I invite you to turn in your
Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. That's where
our text verse is. Last Wednesday night I reminded
you that God's glory, His great glory is in His free and sovereign
grace. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. But I'm afraid in our day there
aren't many people that really understand what the Bible says
about grace. Because God, in being gracious, must also remain righteous. If you'll hold your place and
turn over to Romans chapter 5, and look with me in verse 20,
he says, moreover the law entered that the offense might abound,
but where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound. We'll likely receive that verse
well, but there is a following statement. That as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. You see, that being true, God's grace is only through the
redemptive work of Christ. And that's what He's doing on
the cross. He is redeeming a people, redeeming
individuals that He might save them and bless them. And that brings us to our text
this morning in Romans 3. where he says in verse 21, but
now the righteousness of God without the law. In other words,
all the law could do was magnify the offense, show the offense
of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. This righteousness is received
through believing. It's received through God-given
faith. He says, regardless of what they
are or who they are, for there is no difference, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And then he says in verse 24, being justified, or as most translations
give it, they are justified, which means to be declared righteous
by God. They are justified freely by
his grace. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. All that God has to give in grace
All the righteousness that is received by His people through
believing, it comes through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. And that is always the way it
has been. It has never been any other way,
and even the psalmist in the Old Testament, in Psalm 130,
states the very same thing. It is always grace through redemption. And so in this 130th Psalm, and
he begins it, with a loud cry, a loud cry to
somebody who is the object of redemption. In other words, as
the prophet says in Isaiah 40, he says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. And there is a comfort to be
spoken, there is a good news to be spoken to these redeemed
ones, to these who are the Lord's people. He says, Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, Lord, hear my voice, and let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. But as is always the case in
grace, you see, grace never violates, never denies, never misrepresents
God in His holy and just character. Look down at verse 3. He says, If thou, Lord, Shouldest
mark iniquities, who shall stand? We are never to forget. We are
never to minimize the justice of God and his hatred for sin
because he does mark iniquity. He does punish sin. And as the psalmist says here
in this verse, if he does that, who can stand? There's not one center. Not one of us, and we are in
that number that we just read about, all of who have sinned,
there's not one of us who in ourself, in our person, in our
own righteousness, can stand before God. Now, how does a psalmist know
this is right? He knows it is right because
the Spirit of God has led him to sound this note and to declare
this truth and to warn us so that the gospel might prove to
be good news to us. Because on this black background, in light of this awful truth
that we have sinned and come short of the glory of God in
the light of the fact that God must punish sin, that He will
by no means clear the guilty. On that background is grace. Grace. Because the psalmist says here
and so many places, as do all the writers of scripture, such
things as there is grace, there is mercy, because there is plenteous
redemption. Look over in verse 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. So we have the grace of God,
which is not like man's grace, but we have the grace of God,
which is through the redemption that is in Christ, so that he
might remain a just God, and at the same time be the Savior. He might be just with sinners. and still be the savior of sinners. And all the time, all the time
in this redemption and this grace, all his attributes, all his attributes
should be magnified and displayed. Is God holy? Yes. Well, grace must be consistent
with His holiness. Is He a God who punishes sin? Is He just? Then it must necessarily
be consistent with His justice. Is He a God of love? Yes, He
is. But it must be consistent with
His love. And so, all His attributes are
in grace through this redemption that is in Christ Jesus, all
of them are not only in harmony, but they are also glorified and
manifested. You see, God's grace is in Christ
crucified. God's grace is in the salvation
of His people and His grace, as we read, reigns in righteousness. Now what does it mean to redeem
something? People seem in our day to not
like words that are legal terms or what they call a mercantile
redemption or things like that. But to redeem means simply to
buy back by the paying of a particular price. When you redeem something, you
buy it back by the paying of a particular price. So in this redemption, the psalmist
sounds out this good news. He says in verse 4, but there
is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared, revered,
honored. In other words, the forgiveness
