This page is AI-generated
Summary
The sermon is based on the concept of righteousness and how it is a gift from God. The pastor emphasizes that no one is righteous on their own, but through Christ, we are made righteous. The passage from Romans 3:23-26 is used to illustrate this point. The sermon also discusses how having the gift of righteousness impacts our daily lives, including our identity, resistance to sin, and empowerment by the Holy Spirit.
Sermon transcription
We're just not in love God.
to define you who you are God
thank you Lord for your greatness
for yourness
oh Lord
thank you so much
we are so grateful Lord
as you allowed us to worship you
and
as we reflect Lord on the blessings that
we have received from you the grace that
overflows in our lives God
that make us grateful and contentment oh
Lord
not because of the grace and the
blessings
that continue to come our way.
But you want us Lord to
focus our mind on the one who gave
on the one who provided and that is you
oh Lord
because
you want us Lord to
walk in faith.
There are times that
we want we won't feel the blessings.
There are times that we feel the lack.
There are times that we find ourselves
wanting
but in those times Lord you want us Lord
to
to rely on you oh God to hold on to our
faith in you because you are more than
the blessings that we receive you are
more than the grace that abounds in our
lives even the the
songwriter says,
"Let the world have everything,
but I have Christ in me and that is
enough for me."
You are enough for us, oh Lord.
You are more than enough to be able to
live this life to be able to to go
through God the challenges that we face
to be able Lord to survive the difficult
times
the the storms the the waves
that come against us the forces that
come against us because we believe oh
Lord
is greater Lord the power of this
and your love Lord that overcomes
all the things God that try to defeat
your children
and so Lord we believe in you God who is
able to carry us through Lord
we believe in you Lord who made his
promise to see us until the
We believe Lord in you
encourages us toever
because that is our destiny God
and even though Lord some of us are
struggling
at this point Lord
some of us are carrying the heavy load
of burdens
we know God
Your strength is sufficient for our
needs. We know Lord that your strength
is sufficient for those
who feel that they might not be able to
carry through because of what is going
on in their lives.
And that thought Lord of having you in
our lives and having you that is more
than enough for our needs
is enough Lord God to encourage us today
to stand our ground Lord and Lord God
face the world because we are your
children Lord God and you are in our
hearts Lord
and you will never abandon each one of
us Oh God,
so let your blessings, Lord carry in our
thoughts and in our hearts as we
continue to worship you, as we continue
to dwell in your presence here in this
place as we pray for those who were not
able to join us today. As we pray for
those who are sick and those who are
awake. As we pray Lord for them
in our thoughts, Lord
we are grateful God for who you are. We
are grateful Lord for
your attributes
that
surpasses all that we can imagine or
think. You are more than everything that
we can have in our lives. Thank you Lord
for being with us. Thank you Lord for
coming into our lives. Thank you Lord
God for saving us. And so we bless you
oh Lord.
And today as we have our service we pray
Lord that we may continue
to experience you your presence in this
place
as we prepare ourselves Lord God for
your touch and your ministry to each one
of us Lord so may you bless Lord every
part of this service for your name sake
for your glory in Jesus mighty name we
pray amen amen Praise the Lord.
This coming Saturday is our uh couples
event.
So we'll wait for the slide. Yeah, we
entitled it stages of life uh from
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1.
Um so it will be on Saturday 21st of
February 6 p.m.
and all the couples
all those who want to be married soon to
be married and even our youth and our
singles who want to join in our
celebration are also welcome to be with
us practically of course everyone who
wants to join with us in that uh
wonderful night of celebration you are
most welcome.
Okay, so that's it. And then uh next
month is our missions month. So we will
have a series of uh activities and
events. Uh we will post the details uh
beginning next Sunday uh for uh in
preparation for the month of March.
Okay. So let us just read together our
passage in
um
Romans chapter 3: 23 to 26.
For all have sin and fall short of the
glory of God and all are justified
by his grace through the redemption that
came by Christ Jesus.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of
atonement through the sheding of his
blood to be received by faith. He did
this to demonstrate his righteousness.
because in his forbearance he had left
the sins committed beforehand unpunished
he did it to demonstrate his righteousness
at the present time so as to be just and
the one who justifies those who have
faith in Jesus
I'm reminded of uh the task of
preaching.
