In this whole section of God's
Word, we see the heart of the Gospel. Starting off as we began
back in Romans chapter 1, as the Apostle Paul was led by the
Holy Spirit to define the Gospel as the revelation of the righteousness
of God. And then beginning in verse 18
of chapter one and going through up to verse 20 of chapter three,
showing us why we, because we are sinners, because we are undeserving
of the least of God's favor and blessings, why we need the righteousness
of God. And then beginning in verse 21,
showing us exactly, and this is the thing that I want to emphasize
today, exactly what the righteousness of God is. There's several, though
so many places that we could go to in the scripture to see
really, we'd say it this way, God's definition of the righteousness
of God. But this is one of the most clear,
one of the clearest, one of the most concise definitions that
you'll find in the scripture. And I would urge anybody who's
truly seeking salvation to look at these verses. In verse 21,
I dealt with these, verse 21 through 23 last week. Let's just
read them. But now the righteousness of
God, without the law, that is without our deeds of the law,
is manifested, made known, revealed, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, not just starting here, but back in Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and on through. Even the righteousness
of God, and here's the definition, which is by faith, or I look
at it this way, by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. unto all them
that believe, unto all and upon all them that believe." In other
words, who has this righteousness of God? We're going to see later
on that he's talking about the imputed righteousness of Christ. This is the merits of Christ's
obedience unto death as the surety and substitute of God's people
that God has imputed, charged, accounted to the account of his
people. And it's a righteousness that
Christ worked out. How did he work it out? Well,
hold on, it's unto all and upon all them that believe. For there's
no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. And then here's our text today, verse 24. Being justified
freely by his grace. The title of this lesson is Justified
Freely by God's Grace. God's word tells us without any
confusion that God justifies the ungodly. Now, he does not
justify the godly. Why? Because the godly don't
need to be justified. What is it to be justified? Well,
it's to be forgiven of all our sins, to be pardoned It's to
be not guilty. And it's to be declared legally
by God righteous in His sight. So what are we? Well, we're a
bunch of people, if we're saved, if we're justified, we're a bunch
of people who do not appear righteous unto men if we're honest. Now,
Christ told His disciples the Pharisees do appear righteous
unto men. But if the Holy Spirit ever convinces
us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, we'll know better. What is it to appear righteous?
Well, that means you're religious, you're dedicated, you're honest
with your dealings, or you're sincere, all of that. But if
you know what righteousness is, you know that that's not, those
things don't meet up. You understand what I'm saying?
I mean, I can look at an individual, And I can say, you know, that
guy or that lady is a pillar of society. He or she's the kind
of person you want to be around, you want to speak highly of,
but because I've been convinced of righteousness, I know that
that person doesn't even look righteous to me because I know
what righteousness looks like. First of all, righteousness,
justification, is a legal term. Justification is strictly a legal
matter. And it has to come in light of
verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Here's that person that you might look up to, you might
think is a pillar of society, but here's what the Bible says,
that person comes short of the glory of God. You understand
that? No matter how good or righteous
that person may appear, the Bible says, God's word says, God's
judgment says, they fall short. And I know that. You know that,
don't you? That means they missed the mark.
And what is the mark? Who is the glory of God? It's
Christ. And that's why even that person needs to repent, because
God has appointed the day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, in that
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
him from the dead. Do you know what's ironic about this? is
that Christ said the Pharisees do indeed appear righteous unto
men, but he didn't appear righteous to them, and he was and is righteousness. They said he was a blasphemer,
a winebibber. They said he ate dinner with
publicans and harlots. They said that when he was crucified,
they crucified him as a malefactor. You know what a malefactor is?
It's a criminal. So they didn't look at him, they
didn't look at the only one who ever was and is righteous in
himself by his works. He didn't appear righteous to
man because man doesn't know what righteousness is by nature. He hath no form nor comeliness,
remember? All that, he was despised and
rejected of men. Unrighteous people will always
despise righteousness because it exposes what we are by nature. It's by faith of Jesus Christ.
Now that's the definition. Justification is a legal matter.
