I turn tonight to Romans chapter
3. Romans chapter 3 beginning with
verse 21. 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. For there
is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seen it is one God which shall
justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through
faith. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. In the first chapter of Romans,
verse 16, the apostle said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone
that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. And
then he followed that with, for therein, that is in the gospel,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. Now we might say tonight that
he's now returned to this truth, the truth that he stated in that
verse in chapter one, the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. After showing from that verse
until the text where we began tonight, after showing that all
men, both Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised,
that all men are guilty before God, and that none, not one single
person, would ever be justified by works, by the law of Moses,
the law that was given on Mount Sinai, or the natural law that
all men have written upon their hearts to some degree when we
come into this world. When God put that seraphim, or
cherubim rather, at the Garden of Eden, after he put Adam and
Eve out, to keep the way to the tree of life. That was a demonstration
that man would never, could never earn his salvation. He could
never be saved by works. Adam was put under a covenant
of works, wasn't he? He was commanded not to do a
certain thing. And we believe that if he had
obeyed, then after a trial period, no doubt he would have been established
righteous and holy in a position where he could not fall. For
instance, like the angels that did not fall. Some did fall,
but some, no, because Christ is their head, and they're the
elect angels who could not sin. But Adam did sin, and that covenant
of works was forever. disallowed, no one would ever
be saved again, but could be saved again by works. And that
was shown by that cherubim keeping the way to the tree of life,
that man could never approach unto God in that way again. Is there then no hope for man?
Seeing that all men are guilty before God, is there no hope
for man? Will all men be lost and suffer
the wrath of God throughout eternity? You know, and I know, tonight
the answer to both of those questions is no. That yes, rather, there
is hope for sinners, and all men will not be lost for all
eternity. And how is that? By the righteousness
of God. By the righteousness of God.
And I want to point out to us tonight five truths about the
righteousness of God in these verses that we've just read here
in Romans 3. First, in verse 21, the righteousness
of God is now manifested, with the emphasis on that word now. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. It is now manifested by the obedience,
by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. By his
obedience and his death, this righteousness of God is now manifested. Now, this righteousness of God
is not his essential righteousness, you know that. God is holy, God
is just, God is righteous in His nature. We oftentimes refer
to Him as the thrice holy God, thrice holy God. Abraham, when
he spoke to God, he said, shall not the God of all the earth
do right? In other words, God is just and
righteous in Himself. But this righteousness of God
here in this text is not speaking about his essential righteousness. It is telling us about the righteousness
that the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would
provide and that God would accept. And we know that he did. He perfectly,
it's his righteousness. It was earned. He earned it. by his obedience as a man, as
a God-man. He earned this righteousness
of God. You say, well, it's the righteousness
of God. Yes, he is God. And God not only
ordained this righteousness, but God accepts this righteousness. But now, the apostle said, it's
now manifested. For all those years during the
time of the law, The first five books of the scripture during
the time of the prophets, it was there, it was spoken of,
but it wasn't manifested. It wasn't nearly revealed, clearly
revealed as it is now manifested by the coming and the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ. As an example, and there are
so many examples of how that the law and the prophets spoke
about this righteousness and how it is received. But let me
give us one example from the law, from the book of Genesis,
and that is what they considered the law, the first five books
of the Bible, the Pentateuch. But in Genesis 15 and verse six,
we read, and he, that is Abraham, he believed God And it was imputed
unto him for righteousness. What was imputed unto him? Not
his faith. Not his faith. That's what the
Arminians teach for the most part. That it is a man's faith
that is imputed. No, no. It's by faith. But Abraham believed God. He had faith. And in the righteousness
which was promised, It was promised in Genesis 3 and verse 15 by
the seed of the woman coming and bruising the head of the
serpent. Abraham believed God. It was imputed unto him for righteousness. That's what we read here in our
text. Look again. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed. Yes, it was
witnessed by the law. It was witnessed by the prophets.
But now it is manifested. An example from the prophets. I chose this one, and like I
said, there's many examples, but in Isaiah chapter 42 and
verse 21, we read, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness
sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness sake, that is the righteousness of the Lord
the righteousness of God, as it's called here, that is made
by Him magnifying the law and making it honorable. The very
fact, think about this, the very fact that Jesus Christ, the God-man,
was subservient to the law, born under the law, obeyed the law,
He honored the law. He gave more honor to the law
by His obedience just because of who He is than if all the
men, all of God's creatures, had obeyed the law. The law would
never have been honored if every single person had always obeyed
the law. It would not have been honored
like it is honored by the obedience of God manifest in the flesh. Does that make sense to you?
