If you would, go ahead and turn
to Romans, the book of Romans, chapter 3. We're going to begin
the message this morning in verse 25. We left off in our last message,
verse 24, but what I'm going to do is go through these verses,
verse by verse. beginning with verse 25. The
title of my message is, Christ, Our Propitiation. Christ, Our
Satisfaction. Now, in verse 25 of Romans 3,
it says, Whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past through the forbearance of God." Now
the whom here in verse 25 that we just read is referring back
to verse 24 where it speaks of the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. We're able to see who we're talking
about here when he says whom God has set forth to be of propitiation. Now, our justification before
God is based entirely on the redemptive work of Christ on
the cross, His shed blood. The redemptive work of Christ
on the cross is described here as a propitiation, which means
satisfaction to God's justice through the death of Christ.
This is the satisfaction. This is what God required. The
soul that sinneth shall surely die." And this is what Christ
did as he represented the people when he went to the cross. It
also refers back to the mercy seat in the sanctuary service
in the old covenant where the blood was sprinkled on the day
of atonement, if you're familiar with that. The next part of this
verse says that God had set forth or foreordained this propitiation. Revelation speaks of this in
Revelation 13.8, where it says, "...and all that dwell upon the
earth shall worship Him," speaking of the beast there in Revelation
that he's talking about, "...whose names are not written in the
book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This was the purpose of God from eternity, to send Christ forth
in the fullness of the appointed time to redeem His elect. Now, in Galatians 4, beginning
at verse 4, it says, But when the fullness of time was come,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. Christ was set forth, shown openly
in His incarnation, in His life, in His death, and in his resurrection
to be the savior of his people. He was shown forth in his resurrection
which revealed that God was satisfied with what he did in this propitiation
and that he raised him from the dead. A propitiation involves
a sacrifice that appeases the wrath of God for the sins and
brings reconciliation between God and his elect. We're able to see this in 2 Corinthians
5, beginning at verse 18, where it says, And all things are of
God, who hath reconciled us to himself. by Jesus Christ, and
hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
or charging their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto them the word of reconciliation." Then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. And then it tells us, for He
hath made Him, made Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin,
Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him, in Christ. The word propitiation signifies
the mercy seat, as I said earlier, in the tabernacle where the blood
of sacrifices was sprinkled. Christ is our mercy seat who
reconciles sinners, God to sinners. Propitiation made by Christ for
his sheep ensures our salvation and eternal life. Hebrews 9.12
says this, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His
own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
redemption for us." Surely, surely there is nothing left for His
elect to work out if Christ obtained eternal redemption for us, of
which is certainly set forth in this verse. When it says He obtained it, that means that He did everything
necessary to work it out. And it says He obtained eternal
redemption for us. The next phrase here in this
verse 25 says, through faith in His blood. And as I say it,
I'm going to go over these verses, verse by verse, and comment on
them. Blood speaks of Christ's death
as the complete payment for all the sins of all His sheep. It was His death as the payment
of the redemptive price that brought about this satisfaction
and reconciliation. Hebrews 9.22 says without the
shedding of blood is no remission of sins. And also Romans 6.23,
it says because is needed because of the wages
of sin is death. Faith in His blood is the confidence
of God-given faith that looks to, that rests upon the crucified
risen Christ as our complete redemption by which God has justified
us in Him, in Christ. This faith spoken of here is
the God-given instrument whereby the elect are able to view and
to experience what Christ our Savior has accomplished for us
in His person, in His work. The next thing we'll look at
is to declare His righteousness. This is more than simply to reveal
or to state the truth of His righteousness. It means to bring
forth positive proof of the saving power and value of the redemptive
work of Christ. We have positive proof through
God's Word that any sinner who seeks and expects salvation from
God based on the imputed righteousness of Christ, they shall be eternally
saved. Now, for the remission of sins
that are past, this speaks of the sins of God's elect in the
Old Testament before Christ actually came in time and established
righteousness for us to His death on the cross. Christ died for
all the sins of all God's elect, Old and New Testament. He didn't
come and just die for the New Testament sins. He died for all
of them at once when He went to the cross. That's where the
redemptive work took place. The next phrase in this verse
tells us how God dealt with the sins of those Old Testament saints. It says, through the forbearance
of God. God was not unjust to defer or
to put off the punishment of his elect in Christ until the
cross with those Old Testament saints. God, through his forbearance,
had regard for the righteousness that Christ would in time come
and would establish. Old John Gill said that God deferred
the execution of justice. till He sent His Son in expecting
satisfaction of His Son, which shows the grace and goodness
of God to His people and the trust and confidence that He
put in His Son to come and perform this work in time. This was so
certain that God justified all His people based on Christ's
righteousness before Christ actually went to the cross. I'm going
to go over some verses here that tells us a little bit more about
that. King David tells us here in 2 Samuel, in chapter 23 and
verse 5, after he had just quoted some things that God had said
was fitting a ruler of men. David's last word was this, although
my house be not so with God. David says, even though I nor
my household meet this description that is fitting a ruler of men,
yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
ensured. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. Listen to
what Isaiah says in Isaiah 32, 17. And the work of righteousness
shall be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance forever. Do you think that Isaiah knew
something about a righteousness that had been charged to his
account when he talks about the effect of righteousness, which
is quietness and assurance forever? Also in Isaiah 45, beginning
at verse 24, says, Surely shall one say unto the Lord, Have I
righteousness and strength? Even to him shall men come, and
all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
Also in the New Testament, where the Apostle Paul speaks of Abraham,
the father of our faith, The question here is not if Abraham
was justified, but how he was justified. Abraham being justified
seems to be an accepted fact. This seems to be accepted or
a given. When Paul says this in Romans
4, beginning at verse 1, What shall we say then, that Abraham
our father is pertaining to the flesh half found? For if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath wear off the glory, but not before
God. For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it,
or the work that Christ accomplished on the cross by the shedding
of his blood, was counted, was charged, was imputed unto him
for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not charge or impute sin. Thank God that there are
those that the Lord will not impute or charge with sin. The
question is, why? Because they have been charged
to their substitute, their surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody
had to pay that debt. Those sins had to be paid for.