It's not a moral quality of character. Righteousness
is not a moral quality of character. It's the merit of a work. That's
what it is. In this upcoming book, I make
a big deal of that because Most people use the term righteousness
too loosely. You say, well, somebody does
a work of charity. Well, we say they do a work of
righteousness. Well, righteousness is not technically a work of
morality. It is the legal standard by which
all works of morality are to be measured. That's what righteousness
is. So if I do a moral work, charitable
giving or something, does that measure up to the perfection
of righteousness found in the law? And the answer is no, it
does not. The only one who ever did a work
that measures up to that is Christ. And so that's why he says it's
by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe for all sin and come short of the glory of
God. So here's the only way it can be for us. Verse 24, being
justified freely. Being declared righteous, being
declared not guilty, being pardoned and forgiven freely. Now that
word freely means without a cause. If you get accused of a crime
and you go into the court and you're innocent of committing
the crime and they prove you innocent, you go free, you're
declared not guilty because of something that's not true. You
didn't commit the crime. But when it comes to being justified
before God, if I'm justified before God, who justifies the
ungodly, there is absolutely no cause within me that would
motivate God to justify me. It's unconditional. And it says that God justifies
freely by His grace. What's grace? Undeserved, unmerited
favor. Undeserved, unmerited blessing. Undeserved, unmerited salvation. Here's the problem then. God
in his nature is righteous, and just, and holy, and good, and
truthful. The Bible said, we read this
over in Romans chapter 2, where it says that the judgment of
God is always according to truth. God cannot lie. God cannot sin. God cannot act in opposition
to his nature. He cannot act contrary. You know,
you've seen people, sometimes a person of good character does
something, what we call out of character. You've seen that happen. Well, that's not like him or
it's not like her. Well, see, God can't do that
because he's God. God could not do anything in
creation, providence, or salvation that would be contrary to his
nature, else he would deny himself. It'd be like saying he could
cease to be God, and he can't do that. So the question comes
then, well then how can God? How can God justify the ungodly
freely by his grace? How can he do that and still
be God, still be just? Job posed that question, you
remember? I've often heard that Job is the oldest book of the
Bible, time-wise, not the first book, but the oldest, even older
than Genesis. And that may be true. And somebody
said one time, said, well, if that's true, then this is the
oldest question of all, Job 9-2, I know it is of a truth, but
how should man be just with God? How in the world is that possible? And Job went on in verse three
there, he says that man has no defense for himself against God's
charges. He says this in Job 9.3, if he,
that is sinful man, will contend with him, that is God, that is
if you try to debate with God or defend yourself with God,
he, sinful man, cannot answer him one of a thousand. In other
words, if God has a thousand charges against me, I don't even
have even one answer. to defend myself, to exonerate
myself. And I'll tell you what, you know
as well as I do, God has, if God were to charge me with sin,
it'd be more than a thousand, wouldn't it? And you know a thousand
is a Hebrew idiom that either indicates an infinite number
or an unknown number. A thousand years and all that,
means you don't know what it is, it's just gonna be a long
time. David, the psalmist, wrote this
in Psalm 130 and verse 3. He said, If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Listen to it. There is absolutely no hope for
me or for you if God imputes sin to us. If God charges us with sin. If the Lord should mark iniquities,
If he should hold our iniquities against us, who among us would
stand? Not one of us. Not even that
pillar of society. That's why people hate the Bible. And those are the parts they
can understand. They just don't love them. They don't like them.
I didn't like them until God changed my mind, changed my heart. But the psalmist went on to say
in Psalm 130 verse four, he says, but there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared, that thou mayest be worshiped
and honored and magnified. There is forgiveness. Now how's
that going to come about? The Bible states this too, that
those who pervert justice are an abomination to God. They're
disgusting to God. If you pervert justice, Proverbs
17, 15. He that justifieth the wicked
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. To justify a wicked person and
to condemn a just person, that's an abomination to God. So here's the question. How can
God justify the ungodly? Which he does when he saves sinners,
when he justifies his elect, his people. And how can God condemn
the just? Which he did when he condemned
Christ, his holy, harmless, undefiled son. In fact, the Bible says
he suffered the just for the unjust. How can God do that and
not be an abomination to himself? Well, here's the point. Now,
first of all, when you read a passage like Proverbs 17, 15, which says, he that justifieth
the wicked and he that condemneth the just, even they both are
an abomination to God. You understand that that's showing
the impossibility of any human being doing that. No human being
can justify the wicked and condemn the just without being an abomination
to God. And the reason is, is because
man cannot do something like that on a just ground. Do you understand what I'm saying?
If a judge in a courtroom here in Doherty County, if he condemns
a just person, he's going to do it in a way that perverts
justice. Isn't that right? He cannot do
that on a just ground. And if he condemns a just person
or justifies an unjust person, he can't do it on a just ground.
