Turn with me this morning, if
you will, to the third chapter of the book of Romans. The tenth verse says, As it is
written, there is none righteous, no, not one. As it is written. The Scriptures
say there is none righteous, no, not one. Not one righteous man. among the children of man, none
righteous, no, not one. Righteousness. Verse 21 says,
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Verse 22, Even the righteousness
of God, righteousness of God. Is there any greater righteousness
than the righteousness of God? Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that
believe. the righteousness of God. Does
none righteous know not one among the children of men, those who
belong to Adam's fallen race? 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 of sin and come short
of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare
His righteousness for the remissions of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, the righteousness of God, that He might be just
and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Righteousness of God. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ
answers many great and valuable purposes
of God. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sins of the world. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. He came to seek
and to save His people. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ
answers many great and valuable purposes. The first thing it declares is
the wisdom of God. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
declares the wisdom of God, declares the wisdom of God to the angels
in heaven and to the saints upon the earth. God's wisdom is seen
in the ordaining of His Son. to be the substitute of believing
sinners. That is the wisdom of God. Who
could conceive such a plan as the salvation of sinners through
a substitute? His death, the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, not only reveals It sets forth the wisdom of God,
but it shows forth the love of Almighty God. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. Whosoever believeth on Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. The Bible says he loved
his church and gave himself for it, that he might present it
unto himself, a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. The main purpose of the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, was
the manifestation or was to show forth the righteousness of God. That's the main purpose, I think. The main reason why Christ died
was to show forth, display, make known, manifest the righteousness
of God. That's what we read about here
in the third chapter of the book of Romans. fifth chapter of the
book of Romans, the righteousness of God, which is by faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God. So I have nothing new
to say this morning, and I'd be ashamed of myself if I did. There's nothing new under the
sun. I am going to tell you of the
old doctrine. I want to tell you the saving
truth, the truth of salvation, the truth of God as to the salvation
of sinners. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
shows forth divine justice. the highest degree. You remember
the Bible says the soul that sinneth shall surely die. Divine justice. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
manifests the divine justice of God Almighty. You remember
in the expulsion the expelling of Adam and Eve from the Garden
of Paradise. That's a fact, that's not a myth.
Adam and Eve, man and a woman, the first of the human race. God made that woman from Adam's
rib, made her a help, But her and Adam in the garden, because
of their disobedience, they disobeyed God. Adam, the head, the federal
head, the representative of all of those that would come to being
in the future, all of humankind, he represented them. Because of his disobedience,
he was expelled from the garden. That is, they put him out of
the garden. And when they put him out of
the garden, that manifests the justice of God. He had disobeyed God. God told him not to eat of that
fruit, of that tree, and he disobeyed God. And because he disobeyed
God, justice fell upon him, and he was expelled from the garden,
and his wife along with him. Now, it manifested the justice
of God, but not the full justice of God. It was an aspect of the
justice of God expelled him from the garden. but not the full
justice of God, because if the full justice of God was executed at that particular
time, if strict and severe justice had been exercised and practiced
at that time, they should have died on the spot. The soul, that
sinner, shall surely die. Justice was manifest. They were
expelled from the garden, but their lives were spared. It was just being expelled from
paradise. Now, the curse is in the expelling and in the
death. Now, that curse was not confined
to natural death, but it certainly was included.
Now, had justice there, in the expelling of Adam from the garden. If justice there had been fully
vindicated, the human race would have been utterly destroyed.
Justice was displayed. Justice was manifest, but not
full justice, because if full justice had been displayed and
manifest, The human race, which comprised of two people, would
have been utterly destroyed. Now, the justice of God was set
forth in the great flood, when the flood came. You know the
story of Adam building that ark? Forty years he labored to build
the ark. fellow workers, and he gave testimony and witness
during the course of that time that the flood was coming, and I'm sure told them that judgment
was around the corner. Well, the justice of God was
set forth when the flood came, but not in its fullness. It swept the majority of the
human race off the face of the earth, drowned them all, men,
women, and children, the old, the young, the physically sufficient people Those who were
insufficient physically got them off, swept them off of the face
of the earth. Yet in the ark there was the
chosen eight. There was Noah and his wife and
his three sons and their wives. Now, were they not sinners? Certainly Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives
were sinners. All of sin comes short of the
glory of God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. Well, were they not sinners?
