This morning, if you could, go
ahead and turn to the book of Romans, chapter 3. We're going
to begin at verse 21 this morning. Paul here, beginning with Romans
3, 9 through 20, that we went over in our last message that
we had, he just got through showing that because we all fell in Adam,
because we are all born dead in trespasses and sin. And because
all our deeds, all our works are evil, even our best works
that we do, they are defiled by sin, that sin that we inherited
from our father Adam. And there is no possibility of
being justified before a holy God by our efforts at keeping
the law, by our best works. We all fall short of His righteousness,
even at our best. The law cannot make us righteous
by our deeds, by our works. It can only expose our unrighteousness
and our sins. and the fact that we deserve
condemnation, even by our best efforts. What we're going to
do now is pick up in chapter 3, verse 21, where God gives
us the only remedy for this verdict of guilty that's been handed
down toward man. And that's all men without exception,
both Jew and Gentile. No matter what nationality you
are, that's the verdict. The verdict is guilty before
this holy God. Now, in Romans, verse 21, and
I'm going to, like I've been doing in the past, verse by verse,
go down through these verses and comment on them. Verse 21
says, But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Now, this, but
now the righteousness of God that it's talking about, as we
look back over everything that we've gone over in Romans, beginning
really at chapter 1, verse 18, and going all the way through
Romans 3, verse 20, we've seen that because of sin, no son or
daughter of Adam has a righteousness within themselves to stand before
a holy God. We see that whether you are a
Jew or a Gentile, no matter what nationality, no matter where
you come from, all men without exception are under sin. All
men owe a debt to God's law and justice that cannot pay. In the
preceding verses, God shows us our sinfulness and our need of
a righteousness that none of us can work out and produce. As we look at Romans 3 and 21
through 26, we will see God's gracious provision of this righteousness
by Jesus Christ our Lord. The best righteousness of men
will not do the job, won't get the job done. We need the righteousness
of God that is spoken of here in verse 21. And this is found
only in the death of Christ. and revealed in the gospel that
we preach here at Eager Avenue. Romans 1, verses 16 and 17 tells
us, as the Apostle Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein,
within this gospel message, is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, those that are just
before God shall live by faith. This is the foundation upon which
God is just to justify his elect. There is no other way. The law
can only condemn sinners based on their best efforts to keep
it. We are told this in Romans 3.
beginning at verse 19, which says, Now we know that what thing
soever the law saith, it saith to them that under the law, that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty
before this holy God. Therefore, by the deeds of law,
by your works of the law, your deeds, there shall no flesh be
justified in God's sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin." Now, Paul is going to begin here in these verses explaining
the answer to the age-old question, how should man be just with God
then? We know that none is just before
God by nature. We know we must have a righteousness
to stand before Him. How should man be just with God?
That question asked by Job in Job 9, verse 2. Where Job says,
I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with God?
Job says, I know my condition before this holy God, not only
mine, but all men without exception. I know it's of a truth, but how
should man be just with God? I know God is just to justify
an ungodly sinner. I know He's just God. He's, as
Job says, He is of the truth. In dealing with the phrase here
in verse 21, without the law, Paul is describing a righteousness
to which our efforts to obey the law can contribute nothing
whatsoever. Whenever a sinner seeks righteousness
by his works, he dishonors God, he denies Christ, and he exalts
himself. It is self-righteous unbelief. As we come into this world and
we're raised up and go about our daily lives, we, one time
or another, we start getting religious, some of us at younger
ages than others. But we go about getting religious
and we go about trying to keep the law. By nature, that's all
we know. That's what we're taught. And
we go about doing the best we can. to keep that law because
we've been told that and we believe it by nature. That's what God
is going to accept. The best that you can do is what most
people will tell you, but that won't get the job done. And by
doing that, we're going about to establish the righteousness
of our own, which is contrary to the righteousness of God,
that righteousness that Christ worked out. And it does cast
shame and reproach on Christ and what He has done. Now, when
it says in this verse that it is manifested, speaking here
about verse 21, Paul is saying that it is clearly revealed and
it is made evident. It has been so in the finished
work of Christ on the cross in time. It has also been so in
the preaching of the gospel of God's grace, wherein this righteousness
of God is revealed. And that is in Romans 1, 17,
if you want to look at that later. And it has also been so in the
hearts of God's people by the power of the Holy Spirit in the
new birth, as God opens our minds and our affections and our wills
to behold God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The next phrase is being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
here in verse 21. This is not a new message Paul
is saying. Romans 1, verse 1 and 2 says,
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God, which he had promised to afford by
his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. It was revealed in the law of
Moses and in the preaching of the prophets. Luke 24. beginning at verse 44, and he
said unto them," this is Christ speaking, "'These are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.' Then he
opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoove
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.'"
