author: Ryan Hayden That was some play wasn’t it? I want to thank everyone who was involved:
Ken, as always did a great job leading the choir. Mrs. Danae Birkey did a great job leading the drama part of the play. Of course, none of this could have happened if it wasn’t for all of the practice that was put in by our musicians and actors. Let’s give them all a round of applause.
Now, I’m going to let you in on a little insider secret: we didn’t just do all this to entertain you; We did it in the hopes that we could help you to understand the gospel.
Everything about our play tonight, and everything about the music we sang, was preaching through song and drama the truth of the gospel. Now, it’s my turn to take a few minutes and preach with words this message - so that no one misses it.
I promise I won’t take long - give me ten minutes. And we will dismiss with prayer.
Craig, the defendant in this story, has an arc of redemption. At the beginning of the play, he is dejected, guilt-ridden, and hopeless. At the end of the play, he is forgiven and has a renewed relationship with the judge as well as THE JUDGE - God in heaven.
There are three themes in this story that I don’t want you to miss. So give me just a minute and I’ll quickly explain each one:
The first theme is the weight of guilt.
Crag was guilty. He was guilty of manslaughter as a teenager. He was guilty of destroying property and fleeing the crime in the play, and he was very much a person who lived in guilt.
And I think that is a picture to us of our guilt before God. The Bible teaches us pretty clearly that we are all sinners who are guilty before God.
I want to read a few verses to you from the book of Romans, chapter 3. Romans 3.
There are three points this chapter makes about our guilt I want to point out to you.
The first point is:
A. None of us are righteous in God’s eyes.
The first verse I want to read to you is found in verse 10, it says:
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:10 (KJV)
You see, the Bible teaches us that, outside of Christ, we are all like Craig. We are all unrighteous before God.
Now, you may think “Well, I’m a good person, I go to church, I help old ladies across the street. I obey the laws.” And all of that may be true in a sense, but scripturally speaking, you are not. You are not righteous in God’s eyes. No one is.
Now, you might say to that “Well, I’m a good person. I keep the Ten Commandments. I try to do what the Bible says.”
But there is a second point that Romans 3 makes about our guilt, and that is:
B. The purpose of God’s law is to condemn everybody.
Look at verse 19 with me:
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Romans 3:19 (KJV)
Sometimes I will talk to people and they will say “I deserve to go to heaven, I keep the Ten Commandments.”
Listen - no you don’t.
- The first of the Ten Commandments says “Have no other God’s before Me” - are you putting God first in your life?
- Do you never say His name in vain?
- Do you set aside one day a week as holy to Him?
You don’t keep the Ten Commandments. In fact, you are missing the whole point.
The point of the Ten Commandments is not to justify you. They aren’t meant to be a checklist you can look at and say “see, I’m a good person.” They are meant to be an impossible standard that condemns you.
Tat’s why are text says the law is* “that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may be guilty before God.”*
You see, the whole point of the law, of the Ten Commandments, is to show us that we aren’t righteous, but that we are like Craig - we are guilty.
- None of us are righteous in God’s eyes
- The purpose of God’s law is to condemn everyone.
And a third thing we see in this chapter is…
C. All of use are guilty before God.
Verse 23 says:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23 (KJV)
All of us are guilty before God. All of us are sinners. None of us measure up to God’s perfect Holy Standard. All of us have taken God’s test and got a failing grade.
Listen, it doesn’t matter if
- you are Craig, a convicted Felon with blood on your hands
- or the Judge, a do-gooder Sunday School teacher,
- or Ryan, a cynical prosecutor
- or Sarah, an idealistic public defender.
All of us are guilty.
And…
- Just like Craig’s guilt caused him to not be able to face the judge, our guilt causes us to run from God.
- Just like Craig’s guilt left him feeling worthless and empty, our guilt and sin before God mars our souls
- Just like Craig’s guilt made him feel like a dead man “whose life ended that night twenty years ago.” The Bible teaches that outside of Christ we are all “dead in trespasses and sins.”
