But Now

Salvation by Grace—1
“But, Now…”
Reading: Rom 3:21-31

Introductory Thoughts

v We have come through a long series looking at the Law—this was not pleasant, for preacher or for congregation, but it was necessary.

v We cannot appreciate and understand Grace unless we understand the impact of the Law.

v And we cannot understand God’s revealed will for moral and ethical behavior unless we understand the Law.

v Now, however, we begin to look at Grace—we begin to look at the most precious of teachings in the Bible, the doctrines that explain the nature of our great salvation. Introductory Thoughts—WE NEED righteousness.

v Mat 5:20—You and I are not righteous in ourselves, not in any sense of the word.
v Rom 3:10-11—all are sinners
v Ps 58:3—we are sinners from birth, we are, in and of ourselves, unholy, unclean, unrighteous creatures. We are really fit for neither heaven nor earth.
v Our sin offends the Holy God we serve, and our rebellion spits in His face, even as He makes His offers of Love.
v WE have no righteousness, our accounts in heaven are overdrawn, overdue, overloaded, and impossible for us to pay.
v Not only are we loaded down with sin, we are completely destitute of merit—we have none of the holiness which is required for us to see God. We don’t just owe a lot, we have no assets. We are like the guy who was so in debt, that the only asset he could list on a financial statement was the unused portion of his credit card limit.
v God, in His infinite love, desires to save us, but in order to save us, He has to find some way to pay for our sin, and supply our missing holiness, otherwise His own sense of justice would be corrupted.

v If God were like us, we would say He had an impossible dilemma—but nothing is impossible with God!

v God, indeed, had a plan worked out before the world was made, as we have seen, and that plan included paying for sin and supplying righteousness.

v On the other side of the coin, there are believers in Christ who have been saved, who have had their sins paid for, and these believers are overcome with guilt about sins that are already done away with and gone.

v If you are a believer in Christ, if you have been born again, if you have put all of your faith and trust in Christ for salvation, then the Law, Sin, Guilt, etc., these have no hold on you.

v The Judge Illustration—the criminal in the courtroom vs the son in the living room

1. 3:21 But now

a. But Now---“two words upon which all of history rests.”

(1) What Paul has been talking about is the inability of man to save himself, and Paul finished by talking about the fact that the Law could not save us, only make us aware of our sinfulness.

(2) Now, Paul begins to talk about the Gospel, and he begins with these two ominous words, “But now……”


b. “But now…” These two words bridge the gap between the Old Testament and the New, and the Bible has many passages that help us understand how big that gap really is….

(1) Acts 17:30 "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

(a) What “times of ignorance…” ?
(b) The times of the Gentiles
(c) The times of idolatrous paganism
(d) The times of willful ignorance of God.

(2) In the old times, men were still considered guilty of sin…Paul tells us in Romans 1 that they are without excuse…


(3) But God was patient, and had not destroyed the human race and judged it for its rebellion against a Sovereign and Holy God.

(4) But now…..Acts 17:30-31

(5) God’s patience has gone on since the beginning of the human race, but now the time of the end has begun, as God will give the human race space to accept or reject His Son.

(6) But God’s patience will not last forever, because He has appointed a day--Acts 17:31

2. But Now, The Plan of God

a. We don’t have a clue, but God has a plan.

(1) Every element of God’s plan was determined before the foundation of the world, and was manifested in God’s time…..
(a) God had a Redeemer—the Lamb Foreordained—
(b) 1 Pet 1:18-20
(c) He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world—Rev 13:8, 17:8
(d) God Promised redemption before time began—Titus 1:1-2
(e) Before time began, God the Father promised God the Son, “If you will be their Redeemer, I will give you a people, I will give them eternal life!”

(2) God’s plan is a mystery to us, revealed a piece at a time—Rom 16:25-27
(3) The Mystery—Paul often refers to the Gospel as a mystery—1 Cor 2:7, Col 1:26-7, 1 Tim 3:16
(4) But now, the secret is out….
(5) The Gentile nations were cut off, but now…Eph 2:11-13
(6) The old covenant was good, but now there is a new covenant…..Heb 8:5-6—
(7) The old sacrifices never paid for sin, only put off the reckoning from year to year—but now—Heb 9:24-28

(8) Once you and I were lost, but now….1 Pet 2:9-10

b. God’s plan will come to full fruition
(1) God has made an appointment and God will keep it—He raised His Son from the dead so everyone would know He will keep it.
(a) God made an appointment before the flood, and the rains began on the day appointed.
(b) God made an appointment to visit and deliver His people Israel from bondage, and He showed up when He said He would.
(c) God made an appointment for His Son to come into the world, and Jesus arrived right on time. Gal 4:4-6
(2) But Now…. Two words upon which the entirety of the history of the universe rest.
(3) But now…. Just as the Savior hung between heaven and earth, He also hung between two ages, for everything before the Cross was one way, everything after the Cross was another.
(4) Salvation was once no better than a dim possibility for the Gentile nations, But now……
(5) Even the Jewish believers were under bondage to the Law, but now………
(6) And in the life of every believer, once you were lost, but now you are found…..

3. But now, How About You?

a. Salvation—Eph 2:1-5
(1) Was there a time when you can say, “then I was lost, now I am found…” ?

(2) Has Christ been made real in your life, have you really been born again?

b. Living For Christ

(1) We can’t do it on our own, but God….1 Cor 10:13, Rom 6:21-22
(2) If we have been to the Cross, however, we are to walk in the new life, not the old. Rom 7:6, Eph 5:8
(3) Ministry—in ourselves, we are nobodies, but God…1 Cor 1:27, Cor 3:6-7
(4) Church—we are just sinners, saved by Grace, it is a wonder that anyone in church gets along at all. We need to appropriate for ourselves what God says about the church—1 Cor 12:18-20