Now here in these last two chapters
that we've been looking at, Paul has been laying human nature
low. He showed us how sinful we are
and shows us the sin nature that we have, regardless of the exterior
that we show each other, regardless of the heritage that we may claim. There's that sin nature that's
left us without any hope. Anything that we can do or anything
we haven't done or anything that we are or anything about us.
And he's laid us so low that someone might think there's no
hope for salvation. There's no hope for righteousness
at all. Hopefully he has laid us so low that we understand
there's no hope in ourselves for salvation. There's no hope
in human nature to be found for righteousness anywhere. But the
Lord's not left us without hope. We're without hope in ourselves,
but he's not left us without hope. Paul's been building to
this pinnacle. There's one way of salvation.
There's one way of righteousness. And that way is the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the pinnacle he's been
building to. Here in verse 21 of Romans 3, he says, But now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. Now God has made manifest
His righteousness, not our righteousness, His righteousness, the righteousness
of God. And the righteousness of God
is in two parts. First, the law must be obeyed. In every minute detail, the law
must be obeyed. And second, the penalty of the
law, if the law is broken, that penalty must be met, must be
paid in full. The law must be honored and kept.
And the justice must be satisfied for the righteousness of God
to exist. And that's the righteousness that Christ imputes to his people.
That's the righteousness that he wrought as a man. He kept
the law in every jot and till perfectly. And he satisfied justice
by dying the just for the unjust, to pay the penalty of the broken
law, the law we've broken for our sins, the sins of his people.
And that's the righteousness of Christ that God imputes to
his people. And Paul says this is the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. Now what he means there is without
our obedience to the law, without the sinner's obedience to the
law, any righteousness must be without our obedience to the
law, without the sinner's obedience to the law, because everything
we do is sinful. All of our attempts to keep the
law break the law. So it must be without our obedience
to the law. Now, Paul's not saying scripture
never teaches that anyone can be saved without the law. We're
not saved by setting the law aside or ignoring the law. We're saved through the law.
We're actually saved by works. I want to shock you when I say
that. We're saved by works. Not our works, though. It's the
works of Christ, our substitute. It's his obedience to the law.
It's his righteousness. It's not through our obedience.
It's through the obedience of our substitute, through his works
of the law. His works become our works. By God's grace, his righteousness
becomes our righteousness. And this righteousness of God
is manifested. It's proclaimed. It's made obvious
in the Gospel. It's made obvious in the Word.
God didn't just leave it for us to see if we could figure
it out some way. He made it manifest in His Word, showing us His Son. Christ is the righteousness of
His people that's revealed in the Gospel. You know, the law
can show us our need of a righteousness, But it can't show us where righteousness
can be found. All the law can do is show us
that we're sinful, that we need a substitute. The law can't tell
us, though, where that substitute can be found. The gospel not
only tells us, shows us our need of a righteousness, the gospel
tells us where that righteousness can be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel not only shows us
that we need a substitute, the gospel tells us where that substitute
can be found, making the substitute manifest. And that is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Paul says he's manifested
in the law and the prophets. Now, he's talking about the law.
He's not talking about the moral law that we've broken. He's talking
about the writings of Moses throughout all the Old Testament scriptures
and the writings of Moses and all the prophets, the righteousness
of God. is made manifest. That way that
is the Lord Jesus Christ is made manifest even in those Old Testament
scriptures when those people were under the law. Look first
at Psalm 85. Psalm 85 verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together,
and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall
spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down
from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and
our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before
Him and set us in the way of His steps." This righteousness
has always been not something that we produce, it's in Him,
in His steps. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
in Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23 verse 5. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David
a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his
name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness."
Jehovah Sidkenu, the way of righteousness has always been manifest in the
scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. And that's the way, this is the
pinnacle that Paul's been building to, that righteousness is found
in Christ. Now, verse 22, back in our text,
this righteousness, Paul says, is even the righteousness of
God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe, for there's no difference. Now, men can only
have this righteousness of God by faith, by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This righteousness is not imputed
because we've done anything good, because we haven't done anything
good. This righteousness isn't even imputed just because we
believe God. Faith is not the cause of His
grace. Faith is not the cause of Him
giving us this righteousness. Faith is the gift of God as well.