Well, I say this, if justice comes out in its fullest force,
Why does it permit just eight to escape? I said it didn't come
out in its fullest force. But if it did, well, if it did,
apart from the atonement, not even Noah would have escaped. Justice must be satisfied. and the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ manifests. The main point in the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ is to display the righteousness of God. The death of Christ did more
clearly show forth the righteousness of God than all of these illustrations
that I tried to give you in regard to Adam, in regard to Noah, in
regard to Sodom and Gomorrah, in regard to the children of
Israel as they went through the Red Sea and drowned in all the
others, the death of Christ, did more clearly show forth the
righteousness of God than all these put together. Even hell
itself cannot exhaust the vindication of the justice of God Almighty. To exhaust the justice of God
Almighty in declaring and setting forth its righteousness It needs
a whole eternity to set forth all the justice of God in the
punishment of sin. In Christ, you have set forth
at once, and once and for all, the fullness of the vengeance
of God against the sins of His people. He paid the debt that none could
pay but Him. And there is more in the vindication
of the justice of God on the tree, in the cross, than can
be seen at any one time, at any one point, in the deepest, lowest,
depths of hell, the righteousness of God, the justice of God, the
death of Christ sets forth divine justice because it teaches this
truth, that sin can never go unpunished. The death of Christ
manifests this blessed truth, and it's a truth that you and
I We must learn. We must learn this truth. If a man's ever to have any peace
of mind, peace of soul, peace of conscience, he's got to learn
the truth that no sin will go unpunished by God. God hates sin. He made that. This, that I've just said, as
necessary as the law of gravitation. The law of gravitation can be
suspended, but the law of justice can never be suspended, can never
be altered, can never change. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. That's an indisputable fact. He will by no means spare the
guilty. There is no pardon. There is no forgiveness of sin
without punishment. It cannot be a substitute was provided, who
shall pay what his people owe? No pardon without punishment. A substitute must be provided
to pay the debt that his people owe. No pardon without punishment. Somebody's got to be punished
for sin. You say, well, why is that? Well,
as long as God Almighty rules the universe, He rules the universe
in wisdom. And His wisdom, the wisdom of
God, knows that it would be unsafe if sin were at any time permitted
to be blotted out apart from satisfaction being made to justice
and sin. Christ must give a satisfaction
to sin. He must do it, or the sinner
will perish forever. This is seen in what our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, had to endure. That is, when we talk
about on the cross or on the tree, what happened on the cross,
what happened on the tree. The righteousness of God was
revealed. Punishment! Punishment! No pardon without punishment. A substitute must be provided
to receive the punishment that's due to the sinner. That's seen in what he had to
endure. A part of the penalty due the
sinner is shame. That's part of the penalty. And
we many times refer to that when we talk about how he came. He came anointed and appointed
and commissioned of God, He came and in Himself, in His own person,
He bore our shame. We say He bore our shame. We say He bore our guilt. We
say He bore our sin. We say He bore the penalty that
was due us against our sins. Part of the penalty due us against
our sins is shame. He bore our shame. You know what
shame is? You have been shamed, haven't
you, sometime in your life? Have you been marked out and
shamed in front of people? You know what shame is. Shame
is a feeling of guilt. That's what shame is. Shame is
indecency. Shame is brazen. Shame is dishonor. Shame is disgrace. feel shame, not only shame, S-H-A-M-E,
but to feel that shame. Part of the penalty that our Lord Jesus Christ must
endure for those that the Father gave Him is their shame. He took upon Himself our shame. felt our shame. He who had no
shame felt our shame. Oh, it means it's violating what
is considered to be just or decent. It's offensive, so offensive,
our shame, which is part of the penalty that is the make-up of
a sinner. So offensive is that to God. God, the holy, glorious God,
cannot look upon sin. It is so evil and so contrary
to His holy nature that God Himself is angry with the wicked every
day and cannot look upon sin. It says, as part of the penalty,
He took our shame and our guilt upon Himself. Does not the Bible
say He was despised and rejected of men? Does it not say that