of God has to be such that it honors and magnifies and reveres
God and shows Him to be what He says that there is. But the
thing is that He says this, there is forgiveness. Are you a sinner? Have you sinned? Have you come short of the glory
of God? Do you stand before God as one
who is condemned in herself? Well, listen to him. He says
there is, there is right now forgiveness with God. And that's the good news. That's
the comfort that is given to God's people. That is the glad
tidings of the gospel of grace. It is the fact that there is
forgiveness, that there is mercy, and it's because there is plenteous
redemption. In other words, there's a reason
for a person who knows themselves to be really a sinner. A person who is brought by the
Spirit of God to know themselves and to confess themselves for
exactly what God says that they are. And that's how we know how
we are. When we believe God, and believe
what he says that we are. Believe what he estimates us
to be in ourselves. When he says things like this,
man at his best state is altogether vanity. When He says to us, there
is none righteous, no not one, there is none that seeketh after
God, there is none that understandeth, and we all come together in one
confession of a great sinnerhood. Because the gospel, which is
good news, is only good news to such as meet this particular
character. Sinners, lost, hopeless. But the thing is that God sounds
out in His Word the very good news of the gospel and he says
there's a reason for hope. There's a reason and a ground
for hope. There's a ground for joy. There's
a reason for peace. But it's just not in us. It's not in us. It's not in what
I think it is. It's not in what men say that
it is. It's not in my circumstance. It's not in my works. Look at what it says in verse
5. I wait for the Lord. My soul
doth wait. And in His Word do I hope. There's not any hope in all the
books that men write, in all the formulas that they give. There's not hope, genuine, lasting
hope based on a solid foundation in anything man provides. So if we have hope, if we find
genuine hope, it has to be in His Word. It's in what God says. And it is hope and grace and
mercy because of a plenteous redemption. Verse 7 says, let Israel hope
in the Lord. Now that can't be all of national
Israel. That can't be that people of
Israel that were called the people of God in the Old Testament,
most of whom died in the wilderness in unbelief. This is the true
Israel of God. Paul said they are not all Israel
that are of Israel. They're not all the children
of Abraham according to the flesh, but the children of Abraham are
those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy,
and with him is plenteous redemption. Now look at what it says in verse
8. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. Where does the name Israel come
from? Well, it was one of two names
that were given a particular man who was of some shady, questionable
character. His name was Jacob. And the name
Jacob means huckster or conniver or schemer. He's the man who
tricked his brother out of the birthright, naturally. But the Lord gave him another
name. At the Brook J-Bach, God met
him and gave him another name. The angel wrestled with him and
prevailed, and so Jacob was given the name Israel. What does Israel mean? It means
prince of God. It means child of God. It means son of God. And so, if you notice here, it
speaks of Him singularly, and it speaks of His iniquities. And it says this, and He, who
is that He? The Lord. The God of the Bible. The Creator
God. The God who rules. The God who
moves in sovereign grace, being gracious to whom He will. And He shall. No question about it. No ifs, ands, or buts. No contingency
plans. Not if he will, God will. Not if he makes a decision. Not
if he does this, that, or the other. The Lord shall redeem. And all that involves. The Lord
shall redeem Israel. This Israel of God. These children
of God, spiritually. These who are the true circumcision,
who worship God in the Spirit, who lean on the Lord Jesus Christ
alone, who have no confidence in the flesh from all, well, God will save you. But
when you get saved, you'll have to carry it on the rest of the
way. No. You see, all our sins, all
our sins were future when Christ died on the cross. And the good news is the Lord
will do something, the Lord has done something, the Lord shall
redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Past, present, future. You see, that's always where
the rub is, that future. They say, but what if you sin? But what if you, there's no what
if to it, you will. You sin yesterday, you'll sin
today, you'll sin tomorrow. Why? Because we're sinners. Well, what if I fall? What if
I fail? What if I do this or that or
the other? Well, look back over all the
Old Testament saints at all of their failures. And it'll still say the same
thing. Redemption is redemption from
all iniquities. And I don't know if you really
understand what iniquity is about, but iniquity is simply inequity. That means we're saved from everything
that is not equal to what God requires. You say, well, I know little
sins, but what about great sin? It's all sin in God's sight. It's all sin. It's all violation
of his law. And he says here that this is
a plenteous redemption, basically because God's purpose and God's
covenant of redemption. We mentioned David, read about
David in our reading. David, on his deathbed, he confessed
this very thing. He said, he said, although my