We're justified, not so much by faith, but through faith.
Through faith that looks to Christ. Through faith that depends on
Christ for everything that we need. Through faith. In Jehovah
said Kennedy, we just read about the Lord our righteousness. And
faith is not what makes us righteous. Christ makes us righteous. Faith
receives the righteousness of God. Look in Philippians chapter
3. Philippians 3 verse 8. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. for whom I've suffered the loss
of all things." I've suffered the loss of everything, all my
works, all my past works in religion. I've lost them all, and I count
all those things but done, that I may win Christ and be found
in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. Through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. That's how we receive this, by
faith. who has the righteousness of
God imputed to them, has that righteousness by faith in Christ. He is all of our righteousness. He's the righteousness of every
one of His people. There is no difference. The Jew,
the religious person, they don't make themselves 10% righteous
or even 1% righteous and then God fills in the blank. Gives
you that 99%. Makes up the difference. And
the heathen has 0% righteousness, so Christ gives him 100%. No,
Christ is all of our righteousness. For all of his people, there
is no difference. That's what he spent these last
two chapters talking about. Remember back here in verse 9
we looked at last week. What then, are we better than
they? No, in no wise, for we have before proved both. Jew and Gentiles, they're all
under sin. There's no difference. Look over
a page in chapter 5, Romans 5, verse 12. There's no difference. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. All sinned In Adam, that's what
he's talking about there. We've all sinned in Adam and
we're all equally guilty. There's no difference. And for
the believer, there's no difference in Christ. For all those who
are in Christ, there's no difference. We're all made righteous in Him.
There's no difference. In Adam, we're all equally sinful. In Christ, we're all equally
righteous because we're all wearing the same righteousness. the righteousness
of Christ, which is imputed to us by faith. And it's not even
the strength of our faith that saves. It's not the strength
of our faith that makes us righteous or makes us more righteous. It's
the object of our faith that saves. The weakest babe in Christ
is just as justified as Abraham. the father of the faithful. Abraham,
who's given to us as an example of faith, is no more justified
than the weakest babe in Christ. The weakest babe in Christ, who
has faith in Christ, is no less justified than the believer in
glory, who's in glory right now. They're no less justified. These
babies back in the nursery, they're not as strong as you out here. Then I'm strong physically, then
I'm strong mentally, then I'm strong in any way. But they're
just as alive as you are because they have life. And for the believers
who have faith in Christ, you have the same life, the same
righteousness as the believer in glory. There is no difference
because we all wear the righteousness of Christ. Now, verse 23, there
in Romans 3 in our text, For all, here's the reason there's
no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Here's the reason there's only one way of life. Here's
the reason that salvation can only be found one way, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because all men are equally lost. All men have sinned. We sinned
in Adam. When Adam sinned, we were in
him and we fell in him. And death came on all men like
we just read. That's original sin, what the
writers call original sin. We're all equally guilty in Adam. And we've before proved, as we've
gone through these past couple chapters, we've all sinned in
ourselves too. And the reason we've all sinned
in ourselves, we're all equally guilty in our own acts of disobedience,
is because we have Adam's nature. That's where it all started,
in Adam. And no son of Adam can be any
better than any other son of Adam, because we've all got the
exact same nature. We're all guilty. That's the
reason. There's no reason for the Lord
to choose one over another. We're all equally defiled. We're
all equally wretched. We're all equally lost and just
rebels. We're all equally in need of
Christ. And He's able to save equally
all those, regardless of their background. See verse 24? that
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Now, some time ago, Todd Nybert
was here. He made this statement, and this
is really good. Justified. What I've heard since I was just
teeny tiny, what I can go back and remember is being made just
as if I'd never sinned. But that really leaves out the
true meaning of justification. Justification is not just as
if I've never sinned. Justification is being made without
sin. Completely without sin in the
sight of God. Now, why would God justify any
sinner? Why would God remove the sin? Completely remove the sin from
a sinner who's a rebel against Him? Why? Grace. That's what it says. Being justified