He was the song of the drunkard? Does it not say that they spit
in His face? Does it not say that they bowed
their knee in mock judgment and mock homage to him? Does it not say that he was put
in the place of a slave? Does it not say that he was the
ultimate shame in that they placed him between two thieves? in that preeminent place of shame. And this was by imputation. Our shame, our guilt, our sins,
that which we owed to God's justice laid on Him and He bore all this. And all this is just transferred
by imputation. He had no sin of His own. Not only our shame and our guilt,
but our sorrows as well. Sorrows as well as shame. He said, My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful even unto death. His physical sufferings alone
are enough to make us weep. He who must be inflicted with
The least sense of pain is enough. The Son of God, God in human
flesh, suffering pain, just the least bit of pain is enough to
break our hearts. Oh, but what about His soul sufferings. He suffered
not only physically, outwardly, but he suffered inwardly. That God the Son, this is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, that this beloved Son
would have to suffer is enough to melt our hearts, God suffering
Himself. Here, you see, dear brethren,
God declared, manifested what evil sin really is, how
jealous He is of His justice, His righteousness, His justice
must be satisfied. Oh, He must pour out His wrath
upon the only begotten of the Father. Add to the shame and
guilt and the outward suffering, add to all of that the fact that
He was deserted by God Himself, abandoned by God. He cried out,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It is a more desperate
cry than any lost sinner could cry. My God, my God, why hast
thou deserted me? forsaken me, abandoned me, left
me to myself. He did something to the substitute. He did something to the darling
of His bosom. He did something to the only
begotten, the Lord Jesus Christ that He promised He would never
do to you and I. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. Those who are His children, Thy
faith in Christ Jesus, this blessed promise. He says, be not dismayed. Don't be discouraged. Whatever
trials or troubles or happenings might take place, He said, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. But He said to His Son, I have
to forsake you. He who knew no sin was made sin
in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He said in the Psalms, He said,
O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. He said, Sorrows and
death have encompassed me, He said, the pains of hell hath
got hold of me. He said, I have found trouble
and I have found sorrows, but no answer came from God. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Added to all this, added to the
shame, the guilt, the desertion by God Himself. God did not spare
him death. It looks like God would have
spared him from dying. But Christ died, I read to you
there in the book of Romans, when we were without strength. When we were ungodly, Christ
died for us. I am saying to you this morning,
the greatest manifestation of the righteousness of God Almighty
is clearly seen in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have
said that the death of Jesus Christ manifests the wisdom of
God displays the love of God, but the main purpose is that
it manifests, it displays the righteousness of God, that sin
must be punished. There can be no forgiveness,
there can be no pardon, there can be no heaven, there can be
no glory, there can be no peace of mind, no peace of soul, no
peace of conscience, unless punishment takes place. That's what I'm
saying. So help me, God, that's the old,
old story. That's the truth. Until you learn
this truth, you'll still be nothing and going
nowhere. God had forsaken him. He died. Surely! Surely he might have
been spared that. He who is the brightness of his
glory, the express image of his person, here he is on the tree. Now he lies sleeping in the grave. Surely God could spare him that. That shows how God hates sin,
hates evil. Oh, we're so full of it, aren't
we? So full of sin. There's not a
single particle of our being, our nature, that's not polluted
and contaminated with the virus of this evil and awful, loathsome,
deadly disease. Sin! Why we're rebels against
God, we lie, we cheat, we steal, we commit adultery and idolatry,
and every crime that's indecent and ungodly we become involved
in. Our Lord Jesus Christ, oh, the
faultless, the faultless One, the Lamb of God without blemish,
without wrinkle, without spot, the express image of the glory
of the Father. He reveals how much He hates
evil and sin to the extent that He spared not His own Son, and
His own Son who knew no sin, was bearing our iniquity and
our transgressions." The righteousness of God Almighty. He's righteous.
