Romans 3:21-31 (#13.2025.03.02)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there'll be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibletruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:47

Well, Beth and I are grateful every Sunday to see smiling faces. We've been, we've been doing this together since about '91, I think, '91 or '92. Started in the high school when the chapel was meeting in the high school, so we're grateful every week to show up and see folks are still coming. So that's really good. And as you study the word of God, I think there are kind of three dangers, particularly as you study books like Romans. Number one is I just want things to be really simple. Jesus loves me. This I know, or the Bible tells me so.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:27

And that's true. And sometimes, though, that's the best place to go, just the simple pure truth that Jesus loves you. This, you know, or the Bible tells you so. But I think the second danger is to wanna have all the answers. I wanna have all the answers. Right? And as you start to dig around in scripture, you find, right, that you it creates as many questions, sometimes more questions than it does. And so the need to understand that as you go deeper into the things of God, you should have more questions. If you're looking at the God who created all things by the word of his power and he sustains all things by the word of his power, If you think you have all the answers, you'd be clueless because he is beyond comprehension.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:16

He is other. Right? And as you walk through the the things of God, you're gonna be left with questions, and you need to know that that's okay. You don't need to have all the answers. And I think the third danger is when I think I have all the answers and the things of God become pedestrian. Oh, yeah. I know that. Oh, yeah. I know that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:37

I know that. And so as Gentiles, right, we we pride ourself on knowledge. So we often think that the Christian life is about multiple choice questions. If I can get a 92 on the quiz, I know God. Right? Wanna get all the right answers. And so we just start to say, oh, ho of the things of God. And so as we go through scripture, I want you to be hit afresh by the fact that there are deep and powerful concepts that God has revealing about himself, and we should be continually pray for the spirit of blown away. Right? That we would be in awe of God as he reveals himself.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:22

And so in this part of scripture, he is reminding us that he is revealing the righteousness of God, which is beyond comprehension. It's fully beyond comprehension, but it gives us a sense of his right his righteousness. But as and more important for us, how we can acquire the righteousness of god, which is beyond our capacity, the righteousness of God. So he's declaring that as we go through here. So stand with me as we read this, section in, Romans chapter three Romans chapter three twenty one to 31. But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus, whom god displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of god, he passed over the sins previously committed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:45

So the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. But what kind of law? Of works? No. But by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law, or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes. Gentiles also. Since indeed God will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one, Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be. On the contrary, we establish the law.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:36

The word of the lord. Thanks be to god. Holy smokes. There'd be a lot there, isn't there? And remember, in Greek the Greek, there is no punctuation. There are no verses. Right? This is just right? This is concept upon concept upon concept. So let's see if we can break this down because this comes on the heels of him reminding us that we are all accountable. All are accountable.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:13

All are accountable, and we are accountable to God. We are accountable to God, and we are being judged under the law. He says so that how many mouths may be closed? Every. Every mouth. Every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God. Right? Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. That's bad news. That's very bad news because it means the entire world, knowledge of God or no knowledge of God, he reminds us in the beginning, everyone has knowledge of God by the creation and by the conscience.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:55

We all have knowledge of God, and we are all judged whether we know the law or we don't know the law. That's bad news. And there is no good news unless there's bad news. Because the question is the good news has to come as a result of there is bad news. And so there's a great phrase at the beginning of this section. It is but now. But now. So we are all accountable to god.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:23

We are judged under the law, but he said, here's the good news. But now there's something different something different, but now. And underline apart from the law apart from the law. Apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested. So he's reminding us that the gospel is revealing the righteousness of God. If we don't start there, we think that the gospel is about us. The gospel is not about us. The gospel is about God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:59

It is about God and his righteousness. It is about the fact that you cannot achieve his righteousness on your own account by your own merit. The god who is holy, holy, holy, in him is he's light, and in him, there is no darkness at all. There is no sin, not a speck of sin ever. He is clear and pure and holy and true, and his righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. It is the the the the footer of who he is. Loving kindness and truth goes before him, but righteousness and justice. So he says, this is the beginning.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:38

