How Do I Become a Christian?
Did you know that in Kentucky?:
A woman cannot remarry the same man more than three times. You think she would learn before then, but who knows?
It’s illegal to fish with a bow and arrow. I imagine people would probably laugh at you and scare the fish away if it wasn’t illegal.
It’s illegal to force a person into a store in order to make a sale.
Each citizen is required to shower once each year. Of course, we all hope it’s way more often than that.
A woman cannot buy a hat without her husband’s permission in Owensboro. I guess he wants to know if it looks good on him, too.
In Frankfort it’s illegal to shoot off a police officer’s tie. Now, I’m not sure how anyone could manage to do that without also shooting the officer, so I guess that’s why the law’s there.
And last, but not least, in Lexington, it’s illegal to transport an ice cream cone in your pocket.
Unfortunately, most of the laws that I read aren't funny like this.
Did you know that the first 5 books of the Bible are called “The Pentateuch” which are “the law”? God saw that it was important for us to know right from wrong. After Adam sinned in the garden, he doomed all of humankind, because we're all his descendants. That means that we’re all born sinners. Because God is holy and perfect, He wants us to be reunited with Him.
So let’s read more about why the Law is important.
Romans 3:21-30 ESV
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 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.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Before being a stay-at-home mom, I was an English teacher for three years. So, humor me as we reminisce and look upon some definitions.
Righteous - One who is right; perfect holiness. Raise your hand and tell me, how many of you like to be right? Okay, now raise your hand and tell me, honestly, how many of you are right all of the time? Now think to yourself, what does it actually mean to be right? To be correct, to be perfect. So the word “righteous” means one who is right or has perfect holiness.
Sin - rebellion against God. Sin is a common word in the church. It means “rebellion against God.” And as we’re about to read, “everyone has sinned and has fallen short of the glory of God.” In fact, because of the Fall in Genesis 3, Psalm 51:5 tells us that we were born sinners.
Justification - God says a sinner is righteous because he/she has faith in Christ. Think to yourself, “when something is ‘just’, what does that mean?”. Some of you may think about the Judicial branch and the court system, and you’d be right. Being just is being fair. Like I just said, we’ve all sinned, so the fair thing would be for us all to go to Hell, because we all deserve death; however, “Justification” is when God says a sinner is righteous, or perfect, because he/she has faith in Christ.
Redemption - having been saved from sin or its consequences.
Propitiation - the act of gaining or regaining the favor or goodwill of someone or something
So now that we have a basic understanding, let’s break it down.
1. Righteousness By Faith
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
In verse 21, it says, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” The word “manifest” means to make clear or obvious. This means that the Law was known to all of God’s people.
You see, in Jewish culture, boys who were training to be a Pharisee, which is a teacher at the Temple, would have memorized the entire law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers, by the time that he was 12 years old. By the time that he was a teenager, he would have memorized all of the Prophets and the Psalms. There are 17 books of the Prophets. So that means by the time he was a teenager, he would’ve memorized 23 books of the Old Testament. There are 39 books in the Old Testament. So, before he ever became an adult, we would’ve memorized 58.97% of the Bible - because they didn’t have the New Testament at that time.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t memorized a whole book of the Bible. These Pharisees in training put me to shame. However, even though they had the entire Law memorized, they still sinned. Verse 23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
This passage talks about “the doctrine of Justification.” The word doctrine means “a set of beliefs or principles,” and remember that the word justification means “God says a sinner is righteous [someone who has perfect holiness] because he/she has faith in Christ”. So the phrase the doctrine of Justification means “a set of beliefs that teach that Christians become holy in the eyes of God when they receive faith.”
Now it’s really important to understand that you don’t actually become perfect when you become a Christian. Definitely not, we’re still sinners; however, once you’re saved, when God looks at you, He doesn’t see a filthy sinner, but instead He sees Christ. He sees Christ stained in His own blood that he shed as payment for your sin and for my sin. And that’s just a horrific but beautiful sight.
Just before our passage, Paul, the author of Romans says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin”, which means that there is nothing you can do, your works, that can save you. Now, this might be a scary realization at first, and that’s okay, but let me tell you why it’s comforting, too. This means that no matter how badly you’ve messed up, how many times you lied, cheated on tests, gossiped, bullied or picked on someone, or done secret sins that only you know about, God can still forgive you.
Verse 22 says, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction.” This is saying that moral goodness also comes from God. Everyone should still strive to be “good” but just being a good person can’t save you. Author R. Kent Hughes says that “the key to having the righteousness of God is faith.”
This is fantastic news! There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Christ alone can save. Which brings me to point number two.
2. Righteousness by Christ’s Work
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 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.
