dare you to live that way .