Oh, it's about God. I forgot. Because, primarily, I wake up and I am about moi. I'm about me. I'm I have the Copernicus problem. Doesn't the universe revolve around me? So when we think about the righteousness, we think about me. I'm pretty good. Right? So he's reminding us the righteousness of god is being manifested.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:07

In other words, being made clear, the Greek word is being brought out and seen and made clear, which would mean we don't understand it on our own. God had to demonstrate it. He had to manifest it, made it made it be known. Newell says the Greek puts to the very front this great phrase. What's the phrase? Apart from the law. And this says forth most strongly the altogether separateness of this divine righteousness from any law performance, any works of man whatsoever. Well, that's really good news because it's bad news, good news. It's bad news that by the works of the law, we cannot earn his righteousness.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:56

Right? And there is a different kind of righteousness. So he reminds us here, this is not new. So the the the blank is the new this is the new covenant. This is the new covenant. This was promised by the prophet Jeremiah, the new covenant. There is a new covenant covenant. So he says, this is not new. This is new, but it's not new because this was witnessed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:23

It was it was demonstrated and prophesied by the law and the prophets. The law and the prophets pointed to one who would come. Right? The Messiah who would initiate the new covenant, not the old covenant. It's nothing new. And I love it because he says the this is the righteousness of God. So there are two components of this. One is God's righteousness as part of his character. This is what his righteousness is.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:50

The second part of that is, so how do we achieve the kind of righteousness that allows us to be in relationship with god? So I always say the sun, the actual sun, right, the sun in the universe is a good demonstration. Sun in the universe is 10,000 degrees 10,000 degrees. We can't get within 4,000,000 miles of the sun if we send a craft out there that would not be consumed by the light and the heat. That's as close as we've been able to get. So in order to be able to get next to the sun, near the sun, you would have to be of the same nature as the sun. Does that make sense? You would have to be equal in power, equal in light, equal in energy. Otherwise, you'd be consumed by the sun. Anything that got near the sun would be consumed by its power.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:45

It's a demonstration that how you think you could get close to god. Could you just walk to the sun? Well, let's get in the craft and go near it. I get so close to power of the sun would consume it. So how do we obtain righteousness which allows us to get near to god? That's the question. This righteousness of god is how are you gonna get into the form that will allow you to not be consumed when you get near him? How are we gonna be in relationships? That make sense? Kind of. It should be a kind of, but there's a difference. The righteousness of god as his character, right, that's his nature. But the question is, how do we obtain the righteousness of God to be in relationship with him? This is his character, but the question is, how do you and I, right, obtain righteousness his righteousness so that we can be in relationship with him? That's what this righteousness is.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:56

How do we obtain the righteousness of God so that we can get near to God? So the righteousness of God, this the blank says for us. This is the righteousness of God for us so that we can approach him. We can be near to him. We can be intimate with him. We could be in fellowship with him. We could be in order to have the righteousness of god, we must be his, like him. Does that make sense? So in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Jesus was in fellowship with him because he's of the same nature.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:33

That's why he's the only begotten. He's the only one of the same nature. He's equal in power. He's of the same nature. So it's as if you had a son and a son together, they would not consume each other. Does that make sense? Kinda does. Alright? So this is the righteousness of god for us. How do we obtain it? Through faith.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:56

Through faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the human, right, god made flesh, Messiah. So because it said the righteousness of god is not ours by faith, it is ours through faith. So how is that different? Well, we don't earn righteousness by our faith. We don't earn it by our faith. We receive righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. We receive it. We don't earn it. We receive it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:34

Very hard for us because as humans in the world, you get what you deserve. You right? You get paid. Right? You get paid. Right? You deserve. You get paid. So okay. Wait a minute. Let's see.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:50

How do we do? Through faith. We don't earn it. So he says, you have to understand, we we've all fallen short of the standard. What's the standard? The glory of god. That's the standard. The glory of God is the standard. God upholds his glory. His glory is the weight of who he is, the the depth and the purity and the essence of who God is.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:15