It's true, it's so. So that's the first thing, the
righteousness of God is now manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Yes, we like to speak about the
gospel being presented in the law with the shadows and the
types. It was there. but not manifested
like it has been since the Lord Jesus Christ came and lived the
holy life that he lived and obeyed God's holy law perfectly. Here's the second thing that
we see in this passage of scripture. The righteousness of God is received
by faith. Notice that in verse 22 and 26. even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference. And also in verse 26, to declare,
I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. This righteousness
of God is received by faith, by faith in Christ. There has
never been but one way for a sinner to be justified before God. There hasn't ever been any other
way than this way. No other way. He said, I am the
way. He's the only way to God. He's
the only way that a person might be just before God. He's the
only way a man might be sanctified before God. He is the way. He's everything, isn't he? And we're complete in him. But
this righteousness is received by faith. God is a justifier
of those who believe in Jesus. When that Philippian jailer asked
Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved? Their answer was
quick, and it was simple, and it was sure. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. There's no other way. This righteousness is only received
by faith, and it's faith in Christ that's important. Because everyone,
for the most part, believes in God. James said, even the devils
believe, and they do more than believe. They tremble, but they
don't believe in Christ. They believe in God. Most people,
as I said, I think just about everyone would confess, oh, I
believe there's a God. You can't hardly live in God's
world and not believe that there's a God. I mean, His works are
manifested, the glory, The heavens declare the glory of God and
the firmament showeth forth his handiwork day unto day. Yes,
God's creation testifies to God, but it's not just believing there
is a God, it's believing in Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
righteousness of God. This text tells us it is unto
all. What does that mean? It's to
be preached unto all. Our Lord said, go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. And we know the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ has done that, been doing that
for over 2,000 years now, going into all the world, and to tribes
so remote. And the gospel is preached, and it's
unto all. Preach it unto all. You can't
meet anyone. to whom the gospels should not
be preached unto. And it's upon all. Notice, I
like the way that reads so much, don't you? The way it was translated.
Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all, preached unto all, and upon, upon all them that
believe. And that word upon makes me think
of this righteousness as like a garment. And the prodigal son,
the parable of the prodigal son, we see that, don't we? When the
father, after commanding that a ring be put on his son's finger
and sandals on his feet, Bring forth the best robe, the best
robe in the house. This is the best robe, the righteousness
of God. That is, it's upon all them that
believe. It's upon you, it's upon me tonight,
upon our soul. The righteousness of God is preached
unto all and is upon all that believe. Look with me in Isaiah. Turn back with me to Isaiah chapter
61, just a moment. Isaiah chapter 61, remember this
is a passage our Lord read in the synagogue in Nazareth when
he began his public ministry. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn. Now watch this, to appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes. Beauty for ashes. Ashes, that's
our righteousness, right? That's our righteousness that
God describes like filthy rags. And God gives us beauty. Beauty,
it is unto all and upon all them that believe. The beautiful robe
of Christ's righteousness. Some men, you know, I ran into
this just recently. Someone emailed me and they were
confronted by something they had read, I think, on the internet,
but men forever have tried to say that the Apostle Paul taught
something different from the Lord Jesus Christ. that there's
a conflict there, and they usually present it like this. Paul was
a Pharisee, he was a legalist, and he came in and he just ruined
what the Lord Jesus Christ had taught and preached. But that's
not true. You know that's not true. There's
no conflict. What happened, I believe, the
reason people make statements like this and believe like that
is they take the Sermon on the Mount and most of them have what
they call a social gospel. And they don't realize that the
Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, he is teaching
what the law taught, what they didn't see. That the law deals
with the heart, the law is spiritual. All they could see was outward
things. And look with me in John chapter
eight. For instance, Paul taught, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Did the
Lord Jesus Christ teach something different? Did he teach that
men must be saved by keeping of the law? Of course not. Man's
not able to keep the law. This one verse, as far as I'm
concerned, shows the fallacy in John chapter 8 and verse 24. Our Lord is speaking to some
that day of the people that questioned Him. He said, I said therefore
unto you that you shall die in your sins for if you, if, if
you believe, He didn't say anything about works here, If you believe
not that I am, and notice the pronoun he has been added. If
you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. It's not just believing that
there is a God. It is believing that the Lord
Jesus Christ is God and that He is the one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And that by His propitiation,
as the word is here in Romans 3, by His sacrifice, that men
are justified, men are forgiven their sins. It is believing that
He is God, mediator, savior, redeemer, everything. Those who speak of a difference
between the message of the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul, they
usually think that and teach that men are saved by their works,
by doing good. We're saved by works. but it's
not our works. It's His work, right? It's His works. Does that mean
that believers will not have good works? No, believers shall
have good works. We are ordained, the scripture
says, to walk in good works. Yes, but we're not saved by our
works. We're saved through Him. This
righteousness of God is preached unto all and it's upon all of
them. It's upon you. Doesn't that cause
you to rejoice tonight, to think that you're dressed in that perfect
robe of righteousness? And when God looks at you, he
doesn't see any sin. He sees you in Christ, accepted
in the beloved. All right, here's the third thing.
