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Romans: From Guilt to GloryLesson 22 -- 03/03/19

RISING HE JUSTIFIED (Part 1)

Text: Romans 3:21-26

Introduction: I’d like to invite you to turn with me to Romans 3:21, as we continue our study through this great book which could very easily be entitled the “Gospel of Paul.” Up to today’s Scripture lesson, Paul has used the first two and a half chapters to make it abundantly clear that the entire world stands guilty before the One and only true God. He has done this because if we don’t understand and embrace the truth of the bad news of sin, then the good news of the gospel makes no sense to us. Not only does it not make any sense to us, but we cannot espouse it to ourselves until we accept our own personal culpability of sin as Paul has described it in his opening chapters. To put it another way, we are not prepared to embrace the grace which is offered to us in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why Paul has been driving this truth home with such unrelenting exertion. Over and over and over he stresses that both Jew and Gentile apart from Christ fall beneath the condemnation of God.

Having convinced us by his arguments, illustrations, and use of the Scriptures, he poses to us this question: “How are you going to stand before God? What will you be dressed in when you appear before Him?”

As we begin to walk through this next section in Romans 3, I’d like for you to hold a basic question in your mind and thoughts. The question is “When you stand before God on judgment day, knowing that your life has been far from perfect, what will make you bold enough to stand before Him?” What is going to make you bold enough to stand before the all-seeing, all-discerning righteous God of the universe?

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Let’s pause to think for a moment. I’m guessing that just about all of us have hidden sins that would be extremely embarrassing to us if they were they revealed, even to those closest to us; much less before the entire congregation. And yet, these sins are known by God. Thinking of these hidden sins, what is going to make you courageous enough to appear before the all-knowing God in the day of His judgment?

What about those things we have been confronted with by those who are closest to us? We feel these rebukes deeply because we know they strike at the truth about us which we don’t particularly want to think about: a reality, a habit, a sin which is displeasing to God and hurtful to our neighbor. How are we going to stand before God on the last day? What about those things we feel that we have been falsely accused of by someone close to us? We all know the bewilderment of sometimes being falsely accused, and yet at the same time we know that there is a grain of truth even in that false accusation. How are we going to stand boldly before God knowing that the reality of our guilt is far greater than just our awareness of it?

Some people try to cope with these ugly truths about ourselves by denial or rationalization – “Oh, we’re basically good people. Surely God will let us off the hook.” Paul says, “If that’s your answer, first of all, you’re in BIG trouble. And secondly, if that’s your answer, then you’re not even prepared to hear the gospel. Why? because it’s only the person who realizes that they deserve condemnation and judgment who are ready to hear the greatness of the good news.”

What gives you good standing before God? How will you appear when you stand before Him? How are you going to stand there unafraid, knowing what you know about yourself, let alone everything that the omniscient God knows about you? Those are the kinds of issues that Paul is going to start dealing with in this new section before us today. So let’s hear God’s holy word.

[READ Rom. 3:21-26] 2 Slides

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21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 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: 23 for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 whom God hath 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; 26 to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Amen. Thus ends this reading of God’s holy and inspired word. May He add His blessing to it. Let’s pray.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, there is nothing more important for us to understand in this life than Your gospel. So we pray that by Your Spirit in the next few moments, You might give us understanding helping us to embrace the truth of Your gospel to the saving of our souls, and to Your glory. In Jesus’ name, we ask it, Amen.

In these few verses, Paul sums up the argument he has been laying the groundwork for throughout his epistle. In fact, he takes us in Romans 3:21 right back to a principle he had given in Romans 1:16-17. I invite you turn back there.

[READ Rom. 1:16-17]

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

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In Romans 1:16, he says that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and he goes on to say in verse 17: “For therein is the righteousness of God is revealed.” Now, notice where he picks up in Romans 3:21: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested.” He’s right back on point.

From Romans 1:18 to 3:20, he’s been explaining to us why we need the righteousness of God which has been manifested in the gospel. If we don’t know this, or if we don’t believe that we need the gospel, then what Paul says from this point forward is nothing more than gobble-de- gook. It makes no sense to us. But if we have been struck with the reality of what Paul has been saying about everyone standing in need of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then what Paul is about to say is the greatest news that has ever been heard.

I must confess that there is no way we can adequately cover everything found in Romans 3:21 through 26 today. There was one commentator who, having done the exposition of the first three chapters, came to Romans 3:21 and the words “But now ...” and ended up preaching twenty-two sermons on it! I’m not planning to subject you to all of that; but it will definitely take us a few weeks to explore this rich passage. What I would like to do this morning is concentrate on just verse 21 and part of verse 22.