house be not so with God. His children were wicked. He
had failed them. He had failed himself. He had
failed God. He had sinned against God in
about every way possible. He had committed adultery. He
had numbered the people. He'd done all these things. Sent a man to his murder. How will he have any peace? How
will he die on his deathbed? That's where David is on his
deathbed when he says it. He says, although my house be
not so with God. It's required of a king that
he does this and that and the other, and he rules well, but
I haven't done that. But the Lord has made with me an everlasting covenant. And
he said, it's ordered in all things and sure. How could it,
how could this covenant be made, which is the covenant of grace
to David? How could it be made with such
a one who fails and one who sins and does all these other things? How can it be sure? Because it never depended on
David. He hath made with me a covenant
which is ordered in all things, it involves all things, it covers
all things, all sins, all contingency things. And it's
sure. Because it's in Christ. He's
the angel or the messenger of the covenant. He's the covenant
head. Everything always in grace depended
on Him. He's the surety. He's the substitute. He's the one who accomplishes
it. He's the one who brings in everlasting
righteousness. It's sure because of who He is,
God in the flesh. It's sure because He's sinless,
whose perfect blood is a sacrifice of redemption, plenteous meaning,
abundant, full, great, multiplied, You can only have such a redemption
in the perfect one. In the one that the Bible says
there was no possibility of him failing. Before the world began, God looked
at Him as the Redeemer, and when He came into this world, what
did He do? He redeemed. He redeemed this
Israel from all His iniquities. Why? Because of grace. How? Because he did it by paying
that sin debt and establishing righteousness for them to be
given to them as a gift, or as the Bible says, imputed to them. And a great transfer took place. Oh, if we could just understand
that the Bible is about this great transfer. Wherein God, acting as God, acting
alone, acting as the sovereign He is, acting in grace, He took
all the sins of His people and He charged them to Christ. all their iniquities. And Christ went to the cross
before divine justice, and He on that cross paid that sin debt,
established righteousness. And God imputes His righteousness
to them. That's a great transfer. That's the gospel. You see, hope is sure, grace
is sure, mercy is sure, because it has always been through the
merits of Christ's blood and His righteousness. Turn over to I Peter. First Peter chapter 1. Peter's writing here to the people
of God. You're not interested in this?
Well, you're not interested. He says in verse 18 of chapter
1, he says, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed. Now wait a minute, this is all
past tense. He's speaking of redemption as
not only a past thing, but an accomplished thing. He says,
for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers. There was a type of redemption.
There was a price of redemption under the Mosaic law. There was
a coin that was to be given by every person to be redeemed. But that was just a picture. Peter says, you know that you
were not redeemed, truly redeemed, by these things. But with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who barely was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Christ came to redeem a people. He came to deliver them all from
their sin. He came to pay the debt that
they owe. Look over in Galatians 3. Past tense again. Paul writing
to the church at Galatia. He says in chapter 3 and verse
13, Christ hath redeemed us. I hear preachers all the time
saying things like, if you'll do this, Christ will redeem you. If you'll do this, Christ will
save you. If you'll do this, God will bless
you. No. You see, the good news involves
an accomplished work. He says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. When did he redeem us? When did
he redeem us from the curse of the law? so that the law can
have no claim against us, can pronounce no curse on us, has
no rule over us in any way. He redeemed us when he hanged
on a tree. He hanged on a tree. And Christ's
redemption is a particular redemption. He tells husbands, In Ephesians
5, he says, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it. It's particular. He didn't redeem
everybody. He laid down his life for the
sheep. He purchased the church with
his blood. But it's also plenteous redemption. He didn't redeem everybody, but
He redeemed His elect. He redeemed His church. He redeemed
His people from all their sins. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews 9 and verse 11. Listen to this. But Christ, being
come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and
more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say,
not of this building, It wasn't in an earthly tabernacle, but it was in the Holy of Holies,
in the presence of God. But look at verse 12, neither
by the blood of goats and calves. All these sacrifices offered
under the law that just pointed to Christ. Neither by the blood
of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once
into the holy place Having obtained Eternal redemption
for us You see Christ's redemption is
eternal redemption I don't even know how to comprehend that word
eternal, but it means forever. And when you go back to the Psalms,
and you go back to the prophets, you keep seeing this over again.