If you think that you can be saved at the expense of the righteousness
of God and at the expense of the fulfillment and satisfaction
of the justice of God, you've got another thing coming. God
will not show mercy at the expense of His justice and righteousness.
He will not do that. Contrary to His nature, He can't
do it. God can't do it. That's one thing
God can't do. He can't lie, and He can't show
mercy at the expense of His justice. If there's no punishment, there's
no forgiveness. If there's no punishment, there's
no righteousness. If there's no punishment, there's
no way to heaven. So the only way that God can
be just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus is to
roll our sins on the substitute, on the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Who suffered? It was the only begotten of the
Father. The Bible calls Him the Just
One. He had a spotless nature. The Bible says He was a King,
the King of the Jews. The Bible says He's the Messiah.
The Bible calls Him the Shiloh, the Son of the Highest. The Bible
says that He was begotten. Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin
Mary. He was – now listen to me – He
was Himself – I'm talking about the Lord Jesus Christ – He was
Himself the very God! He was God! The only way God could pardon Forgive! Accept! A poor sinner like you and I
was to come himself. God coming in the person of His
Son, being made sin, who knew no sin, in order that you and
I might have a home with Him. enough to make our very hearts
melt. He came to suffer, to bleed,
to die. Oh, that mysterious righteousness,
that such a one as this would have to bleed. Such a person
as the person of He's Altogether Lovely. would have to bleed,
not just cut his finger, but he must pour out his blood unto
death. He must die. Oh, that he'd have
to experience pain and be obedient unto death. Oh, how the righteousness
of God and the justice of God was vindicated. in the doing
and the dying and the suffering and the bleeding of the dear
Lamb of God. You say, how can I be saved? How can I be saved and still
at the same time God be just? How can that be? Well, every
sinner knows this. He knows that sin must be punished. He knows that. Every sinner knows
that. He knows that sin must be punished. There's not a soul in here this
morning that does not know that sin must be punished and will
be punished. They know that. They know that. And if you don't know that, and
you'll never find that out, you are without hope. You've got
to learn that truth. But it's as simple as this. I, who am an ungodly, unholy,
polluted, corrupted, lost, dead, hell-bound, no-account sinner,
how can I be saved and brought into the very presence of God,
and yet God at the same time maintain His holiness and integrity? How can that happen? Well, it's
as simple as this. God punished Christ instead of
punishing me. Now, that's as simple as I can
make it. God punished His Son instead
of punishing me. And when I was awakened to that
truth, it melted my heart. And when I heard the call that
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What else could I do? What else could I do but believe
on Him, whom to know is life? He who become all this for me. Certainly that melted my heart.
And it melts my heart right now. God demands punishment for sins
that are past. as well as perfect obedience
for the years to come. Now, what God demanded, God provided. And what God provides, God accepts. God provided. He sent Him. He sent Him. He comes Himself
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What He demands, He provides. What He provides, He accepts. He'll accept any sinner if he
comes on the ground of who he is. And if he won't do that,
if he won't come on the ground of his sinnerhood, then God will
come on the ground of who He is and deal with the sinner as
He is. Oh, to come to Him. What God has provided, He has provided the Savior. He
sent Him. His name shall be called Jesus.
He is in the business. That's His chief business. That's what He comes for. Quit
trying to save yourself. You can't save yourself. He's
the Savior. Let Him do the saving. God help you to see what I'm
talking about.