Well, the only way we can come to God is as a sinner. We can’t come to God and say, "Now look. I’m just here to bargain; I want to get as good a deal as I can. I’m not all that bad so I might as well get as much as I can." No. Every human being has to come before God recognizing that he has missed the mark; he’s a sinner, he’s lost. And we’re walking dead people. Dead spiritually because we all start out separated from God the very moment that we draw out first breath. There is NO one born into this world righteous before God NO one. There were only two Adam before he fell and Jesus when He came as "the son of man" but Jesus remain on the higher ground throughout His life and that by way of personal choice.
Alright then, verse 24, and look what it says immediately. "Being justified freely." It’s just like back in Genesis 3. Just as soon as man fell as a result of Adam’s act of lawlessness, sin, God comes right back and sets in motion a plan of redemption, promising the seed of the woman. Well it’s the same way here. Just as soon as Paul declares every human being a sinner, the very next verse he gives us that escape route. Isn’t it glorious? And the fact that most people won’t take it is even worse. But nevertheless, here we have it.
Romans 3:24
"Being justified (declared just as if we’d never sinned) freely (see all these words and how loaded they are? We’re not justified because we’ve earned it. We’re not justified because we really deserve it. No. We’re justified freely) by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:"
And what’s Grace? The finished works or benefit of our great benefactor. God doesn’t justify us because we have one ounce of deserving. He justifies only because of His Grace. And that Grace was epitomized; it was brought to the crescendo through the redemption or the process of buying us back that is in Christ Jesus. The just for the unjust. Now just mull that over for a minute. Through the Grace of God, when we recognize that we were sinners, God could come right back immediately and say, "That’s fine, I know you’re lost, but I’ve already bought you back, I've REDEEMED you.” But notice it did not say I've Salvationed you, NO but rather Redeemed you. Salvation though a larger umbrella which covers redemption is not our starting point, we have all got to pass through redemption long before we can every reach God's intended Salvation program. For just like a child grows up onto preschool and then Kindergarten and then through higher levels of schooling. We too must progress through redemption, under the training and teaching of our tutor the Holy Spirit and His watchful eye until we reach a stage of our first crisis. Wherein we find before us our undoneness and sins utter ugliness within us and we begin to desire more of God's righteousness and Christ. And this process may repeat itself until such time as we're deemed ready to accept the need of our death to sin and the spirit of the world which holds sway over and within us. For when we've learned Christ we learn His way of the higher road from which He did not turn or cave in and the need for our doing as He has done in order to be a doer of the Word or Will and law of God. All this is required because at redemption we are given the right or power to become a son of God, which simply means that we're not at that time a true son. There remains a time or season of preparation until we're deemed ready to become a son.
Remember that I gave the story of the little boy, who had made a boat. This little fellow had made a small sailboat. Spent months making this tremendous little boat. And so one day his parents took him out to a park that had a small lake. And he started sailing his sailboat and he was just having a ball with it but, as kids are prone to do, his mind was suddenly changed to something else. And he ran off and left his sailboat unattended, and when he came back, his little sailboat was gone. He was so heartbroken.
But, now months later, he and his Mom were walking down the street and they went by a pawn shop and in the window of that pawn shop was his little sailboat. It was still beautiful, and hadn’t been hurt a bit. And he said, "Mama I’ve got to go in here." So he takes off into the pawn shop and he runs up to the fellow at the counter and he says, "I want my sailboat." "Well, what are you talking about, the pawn broker asked?" The boy pointed to the boat in the window. "It’s mine, I made it." The fellow says, "Sorry buddy, but I’ve got money in that boat. You can have it when you pay the price."
Well, whatever the price was the little fellow went out and told his Mom, "I’ve got to some work." And so he did. He mowed lawns, he raked leaves, he scooped snow. He did everything he could until he finally had enough money to go back to that pawn shop and he bought his sailboat. Now are you getting the picture? He made it. He worked for it. He lost it. And now he had to work so he could buy it back. And as he was carrying it out the door, he said to his Mama, with tears running down his cheeks. "Mama, this boat that I made, I’ve bought it back! And now it’s mine!"
You see that’s exactly what God has done. He made us. He created us, but He lost us. Where? When Adam fell. Now when we were in Genesis, you know, I made it very clear that every human being was in Adam and because of Adam’s rebellion, lawlessness we all inherited that sin nature and its accompanying death. And that’s why we’re born sinners. And so God lost us, when He lost Adam.
And now He has paid the price of our total redemption, through that work of the Cross. Like the little boy who had to go and do all the various menial jobs, Christ in turn did it when He went to the Cross. And so He paid the price of redemption. But remember, whenever we present salvation to the human race, it’s always on that basis; yes, it’s all done. The price has been paid. Forgiveness has been declared. Reconciliation has been declared but you cannot appropriate it without coming through His faith and the work of the cross. It’s not an automatic.
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