So how can God do it? Well, look at verse 24. Being
justified freely by his grace, here's your key, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God does it. He justifies
the ungodly. When he condemned his son, he
condemned the just, but he did it on a just ground. And what
was the just ground? It's the blood of Christ. Now,
unpack that. Well, before the foundation of
the world, God chose a people, and he appointed his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be their surety. What does that mean? That means that Christ was made
responsible, accountable for their sin debt. It was charged
to him. And he willingly, Christ willingly,
was made their surety. Like Paul in the book of Philemon,
he said, put it on my account. If he'd done you any wrong, remember
that? Onesimus, the slave who ran away and stole from his master
and ran away, he said, if he's done you any wrong or owes you
anything, put it on my account, I will repay it. That's what
Christ did before the foundation of the world. for his people,
giving him all that the Father giveth me. He says, if they owe
you, and I'm just paraphrasing, if they owe you anything, which
we did because we fell in and out of sin and come to show the
glory of God, he says, put it on my account, I'll repay it. And what was the price? His blood. And his blood is the merits of
his death. It's the same as his righteousness.
I'll show you that in just a moment. His blood is the complete satisfaction
of the debt so that God can justify the ungodly, but he does it not
in a way that makes him an abomination to himself, he does it on a just
ground. The debt's paid. Sin imputed
to Christ. Righteousness imputed to his
people. And Christ was the just within himself, but because of
sin imputed to him, he was made guilty. Christ was really guilty. That means he owed the debt. The debt was charged to him.
It was imputed to him. Christ was really made a curse.
He was under the curse of the law. He was made under the law
to die the death that we deserved and earned. And that's what this
is all about. It's redemption through his blood. Redemption speaks of the blood,
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross as the surety, the
substitute, the redeemer of his people. He was made sin. That's what
that means. Sin imputed to him, charged to
him, the debt. It's on his shoulders. That we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so that's
the just ground. Well, look at verse 25. He says, whom God hath set forth. Now, there's a couple of different
translations about that phrase set forth. If you have a concordance,
you may say something like foreordained. Well, Christ was foreordained
from before the foundation of the world. You see, Christ was
no afterthought. This is the eternal mind of God.
And that blows our minds, doesn't it? This is the whole purpose
and the whole reason, the whole objective of all creation. Why did man fall? It was ordained
of God. Satan didn't sneak up on God
and take him by surprise. Before there was a sinner, there
was a savior, as the old writers used to say. You say, well, that
doesn't seem right to me. Well, it may not seem right to
you, but it's right to God, and he's it. Your arms are too short to box
with him. It's his wisdom, it's his goodness,
it's all him. And I tell people all the time,
I say, well, if you can't accept that, you take it up with him.
I'm not your enemy, he is. I'm not gonna try to reason these
things, I'm just gonna read you what the word of God says. And
even though I believe God's word is very reasonable and logical,
there is a point which we come, we just say, amazing grace. But he set him forth, that was
Orda. Some translations say that this
means that he was set forth manifestly or publicly, and he was set forth
publicly. Even in his birth, he was set
forth publicly. In his life and ministry, he
was set forth publicly. But mainly, he was set forth
publicly on the cross. Look at verse 25, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Now
you know what the word propitiation means. It's a word that the Greek
word has an allusion back to the old mercy seat in the Old
Testament, the tabernacle, the temple. But it means perfect
satisfaction. to the justice of God. That's
what propitiation is. It means God's satisfied. I was
listening to a preacher that somebody put on Facebook who
was talking about propitiation, how God, how Christ was a propitiation
for all people without exception. Well, if that's the case, if
you understand propitiation, that means all people without
exception are saved and justified. We know that's not true because
the Bible doesn't say that. Propitiation. I think you find
the word three or four times in the New Testament, but you
find it other places in other forms. For example, the old publican,
remember in Luke chapter 18, who said, God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. The word merciful there is propitious. Here's a publican. He knows that
God, he wants forgiveness. He wants mercy from God, but
he knows God cannot show mercy and forgiveness without justice.
Being satisfied. What does that mean? That means
I need a media, I need a substitute, I need a surety, I need a savior,
I need a redeemer. And that's gotta be one whom
God appointed. It's gotta be one who is able
to do what's required and that's one who has to be willing to
do so and Christ is the only one who fits the bill through
faith in his blood. And notice where the faith is.