If you’re like most people, your favorite holiday is Christmas. Of course, as a believer, the best reason for Christmas is Christ’s birth. However; one of the biggest reasons Christmas is a favorite holiday is because of presents. Everyone likes getting presents because it makes us feel loved. It shows that someone was thinking about us.
Verse 24 mentions “God’s grace a gift”. The greatest gift of all is salvation. Like we previously read, “all have sinned and fall short”. This means that we deserve death. In fact, in another book, Paul the author of Romans, writes “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” God didn’t have to save us - we don’t deserve it. Like we learned in the last point, there’s nothing that we can do to save ourselves.
Even when the Law is revealed the “best” person still falls short because we can never measure up to God. You see, God gifted us His law so that our sins may be revealed to us. Without the Spirit showing us our sin, we would never know.
Now, before we go any further, it’s important to understand what the word “grace” means. It means the underserved favor of God. Now, we all know what the word “favorite” means, and many of you think your teachers have a favorite student - maybe even some of you think you are the favorite student. It’s an “approval or liking for something or someone.” Because God loves us, he decided to show us favor through Christ.
Remember that propitiation is “the act of gaining or regaining the favor or goodwill of someone or something.” The beginning of verse 25 says, “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” God sent Christ to be the payment for sin so that we could have favor with God - that we could receive the gift of God’s grace.
Before Christ’s death and resurrection, the Jewish people had to make sacrifices for their sins. They had to make five different types of sacrifices and considering that everyone sins everyday, I would say that that’s pretty generous.
Christ took on the whole wrath of God. That means that every single - all of your sins, all of my sins, all of the sins of people to be born and the people who have already lived - Christ took on the sins of everyone who believes in Him, has believed in Him, or will believe in Him all at one time.
Paul said that he was the worst of all sinners, and God saved him. You see, Paul used to be a pharisee, and pharisees, again, were teachers in the temple. The pharisees didn’t believe Jesus when He said that He was the Savior of the world. So, after Jesus died and ascended into Heaven, He gave His followers the Holy Spirit. So, there were Christians who were traveling and sharing the Gospel, the good news about Christ. Paul, as a Pharisee, hated that. He made it his mission to kill all of the Christians. If God can save a murderer, God can save you.
Which brings me to point number three.
3. Righteousness for All
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
I used to be a dancer and I was good at it. I also used to do theater. While I was in 9th and 10th grade, I auditioned for the school’s musical and both times I got a role with a pretty heavy dancing part. So, naturally, when it came time to audition for my junior year, I showed up. I just knew that I would get a spot. My choreographer loved me, my drama teacher had been teaching me for three years - I had been one of the only 9th graders to make it in his advanced class - and I knew the musical very well (it was Footloose, by the way).
Well, my pride got the better of me. I didn’t make the cast that year. I was heartbroken. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, I was one of their strongest dancers, I was reliable, and I could read music. Admittedly, I thought the role was just going to be given to me, so I didn’t practice the dancing routine as much as I should have. This was the first time I really remember boasting about my abilities and my pride being my downfall.
My skill set didn’t matter. There’s nothing my boasting could do to give me a part in the musical, not after it already had a cast. Just like Paul says in verse 27, just knowing the law can’t save you. There’s nothing to boast in except for Christ.
In the Old Testament, it talks about how the Jewish people were God’s chosen people. So anyone who's not Jewish, is a Gentile. You, probably, and me, we’re not Jewish; so therefore, we must be Gentiles. Because of Christ, the Gospel is available not just to Jews but also to Gentiles - to you and to me!
We are so loved! Now, I understand that you’re in middle school and that you don’t have children, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my daughter. And I absolutely wouldn’t sacrifice her for a stranger. But the thing is, you’re not a stranger to God. Christian, you are a child of God.
The word “sanctification” isn’t mentioned in this passage, but it’s important to understand. It means, “to be set apart” or “made holy.” So after God saves you and clears you of your sin, He begins sanctifying you, making you more like Him, through the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says that “the Spirit of God abides in you.”
God doesn’t love us enough to just save us, He loves us enough to help us grow in our faith. Once God saves you He will never leave you. In fact, because He loves you, He desires for you to sin no more. He will shape you and mold you to be more like the Image of Christ. He will give you strength to fight the temptation of sin in your life. And He will continually forgive you when you fail-because we’ll all inevitably fail because we’re still sinners.
Conclusion
Author and Pastor R. C. Sproul said that “In Justification, God does not pardon the sinner. When a governor or president … pardons, he more or less forgives the criminal … and sets him free … God makes a judicial declaration about a person’s status before he makes his judgment.”
This is wonderful news! This means that God saves sinners and wipes all of their sins clean before the Day of Judgment. Whenever the Day of Judgment comes, it’ll be too late. So, I urge you not to wait. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says that “today is the day of salvation.”
Scripture is taken from the ESV.