You know,
for
some pastors preaching is really an
opportunity to
to develop or deliver the skill of
uh public speaking and and sharing the
the word of God. But uh
many pastors feel the seriousness of it
uh the
accountability
that each word spoken that is not
according to what God wants his people
to hear is something that as preachers
we will account someday
you know so so the feeling of many uh
preachers like myself like like as as as
we speak the words of God it's like at
the same time there is a gun pointing
in our heads that we might make a
mistake because we are just human beings
and and that's the thing about uh
preaching you know you are you are given
a privilege to speak but the
accountability of it is so much greater
than you know the opportunity to preach
but at the same time you know we rely on
the power of god to make things happen
because this is not ours this is m this
is god's word that he wants people to
hear and i hope and pray that everyon
that we in this church
the lord will speak to our hearts
bring that that conviction that stears
up from within us and the passion to
obey him and follow him and obey his
word.
The reason I was reminded of it is
because of this topic
uh righteousness.
Righteousness is something that we do
not have. Righteousness
is uh a gift of God
that he gave us.
And so uh thinking of it uh as a
preacher uh this is not something that I
can say my own. This is mine. Um, this
is God's he has given it to me. And if
for some reason I I have the privilege
of being counted to speak his word, the
same concept you know for each one of us
uh we are made righteous in Christ but
that righteousness is a gift from him
and not of our own. So that when we look
at this passage brothers and sisters um
it started with saying for all have seen
and fall short of the glory of God you
know the prem there and usually this is
the the highlight of this passage that
we are all sinners no one among us is
righteous
and that is but for some the
the word the gift of righteousness keep
ringing in my ears and I made it the
title and I hope and pray
that it will uh stir up our hearts in
what the Lord wants us to hear today.
So going to the passage you can see it
very basic as we said this is back to
the back to the basics uh talking about
what is righteousness talking about what
is being justified. If we follow the
verses, for all have seen and fall short
of the glory of God and all are
justified freely.
We are justified by his grace
through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus. Right? Very basic. God
presented Christ as a sacrifice
of atonement.
meaning
God sent Jesus Christ as a substitute
sacrifice
that instead of us being
sacrificed at the altar of
you know the offering for sin was Jesus
who took our place so he is the
sacrifice of atonement
the sheding of his blood uh
his blood the shed on the cross so that
we will be forgiven of the sins that we
had uh and this is to be received by
faith and god did all of this and and
this is the word there the the key
phrase that I want to uh you know kept
ringing in my ears he did this to
demonstrate his righteousness because of
his forbearance he had left the sins
committed beforehand unpunished meaning
instead of us being punished of our sins
he left it unpunished
because uh he wants to demonstrate
his righteousness in us he wants to
demonstrate that we are made righteous
instead of uh the guilty sinners that we
are we are made righteous and then he
repeat again in verse 26 he did it to
demonstrate his righteousness and that's
why probably it uh become the um focal
point because it was repeated twice. God
did this to demonstrate his
righteousness. God did this to
demonstrate his righteousness at the
present time. What is the present time?
Including our present time. The present
time when it was written to the people
in their particular situation. Meaning
the believers uh in the book of Romans
at that time who received this word and
ring in their hearts that in their uh in
their situation in their identity as
children of God demonstrate his
righteousness to them as much as God
demonstrate
that you and me are made righteous at
this present time in our situation in
our particular uh uh present moment.
And then so as to be just,
God being just, revealed that he is just
and the one who justifies
he is just and he is the one who
justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
So the intent of sermon is is heavily
theological you know talking about
justification
talking about righteousness
but I think more than more than this is
uh talking about the gift of
righteousness given you given me given
us so when we receive the gift of
righteousness we ask the question. So
what now? Now I rece this gift of
righteousness.
How having this righteousness make an
impact to my identity
as a person as a child of God?
How is having this identity
of being made righteous affect the way I
live my life today?
We ask the question and we hope to be
able to answer that as we go along.
So there are two things I I can see here
from this passage.
The gift that we receive, the
righteousness that we receive is the one
transform us from sinner
to being justified.