There is nothing higher in value, nothing higher in all of creation than god himself. He is the weight. He is the the the the most valuable, and his glory is the highest and best. Does that make sense? If God does not uphold his glory, his righteousness falls apart. His glory so the standard is his glory. We've all fallen short, not of what I think I should be, not of what I think the best person is. We've all fall short of his glory. The glory is the standard.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:52

It's the laser level, and the laser level is beyond comprehension. The glory of god. So the judgment is he says there's no distinction. Who's sinned? All. So that's the judgment. Right? The glory of god god is not only beyond comprehension. It's beyond apprehension. It's impossible to apprehend in order to be the righteousness of god because he is other.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:30

He is eternal. To whom belong glory, right, and honor and power for thou didst create all things by thy power. Right? He existed, and he created all things. So he says that's the judgment. And so the the third thing he says then, the need the need. So if the standard's the glory, the judgment is you fall short. The need is not just one thing, but it's multiple things. He says it's justification, redemption, propitiation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:14

So justification solves man's guilt before god's righteousness as the righteous judge. Redemption solves our slavery to sin, and propitiation solves our offending the eternal creator. So let's walk through these deep and weighty concepts. So we hear words. We kinda think we get it. Let's wade ourselves through these. So he says, Jesus, right, is what's required. The only way that you can obtain his righteousness, if you will, is that you have to be in Jesus Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:02

You have to be in Jesus Christ. In other words, his righteousness is the vessel to which ensures that we are not consumed in relationship with god. We have to be in Jesus Christ. He's the only begotten. He is of the same nature. He's of the same nature as God in power. So first of all, he says, Jesus is our justification. Our justification.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:38

He says, first, we have to be rendered. What do we have to be rendered? Just and innocent. We're guilty. The first thing is you're guilty. What are you gonna do about it? Nothing we can do about it. So we need Jesus to be our justification. Well, how did we earn that? Well, he says, no. You didn't.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:05

It's a gift. A gift. The word dorian means freely. So it's it it's translated as gift. It means freely. So watch this word is used in John 15. It said, Jesus was saying about himself. He says, they hated me freely.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:31

They hated me freely. In other words and it's translated, they hated me without a cause. So there was there was nothing in their hatred justified. They hated me freely. This is the same word that's freely here. Even as there is nothing, Guzik said, Jesus nothing in Jesus deserving of man's hatred, There is nothing in man deserving of justification. They hated me as a gift. In other words, there was no basis for their hating.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:08

You're justified as a gift. In other words, there's no basis for your justification. Just like there was zero basis for their hatred in Jesus, there's zero basis for you being justified. I thought I was so special. Come on. He justified me because I'm not as bad as everyone else. I'm not that bad. Right? I mean, god looked around and said, these are pretty good laws, not as bad as other people.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:40

We should justify him. We should justify her. And whether you believe that or not or say that, well, there's part of your thing to say I'm not that bad. Right? Have you thought that? Right? I'm not that bad. I'm sure God picked me because I was okay. But he said, just as there is zero basis for hatred of Jesus, there's zero basis for God to justify you. It's a gift, freely. And he says, in case you didn't get it, it's a gift freely by his grace.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:21

Oh, it's a it's freely. It's a gift, and it's a gift by his grace. It's initiated by his grace. We get the the English word charity from the Greek word. It's a gift, a gift by its nature. It's a gift, but it reminds us, oh, by the way, it's kinda like free free. The free gift by his free grace. Oh, It must really be free.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:56

Is that good news? It's great news. But he says it gets better because Jesus is also our redemption, not just our justification. He is our redemption. He is our ransom. Ransom would suggest what? Payment in order to free. Payment in order to free. Right? Literally means ransom in full. Very important.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:35

Ransom in full. Triple idea of bondage, a deliverance, and payment from the deliverance. So it's used for prisoners of war. It's used for slaves who are bought off of the slave block. Prisoners of war who were bought back from slavery. We have been redeemed, paid in full. Oh, it kinda like sounds like it is finished. Theliss died, which literally means paid in full.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:12

