Please turn in your Bible this
morning to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 3, and let's begin
reading it. Romans chapter 3, verse 23. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's verse 23 of Romans 3.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth. God set forth the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's setting forth a propitiation,
that is, a mercy seat or a satisfying atonement for sin, through faith
in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God, the long-suffering of
God, Romans 3.25. Now, here's verse 26, Romans
3, 26, "...to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness,"
that's the righteousness revealed in the gospel, "...that God might
be just, and the justifier." God is just and holy, and He
justifies the ungodly through that sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the justifier of him which
believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, these verses are so vital
for us to understand, and I trust you would meditate upon these
verses and look at these verses carefully. Let's go back now
and look at these three or four verses here a little bit closer. Romans 3, verse 23, all have
sinned. All have sinned. All are guilty. All mankind are born in sin. He says in this same chapter,
In verse 9 and 10, they're all under sin. There is none righteous,
no, not one. That includes me, that includes
you, that includes all creation, all men, all have sinned. And we've all sinned and we've
all come short of the glory of God. The reason that salvation
must be all of grace is this plain fact that we're all sinners. Not only by practice, but by
birth, by nature. We're born in sin, guilty, unable
to meet this standard of the glory of God. What is the standard
of the glory of God? Well, it's perfection. It must
be perfect to be accepted. And we know that we cannot meet
that standard. We've fallen short of that standard
to glorify God because we are sinners. We have fallen short
in this matter to glorify God by our disobedience to the law
because of our sinful nature. To offend one point of the law
is to be guilty of all. To honor the law is to glorify
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's what he did for us
as our substitute. But because we are sinners, we
cannot meet that standard of righteousness that answers the
demand of God's holy law. That's why we read in verse 24
of Romans 3, the good news of the gospel. Here's the good news
of the gospel. Being justified. What does it
mean to be justified? Declared righteous by God. Being
justified freely by his grace through the redeeming work. through
redemption, through deliverance that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this Bible doctrine of justification
in Christ is the opposite of condemnation in Adam. In Adam
all died, in Christ shall all be made alive. This Bible doctrine
of justification in Christ sets forth the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ and beats down the glory of man. What is a good definition
of justification. Well, it's the opposite of condemnation.
But justification is to be cleansed from all sin. We read in the
book of Romans, chapter 5, verse 9, much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Being justified is to be cleansed
from all sin by that blood atonement, is to be cleared from all guilt
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in Romans 8 we read verse
32, He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for
us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. See, to be justified is to be
cleansed from all sin, cleared from all guilt, who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect, If Christ paid my debt, the debt
is cleared. It's free. Free from guilt. Something else is to be accounted,
made, and declared righteous in Christ. We read in Romans
chapter 4, verse 6, blessed is the man to whom God would impute
righteousness without works. It's to be declared by God to
be made righteous in Christ. Something else to be justified
is to be made an heir of eternal life in Christ. We're joint heirs,
we're heirs of God and joint heirs in Christ. We have an eternal
inheritance purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ who is the
justifier. He justified us. Now Romans chapter
3 verse 24, being justified freely, freely. Now, this word freely
means without cause. In John 15, 25, our Lord said
of those religious Jews, they hated him without a cause. It's
the same word here, freely, without a cause. Nothing done or contributed
on the part of any sinner to deserve mercy without a cause. Freely. Freely. They hated the
Lord Jesus without a cause. Freely they hated him. And that's
what we see of justification. Without a cause on our part.
With nothing done or contributed on our part to deserve God's
mercy. Freely. Freely. We read in 1
Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12, Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us. Justification has to be free.
Without any. considered contribution from
the center. This justification freely excludes
anything in the center as the cause, ground, or condition of
his justification. Blessed is a man to whom God
would impute righteousness without worth, without our contribution.