Turn over to Isaiah 43. Here we meet those two names
again. Isaiah 43 and verse 1. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not. For I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name and thou art mine." Now, if you paid a price for
something, you would be the first to say,
that belongs to me. And with redemption, The God
of redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed a people
and He says, you're mine. You're mine. Look over in Isaiah
44. Isaiah 44 and verse 22, I have
blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud
thy sins returning to me for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O
heavens, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye
lower parts of the earth. Break forth into singing, ye
mountains, O forests, and every tree therein. For the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. That's calling for the whole
creation. And then chapter 51, Isaiah 51,
and verse 11. This is a big prophecy. Isaiah
51, 11. Therefore the redeemed, not everybody, not all people,
The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing
unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They
shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall
flee away." They'll receive this good news
of what Christ has done for them in redemption, Redeemed him by
his blood there. They'll come to design. That's the people of God They'll
gather with the people of God and they'll rejoice over what
Christ has done. I Have redeemed you In other words on the cross Christ
is redeeming somebody I And whoever He's redeeming, He's redeemed
them all. He's redeemed them from all their
iniquities. So our hope is not in what we
do, but our hope is in what He has done. Because when He hung on that
cross, you remember, He said, it is finished. It is finished. You see, to doubt the mercy and
forgiveness of God is to doubt the redemptive work of Christ,
for His mercy endureth forever, because He has actually paid
the price of redemption for His people. He's paid it with perfect
blood, and somebody is redeemed. These belong to the Lord Jesus
Christ in a very special way. He will abundantly pardon. He will freely give us all things. He delights to show mercy. And as Paul said, where sin abounded, that grace that reigns through
righteousness did the much more abound. In other words, redeeming
grace will successfully save every one of God's people. I've had a lot of those passages
on my mind like the Song of Solomon and the Book of Ruth and the Book of Hosea. Because those books speak of
Christ redeeming His bride. I've got a new bride. I didn't redeem her, God just
gave her to me in grace. But when Ruth, the Moabitess
woman, when Boaz saw her gleaning in
the field, he loved her. He loved her, I do believe, beyond
expression. But before he could have her
and take her to his wife, he had to go settle something. He
had to go redeem her. And so he went down to the gates
of this city on that particular errand. Naomi said, the man will
not stop, he will not fail to do what he's going to do. And
he went down there and he paid the price of her redemption.
She's mine. Hosea. Gomer went, his wife, and she
sold herself into slavery, into sin, debauchery, everything. And he blesses her all the time. And she thinks it's the lovers
that are doing it. Till finally, as we say, she's
in the pits. And Hosea goes down to the slave
market. And when her number comes up,
he pays the price of her redemption. That's always the way it is.
And when Christ came to this world, it was to redeem his bride. And now he looks at her, He looks
at all the believers, true believers together that make up his church,
that make up his body, that make up his bride, and he says, thou
art all fair. Thou art all fair. Can you imagine
God looking at you? dirty and vile and having wicked
thoughts and, oh me, saying things, doing things that show that we
are nothing but sin, and have God say to us, you're all fair. You're perfect through my comeliness,
which I put on you. And over in the book of Revelation,
it says this. Turn over to Revelation 5 and
verse 9. This is the people in glory.
This is the heavenly people. In Revelation 5 and verse 9,
John sees them, and they sung a new song, said, Thou art worthy
to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast
slain, and hast redeemed us to God. Redeemed us to God. You're not your own, you're bought
with a price, therefore glorify God with your body, with your
whole being, because He owns you. redeemed us to God by thy
blood out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation. He did what? He redeemed us. Out of. Look over in Revelation 14. Revelation
14, verse 3, and they sung, as it were, a new song before the
throne, and before the four beasts and the elders, and no man could
learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand.
That's a definite number, but it's not the actual number. The Jehovah Witnesses tried that
for a while, but when the number got to be more than 144,000,
they had to drop back and punt. This is God signifying a definite
number. The Bible says that no man knows
the number, but God knows the number. He knows the number of
everyone. He knows His sheep. He knows
who He will marry marriage supper of the Lamb, but the 144,000 which were redeemed
from the earth. These are they which were not
defiled with women, for they were virgins These are they which
follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed
from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. Redemption has been in this book
from cover to cover. even in everything that went on in
the life of those Israelites, such as the firstborn of an ass. You know, the Bible refers to
us by nature as the wild ass's cult. It was considered unclean. So, if they wanted to keep it,
use it for some purpose, they had to redeem it. They had to redeem it with a
lamb. Had to kill a lamb. Had to shed his blood as a sacrifice. That was the price of redemption
for redeeming a donkey. But there's another side of that.
He said, if you don't redeem that donkey with a lamb, you
have to break his neck. You have to kill him. And that's the way it is with
all sinners that God saves. They'll have to be redeemed by
the Lamb, the Lamb of God. Or He'll have to destroy them,
punish them, break their neck. And that's what hell is all about. being justified, or they are
justified. They are declared righteous.
The world doesn't declare them so. The world declares God's people
as a bunch of eccentric, overzealous, misinterpreters, but God declares them righteous,
freely, through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Oh, the redeeming love of God,
redeeming grace, perfect blood, shed by God's Lamb, redeems us
from all all iniquities. Now that's good news. Our Father, we pray in this hour
that you would make this known to our hearts. Cause us to know this precious
redemption. Cause us to know of your redeeming
love of Christ redeeming work. We pray that you might make it
known to us that we might glorify you and praise you. Thank you. What you and Christ have done
for us. We pray in his name. Amen.