This is what Jesus said on the cross, paid in full, the ransom. He says that we have been bought by God. Oh, that would mean we are his. So it's justified freely by his grace, and we've been bought back. That means we're his. Well, I'm not anybody's. I'm my own. Right? I'm my own.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:43

I mean, we're American. We're our own. Freedom is the name of the game. Right? We're his. He's redeemed us. He's paid in full. He's ransomed us. And the debt, he reminds us it's a debt that cannot be paid by human hands.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:04

There's nothing in this human world that will satisfy that debt. And the third thing he says, he is our long word, propitiation. Propitiation. Not a word we use on a regular basis. Right? The the idea is literally, to make us propitious to God and say that three times. In other words, to render favorable to render favorable. And the idea is an atoning sacrifice. So the Greeks would use it as as an right? As a sacrifice, which was given to their gods, right, as a way to appease their gods, right, who were angry and and and and yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:06

So it's an atoning sacrifice. So in first John, god says through the apostle John, if anyone sins, we have an advocate an advocate. Somebody wanna have an advocate. What you wanna have is you go through life, don't you wanna have an advocate, somebody who stands up with you and for you? And you wanna have an advocate who's bigger, better, more powerful, more able than you. Right? Otherwise, why do I need an advocate? Right? If I'm good on my own, I don't need an advocate. I bring alongside those who advocate for me, those who stand for me. Well, we have an advocate. And our advocate is where? He's at the right hand.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:52

He's at the hand of favor with the father. Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God and son of man is our advocate. Advocate. Right? On my he he advocates on his behalf, but he's also right? He's Jesus Christ, the righteous. So he advocates for you out of righteousness, and he himself is the propitiation person. He's the atoning sacrifice. Is he enough? Is there anything to add? A little bit more. I'll tell you a little bit more.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:34

Jesus plus. Jesus plus a little bit of my thing. Right? Jesus plus a little bit of my righteousness. Jesus plus. Right? No. He says paid in full. There was not it was not paid 90%, and you add 10. Not paid 95%.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:53

It wasn't a deposit and the rest to be collected from you. It was paid in full. You start to get. He is our justification, our redemption, and our propitiation. We should arise in the morning and go, woah. Because there's one thing about Jesus is he sat down at the right hand, and he changeth not. The father of lights in whom there is no shadow of turning, he changeth not. Is that good news? Yep.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:25

Yipper. Alright. Flip over. This word propitiation, the Greek word, when they translated the Old Testament in Greek, the again, they used this Greek word to translate the mercy seat The mercy seat. So, the mercy seat is the lid covering the ark of the covenant. So inside the ark, what do we have? We have our sin. Right? We have the tablets of the law, which we broke, the mammon, which we were ungrateful for, and the budded rod of Aaron showing our, rebellion to god's authority in our life, right, remind us. Law reminds us that we are sinful.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:18

Right? The the manna reminds us that we are ungrateful, and the butted rod of, Aaron reminds us that we are, rebellious. So these were, above the ark of the covenant was this idea that God dwelled in the midst of here. This is how man met with God. Right? And upon that mercy seat, the high priest would sprinkle the blood, which would atone for our sin. So the high priest is whom? The lord Jesus. The blood is whose? The lord Jesus. The mercy seat is whom? To remind us that the lord Jesus is all in all. He is all.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:07

These were all pointers, if you will. Right? If you wanna get a sense of who the lord Jesus is, he is all of these things. He is the fulfillment of all of these things. He has been slain on our behalf, and he reminds us that this was displayed publicly. Now why is that important? Because the mercy seat was inside the holy of holies, and the only one who went in there was the high priest. The only one that went in there. It was within the holy of holies. He displayed the lord Jesus publicly.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:52