Notice we're justified freely, and then it says, by his grace,
the free sovereign favor of God. The cause of God justifying sinners
is found in himself, his love, his grace, his sovereign mercy. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but it's God that would show mercy. He chose us by grace. There's
a remnant according to the election of grace, Romans 11.5. He redeemed us by his grace according
to the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus, God who is rich
in mercy. for his great love, wherewith
he loved us, he calls us by his grace. God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace. Now here's the rest of verse
24. Justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through blood redemption
as the means. God has ordained the means. deliverance
from the curse of the law by the blood of home we read in
Galatians three thirteen Christ has redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us this redemption here is
deliverance by price Peter said we're not redeemed with corruptible
things silver and gold nor our works nor tradition but with
the precious blood of Christ Christ gave his life a ransom
for saying Matthew twenty twenty eight Christ alone accomplished
this redemption by his blood atonement. He said on the Calvary's
cross, it is finished. Redemption from all sin is wholly
and solely accomplished by Christ. He obtained for us eternal redemption
by his own blood. Now notice Romans chapter 3 verse
25, who or whom God sets forth. The Lord Jesus Christ is set
forth from all eternity as the Redeemer, as the Savior, as the
sacrifice for sin, and he's called here in verse 25, a propitiation. That's the same word or the same
root word that we read in 1 John chapter 4, verse 10. Here in
his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation. That is the satisfying sacrifice
to God's holy law and justice. God set forth and sent the Lord
Jesus Christ to be the solution for our problem, the satisfaction. God from all eternity decreed
and determined to satisfy his own law and justice by the sacrifice
of Christ, by the sacrifice, and we can say it this way, by
the sacrifice of himself. That one who died at Calvary
is God incarnate, God manifest in the flesh in time. Christ
came, born of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law in time. God decreed from eternity the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, but in time the
Lord Jesus Christ came, was manifest in the flesh. He was in time
publicly demonstrated and displayed to be the sacrifice for sin,
this propitiation, the atoning victim to satisfy what the holy
law demanded. The holy law demanded satisfaction
in every precept and in the penalty and the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
that. He is the answer to the problem
of sin. He made satisfaction. The publican
in the temple, remember in Luke, 18, cried, God, be merciful to
me. You know what he's saying there?
God, be my satisfaction, be my propitiating sacrifice. Now, notice, read on, verse 25
of Romans 3, through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. Through faith in his blood. Without the shedding of
blood is no remission, Hebrews 9, 22. No redemption, no pardon,
No propitiation, no satisfaction. How is all this redemption and
atonement in Christ received? Well, it's not received by doing,
it's received by God-given faith, received by believing. We read
in Romans 4, 16, therefore it is of faith. Salvation is received
by faith, that it might be by grace. to the end, the promise
might be sure to all the seed, all the elect of God. True faith
looks to Christ alone as the only ground, the only reason
for salvation, forgiveness, justification before God. And this shows forth
in the gospel the righteousness of God revealed through Christ,
that he might be just and the justifier, as the only ground
of salvation and remission from sin. Now listen to me carefully.
All Old Testament believers of the past, Abraham, Noah, Moses,
look to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They look forward
to Christ, the atoning victim, and by faith they saw salvation
completed in Christ, accomplished in Christ. New Testament believers,
we look back to Christ, who came, who finished salvation. But all
believers focus and center on the Lord Jesus Christ who accomplished
all of salvation. Now it is said in verse 26 of
Romans 3 to declare, God declares at this time his glorious righteousness. Now that includes not only his
holy character but also this righteousness that is provided
in the gospel that God might remain just and holy and the
justifier of the ungodly who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is vital. Through the
perfect atonement of Christ, we see the justifying righteousness
secured in the gospel by Christ and declared in the gospel. You
can refer back to Romans 1, 16 and 17. Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. Therein that gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed. Here's the question of all questions.
How can God be holy and just and satisfy his holy law and
save and yet save guilty sinners and not compromise his holy character? The only answer how God can be
just and justify the ungodly is in the gospel, in the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God in being merciful
and gracious to sinners can do so without compromise to his
holy law, because in Christ it's honored. God through Christ is
both a just God and a Savior. And this is what every believer
understands and receives by faith, salvation completed in Christ,
looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation. He is our wisdom, he is our righteousness,
he is our holiness, and he is our redemption. Now I pray the
Lord will give you grace to go back and look at these verses
here in Romans chapter 3, verse 23 down through verse 26. If
you would like to order today's message, you can do so by calling
me at 631-9053 or by writing to me at Zebulon Baptist Church,
6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky. Just write or call
and request this message from Romans chapter 3. justified freely
by His grace.