1. Why the GOOD NEWS is GOOD
Romans 3:21-31
Why the GOOD NEWS is GOOD

2. Romans 3
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 (atonement), 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.

3. Romans 3
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. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

4. The Forever Empty

5. The Struggle for Freedom

6. Hugging or Mugging

7. Honesty and Truth

8. Religion and Fear
If there is no God, then, to be intellectually honest you have to admit meaningless
And that no one is objective
Freud, Russell, and others say religion is a means to deal with this fear and with death
Why does it bother us?
CS Lewis

9. Beginning with Fear Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10
Disillusionment and despair produce fear
The Bible says this is where you get to know God
This is the BEGINNING of wisdom, not the END
Love drives out fear (1 John 4:18)

10. Power and Holiness
This place is where you reckon with an all- powerful God
Our experiences with power have made us afraid and skeptical of those with power
Humans abuse power
What Paul is asking here is this, “How does God use His power?”

11. Otherness and the Cross
Holiness as otherness
God does things differently
Humans can take any GOOD and make it BAD
God can take any BAD and make it GOOD
God saves by giving up power, and is thus totally other

12. The Way of Love God doesn’t act out of fear, but out of love
He is HOLY and LOVE
We pass through His HOLINESS on the way to LOVE
Love is OTHER ORIENTED by nature
Fear is self-preserving

13. The Problem of Meaning
Life isn’t meaningless is there is a God that is transcendent and infinite
This means you have to deal with meaning
Actions do matter
There is a higher moral law and purpose that this transcendent being has put in place

14. Why Am I Here? The multi-layered GOOD NEWS
Doesn’t just save from meaninglessness
Justification
We all have reasons for saying, “This is why I matter.”
What gives you meaning and purpose in life?
Always relational
Righteousness as a relationship that gives you meaning, purpose, identity, and value

15. Covenanting In the Bible, this relationship is called a covenant
Promises are made between two parties
This is where you get your righteousness and justification
Job, Boy/Girlfriend, Money, Grades, etc.

16. Unforgiving Little gods
The problem is that none of these things care about you
Nor can they forgive you when you fail them
NONE of them can justify an ETERNAL sort of life
They all fall short of what we need and want (Romans 3:23)
Glory as PRESENCE and WEIGHT

17. Rules or Relationship? Romans 3:23-24
God justifies our existence and redeems us
Picture of a slave being bought back
Hosea and Gomer
We want to justify and redeem ourselves
Rules (goodness) or lack of rules (badness)
Legalism or lawlessness
It’s a gift!

18. Atonement Someone has to ATONE for the brokenness of this relationship
The cross is God’s “NO!” to all our self-justification
He calls us back to Himself, to meaning and purpose!
Col. 2:13-15
Moral influence, Christus Victor, Satisfaction, Penal Substitution, Ransom, The Final Scapegoat
Refusing this gift is ACTIVELY choosing the ABSENCE of GOD, which is Hell
Hell is full of people who have chosen relationship with rules rather than with God

19. The Danger of Grace Javert
Kills himself because of grace extended to him
Jean Veljean enters it and finds redemption
Salvation by grace is scary if you don’t want to be known
Justification and meaning from outside yourself are difficult for those who like control
Facing that control was an illusion means entering further into it
Fear=beginning of wisdom

20. What’s My Motivation? Why should I live a good life?
If grace causes you to think this it means FEAR was your motivation
Verse 31
Other oriented vs. self preserving
God doesn’t need your good deeds to justify you, so the legalistic paradigm falls apart

21. Good Deeds and Relationship

22. Good Deeds and Relationship

23. Jesus and the Law Matthew 5:17-20
Jesus FULFILLS the law because he gives it meaning
Shows how it has worth and value and what it was meant for
He does the same with people
There are rules, but they function to deepen relationship and meaning and purpose
Cheating on your wife
Stop looking at your sin and your good deeds and look at Jesus
And the invitation from Paul is to look closely
Col. 2:3, Psalm 130:4

24. The Logos
Greek philosophers for hundreds of years debated what the meaning of life was and they claimed there was a LOGOS
Some thing or idea external to the person that would show what the person was meant for
Fish and water
By Jesus’ day, people had basically given up
John 1:1
Not a thing, but a person
When you submit to Him, you experience freedom and find out who you are

25. Prayer