Now, God's way of salvation and his message of salvation has
always been the same throughout time, even before time. Now, and that way of salvation
is by God's sovereign grace in Christ alone, not based on your
works, my works, based on Christ, based on what he did. And in
the Old Testament, based on what he would do as he come in time.
God didn't save sinners in the Old Testament one way and then
turn around and change His mind and save His elect in the New
Testament a different way. Salvation is of the Lord. He
don't change. God don't change. Now, in Romans
3, in verse 22, reads, 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. Once again, we see the righteousness
of God. This righteousness of God is
the total work of Jesus Christ as he stood in the place and
in the stead of God's elect. As he walked this earth and shed
his blood on the cross, it is by faith of Jesus Christ. This is the faithfulness of Christ
that we're speaking of right here. the faithfulness of Christ,
to do what the Father sent him to do in the everlasting covenant
of grace, where the Son stood up, and as he stood up, he covered
it with the Father and with the Holy Spirit to save a people,
to save those God-given from eternity. And he stood in their
place as their substitute, as their surety, surety to come
and pay that that was owed. That's what he was surety for.
And he came and he paid that debt in time. Now Christ was
sent to redeem his people and sin, redeem them from sin and
establish the only righteousness by which they could be justified
before this holy God. We see this in Daniel 9 in verse
24 where it speaks of Christ. It says, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression
and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. And also in John 19,
verse 30, when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he
said, It is finished. and he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Salvation is not by our faithfulness to God, as
our brother Bill spoke of in the back in his message. Not by our faithfulness toward
God. If it were, we'd all fail miserably. It is by Christ's faithfulness
to his Father to do what he said he'd do. says, looking unto Jesus, the
author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now
set down at the right hand of the throne of God. It's finished. What he came to do in obeying
the law and every jot and tittle, shedding his blood on that cross
when he says, it's finished. That part of salvation is finished.
This righteousness is unto all and upon all them that believe. This does not mean that Christ
died for all without exception, no matter what men tell you.
It means that the gospel wherein the righteousness is revealed
is to be preached to all without exception or distinction. It is both for the Jew and for
the Gentile. all nationalities throughout
the world, anybody who will listen to you. Those whom God brings
to believe it by the power of the Holy Spirit give evidence
that God has already imputed and charged righteousness to
them. Righteousness is not imputed based on our faith or because
of our faith. He doesn't wait until you believe
and then say, I'm going to impute it to you at that time. It's
not because of your faith. Now, those whom God brings to believe
it by the power of the Holy Spirit, like I said, they give evidence
to this. And we know that faith is a gift of God and is given
to all whom righteousness has already been imputed. It says, for there is no difference.
There is no difference to every sinner's need. of God's grace
in Christ, all of us need it. God has no respect to a person,
so either we are found in Christ or we are condemned in our sins.
This is equally true of all without exception. However, when God
brings a sinner to believe on Christ, as it relates to believers,
there is no difference in their standing before God. All who
are in Christ are equally justified in him, as is made clear in Galatians
3, beginning at verse 26, where it says, For ye are all the children
of God by faith in Jesus Christ. For as many of you as have been
baptized in Christ have put on Christ, for there is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond or free, there is neither
male or female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. This is
where that righteousness comes in. See, it's not our righteousness.