freely by His grace. That's what the whole message
was about Wednesday night. Grace. Now, if that's why we're
justified by His grace, how are we justified? Freely. Freely. Without any cost to us. Without any requirement for us
to meet. It's free. That's the best news a sinner
ever heard. Because someone who knows they're a sinner knows
this, I don't have anything to pay. I'm spiritually bankrupt. That's good news to a sinner
because a sinner knows I'm dead. I can't do anything to meet any
requirement. If I'm going to be justified,
I've got to be free. That's the best news a sinner
ever heard. Now, people in the flesh don't
like that. The fact that salvation is free. excludes any boasting from sinful
flesh. We have no reason to ever boast
in anything that we've done, in any gift that God's given
us, because it's all being given us freely. My wife, Janet, she loves to
brag about how much money she saves. She loves to brag about
how little she paid for something. She's, from the time our girls
were real little, she's always taught them, when you go out
shopping, it's you against them. You've got to get the best price
you can get from them, you know? And, I mean, it just grieves
her to pay full price for something. I mean, we'll almost go without,
because she's going to find something on sale and brag about how, she
doesn't understand why people brag about how much they pay
for something. She wants to brag about how little she paid for
it. She got a good deal. Well, why is it by nature we
won't brag about how freely the Lord saved us? Why is it by nature
we won't take redemption if it's free? Because human nature must
take some credit. We've got to take some credit
so we'll have something to glory in. And really, it's the same
thing. The reason Janet likes to brag
about how little she paid for something Because it shows how
hard she worked to go out and find it. She shopped around all
the sales and, buddy, when she can tell you how much money I
saved, it's because of how hard she worked. She didn't just go
one place. She searched all the sale papers and she went and
worked hard to find that best price. That's the same reason
that we want to do something to earn salvation. Even if it's
just one thing. But our works can never can never,
ever, ever contribute anything to our justification because
our works are sinful. Justification is a free gift
from God. It comes to us freely. And remember,
justified is being made without sin. Well, how is it possible
for someone like you and me, who drinks iniquity like water,
to be made without sin? How is that possible? The answer
here is in this verse. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. The only way we can be made justified
is in Christ Jesus. Because He took our sins. He
took our sins into His body on the tree and gave us His righteousness. You know the verse in 2 Corinthians
5 verse 21. May the righteousness of God
in Him. Now where can you find this free
justification? is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Now what are we redeemed from?
He said through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. What
are we redeemed from? The word redeemed means bought
back. What are we bought back from?
Or redeemed from sin? You know, most people talk about
salvation or redemption. The thing they're interested
in is being saved from hell. Being saved from punishment.
And certainly that's part of it. But what we're redeemed from,
what we're bought back from is sin. We're bought back from the
power of sin. We've sold ourselves into slavery,
to sin, into bondage to sin. And Christ came and bought His
people back. He bought them free from the
power of sin. He paid the price that was on
our heads and set us free. Free to serve Him. And this redemption
is in Christ Jesus. I tried this out on Janet this
morning. I hope this makes sense to you. We're saved by Christ,
by His actions. Right? We're saved by His obedience
to the law. We're saved by His substitutionary
debt. He gave Himself to die for us. He shed His blood to pay the
price. But Paul doesn't say we're saved
by Christ. He says we're saved in Christ. We're redeemed in Him. Noah wasn't
saved by the ark. Not that he was, but yet he wasn't. He wasn't saved because that
ark was watertight, because he put the pitch on there just right.
Noah was saved in the ark. Someone may have thought Noah
was a fool, yet here in the middle of dry land he's building this
big ark, and they may have admired him. They may have admired how
long and hard Noah worked at building that ark. They may have
admired the workmanship. Noah did a good job. Look how
those boards all fit together just right. They could have admired
the pitch that he put on. What a good job he did. They
could have admired the way Noah organized everything as the animals
came and got on the ark. They could have admired all that,
yet perished. They admired the ark. They loved
everything about the ark, but they perished. Why? They were
not in the ark. And salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not just in admiring Him,
although my soul, what there is to admire about our Redeemer.