You will notice that Paul continues with the legal and forensic language he’s been using in chapter 3. Paul has talked about our guilt; he’s revealed that we are on trial; and divulged that we will be sentenced and condemned. Now he’s going to say something absolutely amazing -- that God the righteous Judge will acquit sinners. He absolves those who are guilty through His infinite love which is based upon His Son fulfilling the penalty of the law by His own life and death. When we place our faith and trust in Jesus the resurrected Messiah, God can freely and justly pardon us. Paul is excited by the fact that God does this in such a way that His justice and righteousness are not compromised, but rather are highlighted and exalted so that He shows His grace to us. By

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revealing His grace, God actually emphasizes the perfection of His righteousness.

Now here is the mind-boggling part: Paul is not surprised that God is gracious (although this is an incredibly surprising truth when we contemplate who we can become through His grace), Paul is amazed, he is overwhelmed that God shows and bestows His grace in such a way that His justice is never compromised.

In Proverbs 17, God Himself said, “Cursed is the judge who condemns the innocent and who acquits the guilty.” Jesus also confirmed this in His parable of the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8. Yet now, the apostle Paul is about to introduce us to God, the Judge, who acquits the guilty. This conundrum begs the question: “How can God, the ultimate Judge, condemn human judges who acquit the guilty while He Himself acquits the guilty?” The answer to this question is what gets Paul so excited about the gospel. You see, in the gospel, God’s justice, His righteousness, His grace, and mercy are all displayed side by side, with none contradicting another. So, if you don’t believe that God is just, you can never understand His grace. And if you don’t believe that God is gracious, you can never understand this display of His justice.

Now let’s look at several things that are true of the gospel in this passage.

I. THE GOSPEL DISPLAYS AN OBVIOUS DISTINCTION BETWEEN WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST, BOTH BEFORE & AFTER OUR UNION WITH HIM. (Rom. 3:21)

[READ Rom. 3:21]

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

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Paul makes it clear that the gospel displays an inherent distinction between what we are before Christ, and what we are after receiving Him. He also displays the distinction between the old and the new covenant. Look at that little phrase in verse 21, “But now.” Paul deploys “but now” as both a temporal system of reckoning between what God had been doing in preparation for the fullness of times in the days of the Old Covenant, as well as the fulfillment of the promises, prophesies, and types which were part of the Old Covenant.

Remember, that the center point of history for us is Jesus Christ in His incarnation, in His life, in His death, in His resurrection, and ascension. Everything that came before Him was “then.” Everything after His first coming is “now.” This was also the center point of history for Paul, so his “but now” points to it. Let’s look at how the apostle puts it in his epistle to the Galatians.

[READ Gal. 4:4]

4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

What is Paul inferring in these verses? He is saying, “In the fullness of time, God sent His Son.” His use of “but now” refers to this terrestrial time distinction, but more importantly it refers to the logical distinction between our plight and God’s salvation, or to put it another way, our plight and God’s provision.

From Romans 1:18 all the way to Romans 3:20, Paul has been talking about the terrible fix we are all in. We are sinful and know it. We are guilty. We deserve condemnation. Now he is going to show us what we get from the grace and mercy of God as we trust in Christ, which provides the solution to our sinful situation. There is a contrast between our plight and God’s provision. And the gospel displays this before and after reality. This is the reason why if we reject the bad news about our sin, we can’t accept the good news of God’s grace. A person who thinks

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that there is no original sin, and that all people are basically good cannot even begin to understand what Paul is talking about in the gospel. That’s why Paul says, “Here is where you are, and here’s what you deserve. ‘But now’ here is God’s gracious answer to your problem. If we reject the fact that we deserve condemnation for our sin, then we also reject God’s salvation.” Jesus taught, “Salvation is not for the righteous, but for sinners.” “God saves sinners” is a beautiful three-word statement, which explains the gospel in a nutshell. It’s not just people it is sinners that God saves. So the gospel displays the distinction between what we were before and after our union with Christ.

II. THE GOSPEL MANIFESTS GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS APART FROM THE LAW (Rom. 3:21)

[READ Rom. 3:21]

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

In other words, quite amazingly, the gospel displays God’s righteousness apart from our obedience to God’s law. Notice the phrase, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,” or “The righteousness of God is manifested apart from the law.” Paul is explaining to us in this little phrase, “without the law” that God’s righteousness has been made manifest completely apart from our obedience to the law. By this statement, Paul is exposing the inherent legalism that results from trying to separate the law of God from the promise of God and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Paul is saying that God’s righteousness is going to be showcased in us in such a way that nothing we do will contribute to this display of God’s righteousness. It is an alien righteousness. It is a righteousness of God, provided by God, received by faith. It is not something we created.