The righteousness of God is freely given. Back in our text here,
verses 24 and 25. being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. It is by the grace of
God that men are justified freely. The word which is translated
here freely, it's only used eight times in the New Testament. And this is a way I like to explain
how this word needs to be understood. If you look back to John chapter
15, the same word, John chapter 15 and verse 25, You know, free is free. Now you know there's no free
lunch in this world. If you don't, you'll learn it.
But salvation is free. It's freely given. And here in
John 15, this is the same word that is translated freely there,
being justified freely. Here in John 15 and verse 25,
the Lord said, But this has come to pass, that
the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they
hated me without a cause. Now that's the same word. You
say, why did they translate it so different? Until you can find
some reason in the Lord Jesus Christ for men to have hated
him, for men to hate him, then never look for a reason in yourself
why God would justify you. Because you're not going to find
one. If you look within, you're never going to find a reason
why God would love you, why God would justify you. No, no more
than there was any reason that the Lord Jesus Christ should
ever have been hated. This righteousness of God is
imputed righteousness, and justification is freely given. But as we see
here, and Paul, as you know in his writings, he always, always
brings this in. It's in a way that never, in
any way, destroys God's justice, his righteousness. Yes, we're
justified freely, by grace, but it's always through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Always. There would be no free
justification if there were not a sacrifice, a blood offering
unto the Lord. You know, the death of Christ
accomplished many things. One of the things that normally
pops into our mind when we think about his death is the forgiveness
of sins. And that's certainly true and
that's wonderful. We read that in Ephesians 1 and
verse 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. But do you notice
in this place in verse 22, there's something else that the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the death of Christ accomplished.
In verse 22, or excuse me, in verse 26, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that is God's righteousness, that he might be just and justifier
of them which believe in Christ. No, verse 25, I'm sorry. Whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness, the redemption that is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, his death, his blood. What does it accomplish? It accomplishes many things,
but one thing is listed here. to declare God's righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. In other words, God had forgiven
many men and women over the ages, from Adam on down to when the
Lord Jesus Christ actually died upon the cross. He was righteous in doing that. knowing, assured that the Lord
Jesus Christ would come. Because when God purposes something,
it's done. It's done. Something about that I wanted
to mention also. When God forgave the sins of
those Old Testament saints before Christ died, when we say that Christ atoned
for your sins, my sins, past sins, we've all got those, don't
we? Past sins. Present sins. We all have those. We saw this
morning the sins of ignorance. Future sins, they're all forgiven. And think about this, when Christ
died, all of your sins were future. Weren't they? They were all future. Sometimes people have trouble
when they hear a preacher say that our future sins are also
forgiven. But no, all of our sins were
future when he died. But they're all forgiven. Here's
the fourth thing. The righteousness of God received
by faith excludes all boasting. Verse 27. Where's boasting then? It's excluded. One of the writers,
I like this, one of the writers said something to this effect.
The righteousness received by faith, it excludes all boasting. It puts all boasting out the
door and locks the door behind it. Yes, all boasting. Jeremiah, remember this passage,
he said, thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory, or
boast in his wisdom. Neither let the mighty man glory,
boast in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth, let him that boasteth, glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things
I delight." Where is boasting? It's excluded because we're justified
freely through the redemption of Jesus Christ. And we have,
there's no, we boast in Christ. We should boast, we should, but
not in ourselves. We should boast in Christ, glory
in Christ, yes. But not in ourselves. I think,
let's see if I'm right here, but look with me in 1 Corinthians
1. Yes, verse 31 of 1 Corinthians
1, that according as it is written, he that glorieth And that's the
same word as boasteth. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Let him boast in the Lord. Yeah. And the last thing, the fifth
thing, the righteousness of God establishes the law. That's what
it says in verse 31. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
the law. All that the law demanded and
all that we could never render, the Lord Jesus Christ did so
perfectly. We established the law. We don't
set the law aside. We established the law by faith
because in Christ we kept the law. We honored the law in Christ
in our head. Christ, as Paul will say later
in this letter of Romans, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Amen. Well, I pray the Lord would
bless these thoughts to those of us here this evening.