And God charged our sins, those called God's elect, His sheep,
He charged those sins to Christ. And in time, He did come. And
He paid that sin debt in full. Now, as we go into Romans 3,
Romans 3, verse 26, it says, To declare, I say at this time
His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of
him that believeth in Jesus. Paul in this verse is making
it clear that this is God's righteousness, the righteousness that Christ
worked out and charges to every one of his elect. The whole purpose
of salvation by God's grace in and by Christ is to glorify God
as both a just God and a Savior, just and a justifier of him which
believeth on Jesus. This is why there is only one
way of salvation. There was not one way in the
Old Testament that He saved Abraham and another way in the New Testament
that He saved His sheep today. No, there is one way of salvation.
In the next verse, Christ speaking here to His disciples before
He went to the cross in John 14.6, Jesus saith unto them,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. There is only one way in which
God can be glorified in every attribute of his character, and
that is as he is viewed as a just God and a Savior. The way of
salvation by Christ was not merely one way, among many ways that God chose
to save sinners. No, it was the only way of salvation
for sinners. Christ's righteousness now established
reveals that God is just when he justifies an ungodly sinner. Who are the recipients of all
these blessings of God's glory in Christ? The answer is given
in this verse of Romans 3, verse 26, where it says, All who believeth
in Jesus. No sinner has any right to lay
claim to any of these blessings of justification in Christ until
he is brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works
and former idolatry. Brought to a faith that looks
to Christ alone for all his salvation. and brought to a repentance from
ever thinking that I could have been saved any other way by my
works or what I was enabled to do or any other way but by Christ
alone, His righteousness alone, the only way of salvation. In
verse 27 of Romans 3, it goes into this after saying that Abraham
was not justified by his works So what comes about now is the
question, where is the boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but
by the law of faith. Whenever a person claims to have
been saved, they are in essence boasting. Their boasting in whatever
they see or they trust is their ground of salvation. Back in
Romans 2, the apostle is dealing with those who trust it in their
works under the law for salvation. Romans 2.17, Behold, thou art
a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thou boast of God.
And in verse 23, where it says, Thou that makest thou boast of
the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God. The
gospel of God's grace excludes such boasting in our works. and
leaves us with nothing to boast in but in Christ alone. The book
of Galatians tells us this in Galatians 6.14 where it says,
But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now the next part of verse 27
speaks of the law of works. This would teach justification
before God by the sinner's works. are deeds of the law. Those who
claim to be justified in God's sight by their works are boasting
in themselves what they do or what they're unable to do. Such
proud, self-righteous boasting is excluded. How is it excluded
then? It's excluded by the law of faith,
as it says here in verse 27. which is the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ. That's what the law of faith
is. The gospel shows us to be sinners who deserve God's wrath
and cannot work out any kind of salvation or work our way
into favor with this God that must be just when He justifies
an ungodly sinner. The Gospel shows us that the
only way of salvation is by God's grace in Christ. Therefore, it
leaves us with nothing to boast in but Christ and Him crucified
alone. Now, in 1 Corinthians 1, beginning
at verse 29, it says that no flesh should glory in His presence.