He was nailed to the cross. He shed his blood, and he was resurrected publicly. Now we say that the the Christian faith is not about a belief system. The Christian faith is about history and historical event where the lord Jesus shed his blood upon the cross, and he rose from the dead, and god confirmed that it was finished, that it was enough. The Lord Jesus was raised from the dead. He was displayed publicly. He was displayed publicly as a propitiation, and he said in his blood in his blood. And he reminds us in Ephesians, in him, we have redemption and underline through his blood.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:47

What did that accomplish? The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his free grace, which he lavished upon us. So at this point, if you stop, you take a breath, and you say, okay. Justification, redemption, propitiation, appeasement, all of this stuff. Those are answers, but they yield a whole lot of questions. Why was it necessary? Why was the penalty of sin death? Why does righteousness require death? Why blood? Why the sun? Who would do this to the sun? That's the question a lot of people have. What kind of god would do this for the sun? How could the innocent die for the guilty? That doesn't sound just. There's all these questions that people have. That doesn't seem right.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:44

Would the thought the father wouldn't do this? What's going on here? Right? All the questions that go. So he reminds us with this phrase, whom god. He reminds us of this phrase, whom god. What does that mean? That means god the father is behind all of this. God the father is behind all of this, whom god or whom god sent forth his son. Now the son agreed in eternity past in unity with the father. He agreed in eternity past. They were in unison.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:28

Right? God the father, God the son, God the spirit in unison, but it was God the father who initiated this. So people look back at the old testament and say, I don't understand God. Oh, he sounds angry. And, well, that means you haven't gone through the old testament. You can you can see the mercy of God from the garden beyond, and you can see the pointing to the lord Jesus. All of this was summed up in the sun, and all of history will be summed up in the sun when he returns. But this is all initiated by god the father. He is not a reluctant or passive participant.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:02

Didn't just this didn't just unfold. This was done, literally, scripture says, by the predetermined plan and purpose of god the father. Well, how could he send his son? How could he lay his wrath upon his son? There's a lot of people who say that doesn't I don't like that. What kind of father is that? I mean, all of those questions. I don't know the answer to that other than he is righteous and just and holy and loving and true. And he initiated this. Right? And his purposes were carried out, whether I like the idea of propitiation that he would send his son, that an innocent would die for the guilty. How do you explain that? I don't.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:46

I just explained it by this is what the word says. The righteousness of god has been demonstrated. That's what he says next, to demonstrate god's righteousness. This was all done to demonstrate God's righteousness. Well, I don't understand it. It doesn't seem right to me. Right? So people put it in their, you know, they put it in their scale, they weigh it, and they go, oh, that doesn't seem right, doesn't seem fair, doesn't seem just. But he's saying, listen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:14

I did this to demonstrate my righteousness. So he had to answer this question. Well, what about before Jesus died on the cross? How did people get saved in the past? He said, forbearance of past sins. Right? In god's forbearance of past sin and sinners. That's what he's asking. Right? You're saying, well, Jesus died at a point in history. What about all the people who were saved before that? How could he pass over sins? How is god righteous? Right? Because Jesus didn't die until this point in time. What about that? Well, of course, we're stuck in time world, but God reminds us in Revelation that Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:08

In God's purpose and plan, it was done before all was created. But he explains, he passed over the sins previously committed. Well, how did he do that? Well, what about the Old Testament sacrifices? Were those paying for it? No. So he says in Hebrews, every priest stands, how often? Daily. Daily. I always thought if you if you go through the Old Testament and you look at the sacrifices for sins, I would probably have to have three or four farms of sheep just to have enough sheep and enough animals for me to sacrifice for my sin. I don't know about your sin, but I would need a factory to be able to do that. So he said to the priest, daily ministering, and he's offering time after time.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:58

What's he offering? Why does he have to keep doing it? It can never take away pins. Oh, well, now we're stuck. Except, he says, but he who's he? The lord Jesus, he offered one sacrifice for all time. So these daily ministering were pointing to one who would come because these weren't designed ever to take away sin. They were designed to remind and to point to one who would come, one who would offer one sacrifice for sins for all time. Well, how did I know it was one? Well, the priest, the high priest would go in regularly sacrificing, and the high priest couldn't sit down. In fact, the high priest had a bell on their their robe. And if the bell stopped ringing, they also had a cord on there for if they died in the holy of holies, they would drag him out instantly because he would be right? He would be dead in the holy of holies, unholy in the holy of holies.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:08