- Just as Craig’s guilt made him run away and drove a wedge into his family, our sin drives us away from God and puts a wedge in our relationships.
So this is a wonderful picture of what it is like to live as a sinner, guilty before God. Just waiting for judgment to come. Completely hopeless and alone.
One of the things I like about the play is that Craig doesn’t just get off scott free.
I mean, you could imagine a different ending couldn’t you? Where the judge looks down from the bench at Craig and just declares him “Not guilty.”
But that would be a pretty terrible judge and an abuse of justice. Craig was guilty of fleeing the scene and his guilt demanded a payment.
If the first theme in this play is “the weight of out guilt” the second theme is..
2. The demand for a payment.
And so it is with our sin. God cannot just look at our sin and be like “I didn’t see that.” If He did so, He would cease to be just and good.
Let me put it this way: if someone murdered your son, and stood before the judge and the judge just decided to be merciful and look the other way. You wouldn’t just hate the murderer, you would hate the judge.
Justice demands that a crime be punished.
In our story, Craig’s crime was punished. He was declared guilty and given a hefty fine.
But here is the big twist, the judge took off his robe and personally paid that fine for Craig.
And the Bible teaches us that Christmas is when God took of the robe of His “godness” and came to earth as a man - as Jesus Christ. He laid aside His judge robe and came and paid the price for our sins.
Baby Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. Then, and this was always the plan, He died on the cross bearing our sins.
God doesn’t just look at us as sinners and say “not guilty.” God looks at us and says “Guilty” and then prescribes a fine we cannot pay - but then God took off His robe and came to this earth and paid the price for our sins.
Now, back in Romans 3, the last verse we read was verse 23:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23 (KJV)
But I want to keep reading. Listen to verses 24-26:
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:24-26 (KJV)
I told you there are three themes in this play:
- The weight of guilt
- The demand for payment
But the third theme is…
3. The gift of justification
You see, God did not leave us guilty. He came and justified us.
Now, quickly, because I’m out of time. Let me point out two things about this gift of justification: The results of it and the costs of it:
First, notice in these verses…
A. The result of justification:
It says “being justified freely” - the word “justified” means “made righteous.” I like how one person put it: when I am justified it is “just as if I’d never sinned.”
Because we are justified, we have a clean record with God. And that means our sins are remitted.
Again, legal jargon here that tells us our sins have been taken care of and no longer are our concern.
So the result of this gift of justification is we have a clean record with God.
But there is a second thing to see here, and that is…
B. The costs of the justification
The verse says “being justified freely by his grace.”
So the first thing to point out is…
It costs us nothing
Craig didn’t have to pay a penny for His crime. It was a gift of grace. Of unmerited favor by the judge.
And we who have been saved are not saved because of anything we have done. We are justified by grace - it is because of the gift of God - the free gift - that we can be righteous and go to heaven.
But just because it is free to us, does’t mean it is free.
It costs God the blood of Jesus
He was the propitiation, or the payment for our sins.
Like the judge in our story, God took out His own checkbook and wrote the most painful and expensive check possible - the death of His only begotten son. So that we could be no longer guilty - but justified.
Now, there is one more thing I want to point out. Then I’m done.
At the end of the story, Craig had to believe the gospel and put his faith in Jesus. Something he had been avoiding for a long time.
The verses we just read says “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood.”. God has paid your debt. But you have to believe. You have to put faith in Christ.
There was a time when I was 14 years old when I understood my guilt and I put my faith in the payment Christ made and I was justified. It was one of the best days of my life.
Have you trusted Christ?
In a moment I’m going to ask brother Ken to come back and lead us in a song.
We have people here in our church who would love to go to a private room with you, open their Bibles and show you how you can receive God’s gift of salvation. As we sing this song, why not just slip out to the back and meet one of our counselors. We won’t embarrass you. But we will rejoice with you.
Brother Hedrick, come and lead us in a song and if you want to speak with someone about the gospel, just slip out now.