From condemned to being saved.
So let us start with the first one from
sinner or from being guilty
to justified or being acquitted.
Justify means to declare or make
righteous in God's sight. We were
justified
not by righteousness of our own
but only by God's mercy and love through
Jesus Christ. So in other words, God
justified us through his son Jesus
Christ because that is the way he wants
to express.
how much he love you
and how much he is merciful to you
justification
as definition is an act of acquitting
someone because this is again a
courtroom jargon uh to be justified uh
and declared that person is righteous
if you remember few sermons ago we
talked about divine exchange
divine exchange meaning um God
uh came took our sins
you know and and the punishment of that
sin and and and
uh
what you call that uh put it upon Jesus
so that he took upon himself you know
our sins and the punishment He took upon
our punishment so that we will not be
punished anymore because of our
sinfulness. And in exchange he give his
righteousness.
In exchange he give his righteousness to
us. So instead of us you know uh uh
looking towards the future of being
punished of our sins, uh we received
this righteousness
in exchange and the Lord took upon the
punishment to himself.
So that we will be made righteous.
What a wonderful exchange.
And this has to happen because as it is
said here in the beginning of this
passage, no one is righteous.
from uh verses 9 to 20
the passage say no one is righteous no
not one
I remember I I just uh listened
briefly this morning the uh podcast
uh by uh in the Sean Ryan Show
by the apologist.
And he was talking about we are not saved
by our good works and he said in that
podcast that people always in argument
say that some people are better than
others.
And that is some
compelling argument.
It never ends right but the scripture is
very straightforward in saying no
everyone is guilty no person is innocent
is good enough to be able to
uh have the merit of their good works
uh so that they will be considered
righteous.
So Westf was saying we always think of
sin as big and small right I have small
sins so I count myself as innocent I'm
good the way I live my life I treat
others
as as they should be treated I live my
life in as much as uh in a in a moral
way uh I I give to the po I know I
love others and and so on and so forth.
But uh Westf says sin is not like big
sin small sin. Sin is like a chain, you
know, chain. Maybe in the chain there
are big sins, small scenes, big scenes,
small scenes, but any of those chain is
broken and you were holding to that
chain uh believing that you know you
only small, you are guilty of only small
but the chain is broken you will crush
falling down to the ground.
So everyone of us is guilty. There is no
one righteous. No not one.
But because of that that God has uh
found a solution for us that we cannot
what we cannot do on our own.
We cannot save ourselves by our own
good works.
God did on our behalf by sending Jesus
to die on the cross so that those who
believe in him shall not remain
enslaved in sin shall not be punished
from the penalty of sin shall not be
hopeless
as to be saved but instead received
salvation from all of this
God did This in verse 26
it says to reveal himself as just and
justifier
it uh in verses 25 to 26 we are
transformed from being condemned
guilty
on the way
to the punishment of our sinfulness
transform into being saved from all of
ing our faoning sacrifice of the lord
Jesus chist
and then it says why
the ver 25 and 26 says why god did this
to reveal himself as the just
and the justifier
what does that mean god did this so that
people may realize
is
of loving and merful God a compassionate
God who looks down on us and provide
the the
answer to our greatest need which is
being saved from our salvation uh from
our punishment from our perdition so to
speak you know God's
character and also that by revealing his
character that people will glorify him
for those who have accepted the message
of and his invitation of of what the
Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross that
we will glorify God in our lives.
Appreciating this gift of
righteousness
and as I as it says in verse 26 at this
present moment in your lives what
it has to do with your life at this very
moment what having the gift of
righteousness
uh has to do with your situation right
now
so there are things that I
I consider there you know being
transformed from
old self from our identity in sin to our
identity in righteousness from
being guilty of sin we were declared
righteous transformed into being made
righteous from separated from God we are
restored in relationship with God from
failure
by relying on our good works to
realizing that we are saved only through
Christ finished work on the cross from
uh because we rely on our good works we
become boastful or because we rely on
our good works and we are we are found
lacking we are we become guilty and
ashamed to become someone realizing that
this gift of righteousness is not our
own. We are humbled by it and therefore
we are grateful because of it.
Having the gift of righteousness make us
humble and grateful.