So he's saying he never sat down. The lord Jesus sat down. A high priest who sits down, yes, because he offered one time, It is finished, and he sat down. Where did he sit down? At the right hand of god the father, the place of, right, the place of honor. So he says, he sat down at the right hand of god, and he reminds us for by one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Who would that be? Raise your hand. That would be you. Is that good news? Yes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:56

Yes. There are not additional sacrifices required. So see what he's saying? God is demonstrating. Well, what about those past sins and past sinners? God is saying I'm demonstrating my righteousness. Right? It was fulfilled in Jesus. So he says, god is just Rick likes this phrase. God is just and the justifier. So he's both just in his all of his actions.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:32

He is both just, and he is the one who has the authority to justify. Park says, here we learn that God designed to give the most evident displays of both his justice and mercy, of his justice and requiring a sacrifice and absolutely refusing to give salvation to a lost world in any other way and of his mercy in providing underlying decacrifice, which is justice required. Is this good news? It's great news. It really is great news. So you start to wait around and say, well, these are heavy, heavy. This is a heavy soup. Right? So we kinda move around in here. But if you start to get it, you should say, woah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:26

So then he says, okay. If this is true, if god is just and the justifier, if we've been given, right, justification, redemption, propitiation, and it's all free, free gift by his Grace. Charity, his grace, his favor, where then is the God save me because I should be saved. Right? Because I'd be good. So he's speaking to the Jew who would say, well, we had the law. I mean, we had the law and the prophets. I mean, there's there's gotta be some we have to have some credit because I was born Jewish. And to the Gentile, you'd say, you're you're a dog.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:12

You have no access to the promises to Abraham. You have no access to the to the Messiah because he was just for the Jews. So he's saying, where is the boasting? Where is the boasting? So, yes, by what law? The law of works? He says no. The law of faith. The law of faith. A law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. So he'd say, don't be confused.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:58

There are the works of faith, if you will, the demonstration when faith is real in your life, but we're not saved by the works of faith. We're saved by faith, the law of faith. I love this phrase in first Corinthians. He says, but by his doing, underline that. Who who did this? God the father. And he says, but by his doing, right, by his doing, are you in so he says, oh, by the way, by his doing, are you in Christ Jesus, who has become from us, what, our wisdom from god, our sanctification. What else there? Our redemption. Right? So he says he's become our wisdom from God, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:16

Oh, Our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. What's this mean? So we're justified, sanctified, and one day, when we see him, we will be made like him. And this is the great promise that you'll be of the same nature and therefore able to be in fellowship with the sun. His light and his power will not consume you, and he will look at you like he looks at the sun, and he says, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. He's gonna say, this is my daughter in whom I'm well pleased. This is my son in whom I'm well pleased for eternity. And we will be we will be able to have fellowship with God, the God who is of greater than 10,000 times 10,000 degrees of power and light. That make sense? That's what we have in Christ Jesus.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:15

So he says, is this is this something we should boast about? Yeah. He says boast. Sure. But boast in the the Lord because it's by his doing. So that should be our boast. In other words, he's saying, that should be the flag that you fly. Lord, he's my banner. He's my hope.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:43

That's the shirt I wear. That's the banner I fly. That's the flag that comes above right as we walk day by day. It's the banner. I mean, Christ. So he says, is this god of the Jews only? No. This is really good news because if this is all good news, but only for Jews, you and I would be sunk. But he says, god he is the god of the the Gentiles.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:15

And he says, by the way, circumcised, uncircumcised, one god. One god, which is the answer to how did you get to have participation in the promises and the covenant that were made with Abraham and the nation of Jews through Christ through Christ. So at the end, he says, okay. So is the law nullified? Is the law nullified? And the Greek is no, never, no, never, no, never. It's emphatic. No. Never. No.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:01