It's in his blood. It's not in our faith. It's not
in our decision. It's not in our baptism. It's
not in our church membership. It's not in anything we do. It's
in Christ. And his blood, not just the fact
that he died, but what he accomplished when he died. How do you know
that? Propitiation. What did he accomplish? He accomplished
Redemption. He accomplished our justification,
the ground of our justification. He ensured salvation and eternal
life for all for whom he died. It's through faith in his blood.
And what does that tell us? What does that declare? Look
at it, verse 25. It declares his righteousness. It's all about righteousness.
I'll tell you what, if preachers would get a hold of this, they'd
know how to preach. They'd know where to go, they
wouldn't preach in generalities. Specifics, in his righteousness,
God's justice, you could say it that way. God's justice is
satisfied, and it says, for the remission of sins that are passed
through the forbearance of God. Now Paul had mentioned the law
and the prophets, he'd mentioned all of those, and what I believe
he's talking about there in God's forbearance is the justification
of the Old Testament saints. Christ died on the cross some
2,000 years ago. In the Bible, we have about 4,000 years of recorded human history
before the cross. Isn't that right? And so, how
did God justify, let's say, a guy like Abraham? before Christ actually
came to die on the cross and bring about redemption, bring
about propitiation on the cross at that time. Well, Paul's going
to deal with that in detail in Romans chapter 4. But you go
back to the Old Testament, here's Abel, here's Enoch, here's Noah,
go on through, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Dave, King David, you
could go on through. These were all Old Testament
saints, saved by the grace of God, whom God justified in their
day prior to Christ actually coming and establishing righteousness
on the cross. Now how did God do that? Well,
he says it here. For the remission, or for the
finishing, or for the passing over, Remember the Passo? When
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Through the forbearance
of God. That's the word forbearance,
means his patience, his holding back, his justice. And what he's
saying here is that because of God's forbearance, he was able
to justly justify the Old Testament saints based upon what Christ
would accomplish in time on the cross. And he did it by promise. That's what he's going to talk
in Romans 4 by Abraham. See, a promise that God makes
is not like our promises. Now, we may make a promise, and
we may intend to keep that promise, but there's a couple of things.
We might overestimate our abilities. I might make a promise that I
think I can keep it, but I find out later I can't keep. And another
thing is we don't foresee all obstacles that might get in the
way, and we don't have the ability to remove them. But not so with
God. God knows the end from the beginning. He declares it. He says, I'll
do it, I'll perform it, I'll make sure it happens. Listen,
when God made the promise of the seed of woman bruising the
head of Satan, when he made that promise, it was already a done
deal in the purpose of God before the foundation of the world.
There was absolutely no possibility that that could fail. Like a promissory note that's
sure and certain. Paul dealt with that in 2 Corinthians
1, and he talks about the faithfulness of God, and he makes this statement
in verse 20, he says, for all the promises of God in Christ
are yea, and in him, amen. Sure and certain. And that's
the way God could justify a man like Abraham, a sinner, even
before the actual time of redemption. A thousand years later. Because
he was always sure and certain. And that's the forbearance of
God. God was just, what he's saying here in Romans 3.25, is
that God was just to hold back his wrath until Christ actually
came. And that's proven by his forbearance
on the Old Testament saints who were justified. How do you know
they were justified? I'll tell you how I know. Because
God says they were justified. And secondly, because they were
believers. They were born again. The new birth is the life of
Christ imparted to his people, based upon righteousness that
he established, or in the Old Testament, he would establish,
surely and certainly, on the cross. That's where that life
comes from. You see, the imputed righteousness
of Christ is not only the ground of our justification, it's the
source of our regeneration. That's where it comes from. Why
did Christ live after he died? Why did he arise from the dead?
Because in his death, his blood, he established righteousness.
He conquered sin. He made a propitiation. So he
says in verse 26, he says, to declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, God's justice, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. How can God be just
and justify? through the blood of redemption,
through the righteousness of Christ imputed. God can do it
and not be an abomination to himself because he does it on
a just ground. And that just ground is the blood
of Christ, the righteousness of Christ imputed to his people. And if you don't think the Old
Testament saints knew and believed that, read passages like Daniel
9, 24, Jeremiah 23, 5 through 6, 33, 15 through 16,
Isaiah 45, Isaiah 50. We could go on and on. Read them
all. All right.