He's altogether lovely, Scripture describes Him. He's all we need. He's all we want. He's all of
our desire. All what there is to admire about
Him. His love, His grace, His righteousness, His holiness,
His power, His eternality. You just go on and on and on
talking about all the things to admire about our Redeemer.
But we're not redeemed by admiring those things about Him. Redemption's
not found in knowing everything there is to know about Him. Where's
redemption found? In Him. Come to Christ. Don't come to a doctrinal understanding
of Him. Come to Him. That's what Paul
said, my desire is to be found in Him, in my Redeemer, through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Who, verse 25, 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. Now here's the way that
God has set forth. He has set forth for all to see
His Son as the way of salvation. And this word propitiation, you
know, is the New Testament word for mercy seat, the sin covering. The mercy seat sat on the ark,
covering the broken law. The high priest came and sprinkled
the blood of the sin offering on that mercy seat every year.
And that's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, our mercy seat,
our propitiation, who covered the broken law for us. who shed
His blood to cover our sins so that now in Him we're justified
because the sin's gone. It's not just that it's there
and it's covered up. It's gone in Him. And Christ is the way
that's set forth in Scripture. He's the way that God has set
forth. That's the way of salvation. He's the way that's set forth
in the Gospel where we say, look to Him. Look and live. And it's
through faith in His blood. That's not just faith in the
liquid that came out of his veins. We talk about faith in his blood.
It's faith in him and what he accomplished as he shed his blood
as an atonement for our sins. It's faith in Christ. Complete
rest and faith in him. He put my sin away. And all that's
left for me to do is rest in him. And Paul goes on. He says, for the remission of
sins that are past. He's talking about the sins of
Old Testament believers who lived before Christ came, before he
died, before that sacrifice was offered. And here's the key to
understanding this, I believe. At the very beginning of this
verse, whom God hath set forth. That word set forth is foreordained. Foreordained. Before the world
was created, before those Old Testament believers lived and
sinned. Christ agreed to be the sacrifice
for the sins of His people. He entered into that great covenant
of grace with the Father and He agreed to be the sacrifice
for their sins. And in the mind and purpose of
God, the transaction was done. There's no time with God. There's
time with us. There's no time with God. God
dwells outside of time. He's eternal. And the reason
the Lord didn't destroy every sinner, the reason He didn't
even destroy His people who sinned was the forbearance of God. And he was able to be forbearing
because the price was paid. And in the fullness of time,
Christ came and actually paid that price. But in the mind and
purpose of God, that transaction was done. The price was paid.
And I believe Paul is going through this to make sure we understand
this. Not only is there one way of salvation now, There always
has only been one way of salvation, whom God set forth, foreordained
to be the way of salvation, to be the way of righteousness.
Those Old Testament believers looked forward to the Messiah,
to His finished work. Today, we look backwards at His
finished work, through faith in His finished work, but we
all look to Him. Salvation has always been found
in Christ. Now Paul says in verse 26, to
declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might
be just in the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now,
believers love to declare his righteousness. It's a shameful
thing to talk about my righteousness. I don't want anybody to talk
about my righteousness because that's shameful. But we love
to talk about his righteousness, that his perfect righteousness
that he would impute to a sinner like me. And I believe it because
Scripture says that His righteousness is my righteousness. Oh, I would
love to declare His righteousness. And now, not only is God merciful
when He saves His people, He's just in saving His people. He's
just to save His people because the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
paid the entire debt. Not only is the debt gone, but
we are made righteous in Christ. And it has to be both. If all
Christ did was pay the debt for His people, we'd be in trouble. Because we could still rack up
more debt. Not only is the debt paid, but we're given the righteousness
of Christ. So now God is just and justifier. He can remain just. He can remain
holy without violating His holy character and still justify the
ungodly. Because Christ paid that debt. Last Sunday morning, that's what
Jason talked about. Judgment and love. Judgment and
love. God can deal with us in love
because He dealt with His Son in judgment. In judgment for
our sins. And now God is just and right
to justify everyone in Christ. Now verse 27. Where is boasting
then? It's excluded. By what law? Of works? No. but by the law
of faith. Where's boasting in anything
that we've done? It's excluded by grace. The law has showed us how sinful
we are. What could we possibly have to
brag about? I'm a big sports nut and I see
this new trend happening in sports that I just despise. It could
be late in a football game. You may see this today. And if
you do, you just think, Frank's grinding his teeth right now.