Never. No. Never. Like, no way. In fact, he reminds us, Jesus said, I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill. So Paul says, we establish the law. We establish the law, which literally means we uphold it. We uphold it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:30

So law means the declaration of righteousness and require requirement of conformity to it on the part of man. We established this principle by our doctrine of the necessity of atonement for man's defect. We put law on its true base. So to make it more to stand by showing its office to be not to justify us a position untenable, but to convince of sin and so lead to Christ. In other words, what's the point of the log? It's a right? It's a it's a tutor, it says. It's a headmaster who has kept us underneath, right, in order for the Messiah until the Messiah came. And now the Messiah. Right? Now the Messiah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:46:16

So we established the law. We stand upon it. We as we we we we give it its, place in in God's economy, if you will. We establish the law. Okay. We take a breath. Lot of stuff. Lot of stuff.

Scott Keffer [: 00:46:37

So he's saying, if you're if you understand good news, you gotta understand the bad news. The bad news is the law convinces of sin. It doesn't have the it doesn't have the the the solution. It points us to a solution, a solution that had to do multiple things for us, had to get us justified as innocent, redeemed, bought back from slavery, and lastly, appease God, if you will, write a sacrifice to appease God. And he's saying that one was the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. And the only way to enjoy all of the fruits of that is to be in Jesus. They're saying you're not in Jesus from the law. The law is showing you that of your own, you cannot get there.

Scott Keffer [: 00:47:29

You cannot get there. And he says he demonstrated this publicly. The lord Jesus was on on the cross, shed his blood, god raised him from the dead as a public affirmation that all is well. So he says, where's the boasting? And this is one god, both Jew and Gentile for all the world, one messiah, one salvation law. So write down a insight. Take a breath. Write down on something that you were reminded of, something that's new, something that you see afresh, and let's share a few. Yes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:48:08

Without time, of course, because there is no time. Revelation, it says, by his will, all things existed and were created. By his will, they existed, and then they were created. Right? If I think of something by my will, I make it, and then it exist. I I think it, I will it, I make a table, a chair, and then it exists. Right? It doesn't exist until I make it. God in his will, it exists, and then it's created. Right? Because there is no time.

Scott Keffer [: 00:48:39

Right? So, yes, we were we were redeemed before the foundation of the earth. Right? That that's why we were we were our names were written in the book of life aside from time because in God's economy, there is no time. And yet in the fullness of time, it came to pass just like it did in your life. And you go like, woah. Woah. Right? Josh used to say it makes my head hurt. It should because it's out of time without time and yet in time. Right? He makes it come about.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:12

Right? So this is I gotta put this in my pipe and smoke it for a while, right, to kinda get it. So if if if if nothing else, if I kinda boil it through, it's understanding that the purposes of God are beyond comprehension. They should leave us a little bit, like, this makes my head hurt. And yet at the same time, beyond with the fact that he's included you. Right? He's called you out of darkness. He's placed you in his son. And in his son, we have more than we ever comprehended. We needed more than we can ever comprehend, and we have right now more than we could ever comprehend.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:49

And there's waiting for us more than we can ever comprehend. In his presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand, whereas where we are, there are pleasures forever. So our need was greater than we could ever comprehend. What he accomplished is greater, and what waits for us will blow you away. You'll get there and say, woah. This is not a little bit better than this world. It is beyond beyond. Right? So, hopefully, he's seen a little bit of that in the lord Jesus and all that we have in him because you are in Christ Jesus.

Scott Keffer [: 00:50:32

Yes. He would prefer that we rest in it and walk in it right now, trusting he knows tomorrow. That's why his mercies are manna mercies. You can't stack them up. He's not giving you mercies for tomorrow or next week or next year. They're manna mercies. Mercies for the day, sufficient for all that we need. Amen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:50:53

And may the god who called you out of darkness and placed you in Christ Jesus, may he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance and grant you his shalom deep in your soul. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and this day until he comes again. Amen. Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and his son, Jesus Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:51:28

Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.