23rd September 2026

23rd September 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 5:6-11 focus v9-10)


Message (Alan Burke)


It’s been a while since I’ve been at court. I’ve likely got your attention at that one, but before you panic, it wasn’t that I was in court for being a bad boy; it was because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnessed someone being a numpty, and therefore I was called as a witness. I didn’t even get to speak because the fella knew his goose was cooked and made a deal, saving the court a lot of time and was only there for a few hours. Imagine though, it was you that was brought in, brought before the judge; you were standing there, the sweat lashing off you, waiting for the verdict, wanting to know what it was going to be. I said imagine, and I know some of you will struggle to accept you’ve ever done anything wrong, even hurt a fly, but that’s only because the fly was too fast for you. So imagine it, and the evidence has been heard, the case has been made, you stand before the judge knowing that the evidence is overwhelmingly against you; then comes the verdict and it is, of course, guilty. 


The thing is that in a more profound sense, we, before the Lord God, are guilty. The reason why is that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins (Eccl 7:20). For we are sinful at birth, sinful from the time our mother conceived us (Ps 51:5). The verdict of the Lord God himself on the human race is that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. (Gen 6:5; see also Gen 8:21). We are declared guilty by the Lord God himself; it is so because we have broken his law; there is not one of us who is able to keep it; we are ungodly sinners by our nature. 


Yet we are justified before God by the blood of Jesus; he atoned for our sin. The Old Testament sacrificial system pointed to the necessity of an atonement, how that we needed to be made atone with God. Through the sacrificial system, God made clear to his people that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22). On the Day of Atonement, blood was spilt to make atonement for the sins of the people. There was also the scapegoat, symbolically carrying the sins of the people away. It all pointed to something greater; it pointed to Jesus. He acted as our substitute. 


Christ Jesus was made sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. He was regarded and treated as a wicked sinner, even though he himself never sinned. He did it for our sake; he bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24), acting as a substitute, taking our place, so that we might escape through him the wrath of God that awaits the wicked. He was punished in our place, providing atonement for the sins of all who believe. That even though we are guilty, deserving of the judgement and the wrath of the Lord God, he justifies us, he declares us righteous before him and his law. He declares it to be, and because he declares it, then it really is the case. 


While we may not feel as it is, the wonder of what God has done means that confidence before him all by what he has declared to be true. Not only were we godless sinners, we were also his enemies and yet this is what God has done for us, reconciling us to himself. Justification does not depend on how you feel; it depends on the judicial verdict of a holy Holy all because of Christ, brother and sister, look to Christ, know that there is no condemnation for us in Christ Jesus! (Rom. 8:1). We are declared righteous by Christ’s blood (Rom. 3:24-26). Our consciences no longer condemn us (1 Jo. 3:20). We are reconciled to God, and we have peace in our communion in grace with Jesus (Rom. 5:1).


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q73 Which is the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.
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