So there are things that
uh in conclusion
what does this make us
uh now having understood that we are
being made righteous in Christ
and that affects or impacts our identity
what now um
what will that uh
have to do with daily daily living our
lives and there are four things I want
to share here that in the succeeding
chapters in the book of Romans tell us
what impact does it have to lives first
in chapter 6 and 7 our identity helps us
in our daily resistance to sin
uh some believers
wonder why Why Christian life is so
hard? You know, it is a a struggle. Why?
And before I used to not think about it,
you know. I just really uh I have a
carefe life not thinking and not
worrying about anything.
It is because
now that you are in Christ that you
discover that this world is not really a
happy place.
And that is the news brothers and
sisters right this is not a place that
that we think is a paradise or we
thought we could we can make a paradise
out of it
because everything seems to be working
against God's people God's children.
when you were in the world you uh move
in the flow of the world in the pattern
of this world so you don't feel the the
friction right and now that you are
moving against the pattern of the world
then you seem to experience that
everything is going against you because
first of all Satan is
is scheming you know to to fight against
you because you represent the the the
image of of God in this world.
Now that you have Christ in you, the
enemy is going to fight you. You know to
spite God and to spite Jesus through
you. So if you are put down, if you are
crushed down then Satan will be feeling
a sense of victory to himself,
you know.
Having this rightous in Christ shield us
from total defeat because the reality of
facing you know our daily battles
against Satan, daily battles against the
system of the world you know the world
wants you to to lie. The world wants you
to be dishonest world wants you to put a
fake face in front of everybody. You
know, the world wants you to to pretend.
The world wants you to all of these
scheme of things that is the ways of
Satan the enemy. And God says no live in
the truth. And if you live in the truth,
you face the consequence of it because
most of the time when you live by the
truth, you will suffer in this world
because the system of this world is
working against you and me. And that is
what the Lord wants us to have.
Embrace your identity as being righteous
in Christ because that righteousness is
not yours. It is Christ who is in you
and then you are carrying it and you are
living by the truth and
face the the consequence of it in this
world. And not only that, we are also
fighting against our sinful old life old
lifestyle sinful self. We are battling
against that. So everything is seems to
be fighting against you know the the
this pressure that is uh going against
us. But that is what we need to
understand. If you are identified with
Christ you must be willing to accept it.
Face your battle. Face the consquence
live by the truth and the Lord is going
to be with you because he is your
righteousness
and he will not depart from you. His
righteousness is yours for not only for
life but for eternity.
Second is
our identity helps us to to be empowered
by the Holy Spirit. So in this battle
against sin, in this battle against the
enemy, in this battle against the world,
in this battle against our own sinful uh
tendencies,
we have the Holy Spirit in us to empower
us, to give us the strength to overcome.
The Holy Spirit is in you and it
is part of who you are. It is part of
having the gift of righteousness because
the Holy Spirit will sustain you. The
Holy Spirit will see you through. We
pray uh earlier that he wants us to
overcome. He wants us to persevere
because the Holy Spirit is in us. We
have the power
to persevere until the end.
Third is our identity helps us to the
daily renewal of our minds and our daily
decisions. Chapter 12
there is
a constant daily renewal of mind that is
uh the the work of righteousness in us.
Everyday is a new day, right?
Lamentations 3,
we talk about
the the faithfulness of the Lord is new
every morning because every moment we
wake up is a day that our mind is
renewed and uh when we renew our mind
from the pattern of this world in
conformity to uh to the righteousness we
have in Christ. It helps us to make the
choices that God wants us to make. It
helps us to make the godly decisions
that we need to make on a daytoday
basis. Sometimes we fall short of that
but when we wake up tomorrow morning
definitely brothers and sisters
everything is new and start again
because that is what our hope being in
Christ means. To have the righteous
righteousness of Christ doesn't mean
that we will not make a mistake.
But we come to the Lord uh in repentance
as Pastor Richard preach last Sunday and
the Lord uh forgive us of our sins and
start all over again.
Does it sound like desperate? No. It
sounds like life has never been that
wonderful before.