No person, no man. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Also, in Ephesians
2, Verse 8 and 9, For by grace are you saved through faith,
and not of yourself. It is a gift of God. It is not
of works, lest any man should boast. And also in the book of
Philippians, Philippians 3 and verse 3, For we are the circumcision
which worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh." We have no confidence in anything
that we do or we're unable to do as we stand before God. All of our confidence, all of
our boasting is in Christ, in Him alone, based on His righteousness
alone. In Romans 3 and verse 28, it
says, therefore we conclude, This is the conclusion that a
man is justified by faith without deeds of the law. This conclusion
is that sinners are justified before God by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and not by deeds of law. To be justified by faith does
not mean we're justified by our believing. Faith here refers
to the truth of the gospel. wherein Christ, the righteousness
of God, is revealed." It is much the same word, faith, which is
used in Galatians, in chapter 3, verse 23 and 25, where the
apostle wrote, before faith came, there in verse 23, and then it
says, but after that faith has come, we're no longer under a
schoolmaster, there in verse 25. He could not be speaking
of the gift of faith whereby Christ's sheep are brought to
believe in Him. God's elect, both in the Old
Testament and the New Testament, have always been brought to the
act of believing. Abraham believed God. There is
no before faith came in that sense, but what is meant here
is before Christ came into the world and accomplished redemption
on the cross. Believers in the Old Testament
were kept under the law, shut up into the faith, which should
afterward be revealed. Galatians 3, 23. Paul then goes
on to show how that Christ has come and finished His glorious
work. They are no longer under the
law, under the Old Covenant. Here, justified by faith means
justified before God in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
totally the work of God in Christ without the deeds of the law. Believers are not justified by
their faith, but by the blood of Christ as He shed that blood
on Calvary. Look at Romans 5, 9. Romans 5,
9 says much more, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. So we're not justified by our
faith. We're able to experience and
able to see what Christ has accomplished for us by that God-given faith,
that faith that God gives each and every one of His sheep as
He brings them. through the new birth as He regenerates
them and as He brings them to faith and repentance toward God. Now, in verse 29 and 30 here
in chapter 3 of Romans, it says, Is He the God of the Jews only?
Is He not also of the Gentiles, yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing
it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
uncircumcision through faith. Since God is God both of the
Jews and the Gentiles equally without distinction, it says
yes, of the Gentiles also. He justifies his elect out of
both Jews and Gentiles by faith and through faith. or by His
grace in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Neither the justification
of the circumcision, which we're talking about the Jews, or the
justification of the uncircumcision, all other nationalities, effect
the grace of justification. The justifier of both of them
is one and the same, who is God. Now we know that all whom God
justifies are justified in the same way and upon the same ground,
which is the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. The question
might arise then, why did Paul use the two different words here?
It says, by faith and through faith, speaking of the Jew and
the Gentile, here in verse 30. Well, I'll try to give you a
short explanation of why I believe Paul, in this verse, use these
two different words. In the Greek, the word by here
that's used in this verse means out of. It is a primary preposition
denoting origin. Therefore, it could refer to
the Jew whose justification rose out of the same faith their father
Abraham had, in which all Jews who are justified have. Abraham
was the father of our faith. The word through here, that's
used speaking to the Gentile, used here also is a primary preposition
also, but it does not denote origin. The through seems to
mean that the Gentiles, who are justified in the same door of
faith and pass through it, both Jew and Gentile, look to the
same Christ for justification in life. However, it all began
with the Jews. As our brother Bill said back
there, he made a little comment on that in the back this morning. The meaning then could be the
same as when Paul, in Romans 11, 24, makes the distinction
between the Jews as the natural branches of the olive tree, spiritual
Israel, and the Gentiles as those who have been grafted into the
olive tree. After saying all that, The main
point is that both Jew and Gentile are justified the same way. And
that is by the righteousness of Christ being imputed and charged
to their account. No difference. Abraham was the
father of our faith. It began there. But the Jew and
the Gentile justified the same way. In Romans 3 and verse 31,
It says, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid,
yea, we establish the law. Now, by believing and resting
in Christ for our justification before God, and pleading His
righteousness alone without our works and efforts to obey the
law, do we then make void the law, or counsel, or make ineffectual
that law, since Christ is where our justification is. It's not
based on what we do or what we're able to do, our works, our deeds. Paul says, God forbid, may it
never be so. By believing and resting in Christ,
we establish that law. The law stands firm both to condemn
sinners based on their works and to justify sinners based
on the finished work of Christ. Either way, the law stands. There
is no other way for a sinner to honor and establish the law
of God than by believing in and pleading the precious blood of
Christ, the only person who has kept the law perfectly and satisfied
the justice of God. Whenever a sinner seeks salvation,
justification, holiness, they dishonor God and they dishonor
the law because he always falls short. a sinner always falls
short of the mark of righteousness, that righteousness which God
requires and will accept no less, that perfect righteousness that
Christ worked out. There is no honor to the law
by the works of a sinner. The law's honor can only be found
in Christ. In Romans 8, verse 3 and 4, says this, For what the law could
not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
All whom God has brought to look to Christ for all of their justification
and salvation, before this holy God that we all must have to
deal with, see Christ as their only hope. They see Christ as
their only hope here and throughout eternity. And as we think about
these things and these verses that we just read, I pray that
God will use them, cause us to seek Him, seek Him as He is,
a just God and a Savior.