It's Christ's righteousness. It's what He worked out. We didn't
have any part in that. So we can't take any credit for
it. Christ did it all. And He imputes it to His sheep,
to His elect. So if we stand before God without
blame, perfect before Him, How do we do that? Well, it's based
on Christ's righteousness. We didn't have anything to do
with it. It's all Christ, all based on what he did. Now, in
Romans 3 and verse 23, it says, For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. This verse explains the phrase,
For there is no difference. In the previous verse, it's stated. When it comes to fallen man standing
before God, here is the sentence of God's law. Guilty. Guilty. That's the sentence. We have
all missed the mark of God's glory, the perfection that's
found to be found only in Christ Jesus. His righteousness alone. That's where perfection is to
be found. That's the righteousness of God. This perfection and righteousness
that a sinner must have because we have all missed the mark,
is called the righteousness of God. This righteousness will
be the standard of judgment, the standard of judgment whereby
God will judge the world. Let's look at Acts 17, verse
31. It says, Because he hath appointed
a day, God hath appointed a day, into which he will judge the
world in righteousness. by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance to all men," now, here's where
we're going to find out where that standard's at, "...and that
he hath raised him from the dead, he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained." And it says, "...for he hath
raised him from the dead." He's satisfied with the work of Christ. He's satisfied with that righteousness
that he worked out. It is in this righteousness that
Christ established and whereby he was raised from the dead,
showing that God the Father was completely satisfied with what
his Son had accomplished in his life and in his death on the
cross, his shed blood. This is God's standard of judgment,
people, for all men without exception. There are not two or three or
four or a hundred different standards. There is one standard. That standard
is righteousness. That's what you must have to
stand before this holy God. You must have that righteousness.
And the only places to be found is in Christ, the righteousness
that He worked out. We need to plead for mercy, plead
that God will have mercy on us and save us by this righteousness
that Christ worked out. At our best, we all fell miserably
to reach this mark. This is why God the Father punished
His Son for the sins of His people. It was for His glory. If God
failed to punish all sin with death, His glory would be diminished. He must be holy and just in all
that He wills and that He does. In Romans 2, verses 2 and 3,
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth
against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this,
O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the
same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God." If God
failed to save in a way that honored his justice, his glory
would fail. God must be both just and justifier. Since we have all missed the
mark of righteousness, God cannot be glorified in saving us by
our works. How then can God be glorified
in our salvation? The question is, well, our next
verse, in verse 24, gives us that answer. Verse 24 says, being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. The words being justified here
describe the act by which sinners are brought into a right standing
with God. It's a legal term having to do
with law and the courtroom, where it describes the legally binding
verdict of a righteous judge. The term can be, as it is here,
to be declared or made righteous, as in the verdict of a judge.
Here it means to acquit. I'm sure our brother Robert is
familiar with that particular term, to declare not guilty and
righteous. Not guilty and righteous before
God, the judge of all, and that's who we need to be concerned with,
not men. This justification of sinners
is the act of a just God declaring them righteous because he has
imputed and charged their sins to Christ. and impute it or charge
Christ's righteousness to them." Oh, I remember when I first heard
that word, impute it. Oh, what a... I started searching
that word out. I even went to Webster's Dictionary.
I said, what does this mean? Well, from that point on, I started
searching out and seeking God to find out that this was something
that Christ worked out. His work. And He was going to
charge it to my account. Legally. before a holy God, and
he was going to be satisfied. Hey, I knew Christ didn't sin.
I knew that's what I had to have. And I knew he didn't sin. You
can't get no better than that, folks. That's perfection. That's
what I need. I need that perfection. Because
God has revealed to me how holy he is. He's a holy God. He will
by no means clear the guilty. But he's provided a way to save
sinners based on what his son did in their place. 2 Corinthians
5.21, a verse that has been misused in the last few years, says,
For he, for God, hath made him, made Christ, to be sin for us.
He imputed sin to Christ. Who knew no sin? Christ did not
know sin. He was sinless. He was blameless,
without spot or without blemish. And you learned that in the Old
Testament when you looked at all those sacrifices that they
had to bring. They had to bring one without
spot, without blemish. And it says that Him, made Him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. That's good news for a sinner. The next phrase, freely by his
grace. This is how it's given out, freely
by God's grace. Our justification before God
in Christ is not a matter of wages or merit or cooperation
on our part. I have a phrase that is used
a lot in false religion, me and God got this thing worked out
or we working it out. You know, that ain't nothing
to that, you know. No, Christ worked it all out.