He'll be down by 21 points, a minute left in the game. They haven't
done a lick all day long. I mean, they haven't done a thing. The guy, maybe some wide receiver,
he's a big star. He ain't caught a single pass
all day. And a minute to go, the game's over. They're down
21. He catches a pass for a first down. Not even a touchdown, but
a first down. And he makes his big show with
first down. And I think, you idiot. You ought
to be embarrassed. You ought to put the ball down,
hang your head, go back to the huddle. You don't have anything
to brag about. You should be embarrassed. Don't
you see what's going on? And when that self-righteousness
rears its ugly head, me and you, we're just like that guy. We
ought to be so ashamed and just hang our head. If a person has
faith, in Christ. The only thing we can possibly
write about is the Lord Jesus Christ, is Him. Faith claims
we're nothing and claims He is everything. Look, 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. This is so plain. 1 Corinthians
1 verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh Not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, and
base things of the world, and things which are despised hath
God chosen, and things which are not, to bring to naught the
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence."
But of him are ye 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." You
know, the Jews, they love to boast about their religion. The
Gentiles love to boast about all their knowledge. The believer
is not going to boast about their filthy rags. We boast of Christ
who is everything to us. Now, verse 28. We'll move along
quickly here. Therefore, Paul says, we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
For a sinner to be justified, it must be by grace, through
faith. That's the only possible conclusion
that we can draw. We can't keep any even part of
the law. The only way a sinner like you
and me can be justified is through faith in Christ, by laying claim
on His faith, by receiving Him through faith. Now verse 29,
is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles?
Didn't He create both? Don't both live on His planet
and breathe His air and drink His water and eat His food? Isn't
He the God of both? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing
it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
the uncircumcision through faith." Every human being is on the same
level before God. I don't care how you dress it
up on the outside. Every human being is on the same
level before God. We're all at the bottom of the
barrel. There's only one level. There's not a bunch of different
levels in the barrel. There's just one. It's the bottom. That's
how it is before God. The religious person doesn't
make themselves more savable and the heathen doesn't make
themselves less savable. And after conversion, the person
with the religious background isn't more justified and the
person with the openly sinful past isn't less justified. God
saves all his people the same way, by grace, freely by grace
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it says in verse
31, do we make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
the law. Now Christ has broken the yoke
of the bondage of the law of his people. He set us free from
the power of sin and the condemnation of the law. Believers are not
under the law as a covenant of works. But the law is not destroyed. The law has not been put away.
The law is still in full effect. God didn't set it aside. It's
in full effect. And believers love God's law.
That's what David said, I love thy law. The law is right and
just and good. And believers establish the law. We establish the right use of
the law to point us to Christ, to point us to see our need of
Him. And we're not saved because the
law was circumvented. We're not saved through our obedience
to the law because somehow Christ came and set the law aside and
said, well, this isn't necessary anymore. No. Look at Matthew
chapter 5. And we'll quit here. Matthew
5. Here's the way God can be just
and justifier through the law, not by setting it aside. Matthew
5, verse 17. Our Lord says, think not that
I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come
to destroy, but to fulfill. That's how God can be just and
justifier, because Christ came to fulfill the law, to fulfill
every requirement of the law, to obey the law's demands and
every jot and tittle, and to obey the justice of the law,
to satisfy the justice of the broken law, for the likes of
you and me. So God can be just and justifier. All right. Well, I hope that'll
bless you.