Because now we have hope in Christ and
this is our hope that God will always
sustain us by the power of spirit
spirit and also by the renewing of our
minds. And finally our identity helps us
to live life as a daily sacrifice.
Willing to fight it out willing to stake
your yourself you know don't be afraid.
This is the life of no fear. There is no
fear. Perfect love.
Uh there is no fear in love because
perfect love cast out all fears. That is
what uh Christian life is all about. You
are willing to live in sacrifice for the
sake of Christ who is in you because
that is your identity and that is your
righteousness.
So I will leave this
reflection questions that we can take
home with us.
How should how should I now or should I
now see my life as a daily resistance to
sinist
conformity to this world?
That is uh as they say real talk right
after this service we go back to our own
world and we face the world again. And
when we face the world as believers, it
means daily resisting temptation and
sin.
So take it home with you and claim to
yourself that I am made rightous not
because of my failures and mistakes but
because Jesus is in me.
It gives me strength to fight uh
my battle against sin and temptation.
Second, should I now see that there is
in fact a daily victory to the through
the work of the Holy Spirit in my life?
Uh we said count your blessings. It
means that claim the victory in Christ
because the Holy Spirit is present with
you. You know, you are not on your own.
You are not alone in your fight against
uh Satan, the world, against sin, the
Holy Spirit and his power resides within
you and give you victory as you rely on
him and on him alone.
Third, should I now live in instead of
reflection questions? I'm answering the
questions myself. But anyway,
take it home with you and continue in
this reflection and I hope that uh it
will help you and encourage you. Should
I now live my life as renewal of mind to
make choices for God daily.
Challenge yourself.
Andhly, should I live my life as a
sacrifice for God as my act of worship
daily?
Praise God for all these uh questions and
praise God for his word.
Father God, we thank you Lord for your
word. Thank you Lord for resetting our
minds
in line with your purpose and will for
us.
We are so grateful Lord and we are
humbled. for the gift of righteousness
because we are called righteous we are
made righteous not of our own doing but
because of Christ who is our
righteousness
Jesus Christ who is our redeemer
Jesus Christ who gives us victory over
sin Jesus Christ who empower us through
the Holy Spirit spirit our Lord Jesus
Christ who enable us to commit to living
our lives and make it a sacrifice for
God as an as our act of worship and help
us Lord to make this commitment on a
daily basis thank you Lord God for the
empowering words that you are giving
each one of us espcially for those Lord
who are struggling right now for
whatever reason.
Your grace is more than enough that we
need.
Your grace Lord
that is sufficient
not lacking in any way God
we just have to put our faith and trust
in you that you will see us through Lord
some of us Lord are seeing the battle
getting stronger by the day
and it is a scary thought when something
is
a storm great storm of life
and the feeling of facing it alone
but you know Lord our weaknesses you
know where we are
being tried in our faith
in our cris of faith
you know our hearts Lord and you are
greater
ours andely
for my and sister
will face their battles lord and
willessent you ines mighty name we pray
amenallelujah
father god we thank you lord for your
word thank you lord god for the
opportunity to uh
respond to it through our tights and
offering and we pray lord
you bless this
so that your purose for our church
beulfed
and that your name be glorified lord in
our in Jesus mighty name we pray amen
Our
father everlasting
your cre
god almighty
Take-aways
- We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God, but we are justified by God's grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
- The gift of righteousness is a gift from God, and it transforms us from sinners to being justified and from being condemned to being saved.
- Having the gift of righteousness makes us humble and grateful, and it affects the way we live our lives.
- We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to overcome sin and to live a life of sacrifice for the sake of Christ.
- We are called to live our lives as a daily renewal of our minds and to make choices for God daily, and to live our lives as a sacrifice for God as our act of worship daily.
Food for thought
- How do I see my life as a daily resistance to sin and conformity to this world?
- How does the gift of righteousness impact my identity and daily living?
- How can I live my life as a renewal of mind and make choices for God daily?
- How can I live my life as a sacrifice for God as my act of worship daily?
- What does it mean to be justified by God's mercy and love, and how does that affect my relationship with God?
I hope this sermon has been a blessing to you and has helped you to understand the gift of righteousness and how it affects our daily lives. May God bless you and give you the strength to live a life that is pleasing to Him.