It don't have nothing to do with me and God. It is a free gift
given without any cause in ourselves. It originates in the grace of
God. It means being justified without any prior conditions
being met by us. We cannot earn it. We do not
deserve it. It's given freely. Freely means without a cause
or reason, undeservedly. It's when Christ explained in
John 15, 25, where he says, But this cometh to pass, that the
word might be fulfilled, that it is written in their law. They
hated me without a cause. They had no cause to hate Christ.
This is the same freely that it is talking about. As there
is no cause for us to hate him, the Holy One of God, there was
no just cause in us for God to love us or to save us. The cause was entirely in himself.
It is by his grace. The last part of verse 24 says,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. As God must
be just when he justifies, There had to be a price paid for our
sins. This debt that we owed, it had
to be paid. Christ had to come in time. Don't
tell me that He didn't have to come in time. He had to come
in time and pay that debt. And it was sure and certain that
He would come in time to pay that debt. He had stood before
the Father as I assured Him. He became responsible to pay
the debt. You mean to tell me that to even think that Christ
wouldn't going to have to come down here and pay that debt?
He had to come and pay it and he did. We do not merit or deserve
justification, but we enjoy it because of Christ's precious
blood given as our ransom price. The condition of our justification
before God is exclusively through the redeeming blood of Jesus
Christ. Acts 20 and verse 28 says, Take
heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Also in Romans
5 and verse 9, much more than being now justified by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him." Also, Ephesians
1 verse 7, "...in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the richness of his grace."
Now, the Apostle Peter also tells us in 1 Peter chapter 1, 18 and
19, "...forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things of silver and gold, from your vain conversation
received by traditions of your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ as the Lamb without blemish and without spot." There
are three ideas involved in the doctrine of redemption. It is paying the ransom with
the blood of Christ, removal from the curse of the law, and
release from the bondage of sin and to the freedom of grace.
Now, that first idea, paying the ransom with the blood of
Christ, 1 Corinthians 6, 20, for you are brought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's. Revelation 5, 9, and they sung
a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open
the seals thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. Second idea concerning redemption
is removal from the curse of the law. And Galatians 3.13 says,
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. And then Galatians 4.5, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoptions
of sons. Now, in the final idea of release
from the bondage of sin into the freedom of grace, here in
1 Peter 1.18 it says, Forasmuch as you know that you were not
redeemed with the corruptible things of silver and gold from
your vain conversations received by traditions from your fathers,
redemption is always through his blood and through the death
of Christ. and in Colossians 1 and verse
14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Now, we will continue with this
particular verse, verse 25, in our next lesson as we go into
verse 26. Well, we'll continue with verse
25 and go further in our next lesson. Now, the redemption that
Christ accomplished that we're talking about, redeeming his
people, paying that debt that they owe, is powerful enough
to redeem all for whom he died. See, there was a definite people
that Christ took on that responsibility for, that was charged to his
account. And this redemption is powerful
enough to redeem all for whom he died. It is particular in
that all for whom he died are his. And he will bring them to
himself by the power of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, in time,
in each successive generation. Those who are redeemed by his
blood are those who are justified before God. Those are the ones
that he redeemed. They cannot perish in their sins.
If they did, God would be unjust and Christ would be dishonored.
The power of Christ's blood is not determined by what men do
or do not do. Our faith does not make His blood
effectual or successful in paying for our sins. He paid the debt
in full. God does not exact the payment
for sin twice. at the bleeding hand of his beloved
son, and then turn around and require it from those for whom
Christ paid the ransom price. God does not punish sin twice.
Thank God that he does not leave his children in the dark with
these matters, for he has chosen to reveal this gospel of how
God saves the sinner to the hearts of each one of them. Reveal them
to our minds, to our affections, to our wills. Cause us to love
it, to have no other hope but Christ and His righteousness
alone. God will make each and every
one of His elect, His sheep, all those Christ stood as representative
and surety. God will make them willing in
the day of His power as He brings each one of them to see and understand
what we're talking about. on how God saved the sinner based
on what Christ did, and Him alone, and causes us to flee to Christ
for all of salvation, and causes us to stop looking at what we
do or don't do as far as having any part in a salvation that
is perfect, because Christ worked it out. You don't need to add
anything to it, and you better not take anything away from it.