This brings us back to the question: “How will you stand before God?” On judgment day, what will you be trusting in to make you right with

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God and measure up to the standard of His righteousness – Jesus Christ? What are you going to do with the realities of your sinfulness, your guilt, and the condemnation you face for these things? I know that you probably don’t want to think about these things right now, but unless you are trusting in a righteousness outside of yourself to enable you to stand before God, you most certainly will not be able to stand boldly before the Righteous Judge of all the earth.

So, once again, the apostle Paul is telling us here that the gospel displays God’s righteousness apart from our obedience to the law.

III. THE GOSPEL DEMONSTRATES GOD’S JUSTICE AND HIS MERCY (Rom. 3:21-22)

[READ Rom. 3:21-22]

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 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:

The gospel is fundamentally a demonstration of God’s righteousness and justice in the midst of His mercy. Now this is surprising because if we were describing the gospel, we would probably use words like: grace, mercy, or love -- and all of these would be an appropriate response. But that is not what Paul is focusing on right now. He is directing us toward God’s justice and righteousness. We just saw a few moments ago in Romans 1:17 that in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed.” Paul is basically using that same phrase here – “The righteousness of God is manifested.”

Paul is telling us that the gospel is a display of God’s righteousness. He means this in many ways, which we can’t fully explore today; but let me suggest a few ideas that Paul is expressing here.

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God’s Righteous Character Is Seen in the Way He Pardons Sinners

We just looked at a quote from Proverbs 17 which says that the judge is cursed who condemns the innocent and acquits the guilty. And yet Paul is telling us that God pardons guilty sinners.

So how then, does the gospel display God’s righteous character? In the fact that God pays the penalty for our sin debt in full; therefore His character of righteousness is vindicated by the gospel. Paul is going to use a term for this later in our text called propitiation; the appeasement of the wrath of God due for sin. So God saves in a righteousness way.

God’s Righteous Character Is Seen in His Faithfulness to Keep His Promises

But that’s not all that Paul means. Paul also means that God is righteous in His covenant faithfulness. He has promised to save His people as they trust in Him. The way of salvation is the same in both the Old and the New Testaments. The old covenant folks looked forward to the promise of God and the coming Messiah, trusting in Him alone for their salvation, and were saved. In the new covenant we look back to the promised Messiah who has come. We trust in Him alone for our salvation, and we find His refuge. God is righteous to accomplish exactly what He said He would do in His promises. Therefore, the gospel demonstrates God’s righteousness as He faithfully fulfills the promises He has made to His people in all ages.

God’s Righteous Character Is Seen in His Condemning Judgment

There is no greater picture of the judgment of God than the cross of Jesus Christ. By the cross, it is revealed forever that God takes sin seriously, and He will punish the transgressor. That punishment is meted out in one of two ways; either Jesus bears the punishment

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for our sins or Adam does; it depends upon which representative you wish to choose.

If you choose Adam, then you’ll pay your own sin debt. If you choose Christ, He stands in your place. So God shows us the seriousness with which He deals with sin when He informs us that He delivered up His own Son as the propitiation for our sin. This again shows us the righteousness of God’s character.

Other Ways God’s Righteous Character Is Seen in the Gospel

God’s righteous character is also seen by its imputation for our justification, as well as, its impartation for our sanctification.

The gospel reveals God’s righteousness in many ways, but Paul is especially concerned to show us that we have been given a standing before God, that we did not earn, and that we did not deserve by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ righteousness has been credited to our account.

IV. THE GOSPEL IS CONFIRMED BY THE OLD TESTAMENT (Rom. 3:21-22)

[READ Rom. 3:21]

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

In verse 21, Paul makes it clear that the gospel is actually evidenced and confirmed by the Old Testament. This is what he means by the phrase: “being witnessed by the law and the prophets.” Paul is telling us, “Look, I’m not coming up with some new idea here. I’m not the first person that has ever thought of this. I am not the only person to whom this truth has been revealed. In fact, the law and the prophets, the Old Testament Scriptures, your Bible tells you about this way of salvation.

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Your Bible tells you about this purpose of God.” So, Paul is not giving us a new teaching, because the truth of the gospel is demonstrated in the Old Testament itself. In fact, when we get to Romans 4, Paul is going to use the story of Abraham from Genesis to show us proof that the gospel exists in the Old Testament. Those who teach that salvation was by works in the Old Testament, and not by grace through faith as it is in the New Testament have no clue about what the apostle Paul is talking about. The idea that there was some other way of salvation in the Old Testament than there is in the New, never entered into Paul’s mind.

We might ask this question ourselves, “I know that salvation is by grace through faith in the New Testament; but I wonder if it was the same way in the Old Testament?” This question would never have occurred to the apostle Paul. Now, it’s possible he might have asked it this way: “I know that salvation is by grace through faith in the Old Testament, but I wonder if it’s still the same in the New Testament?” But he never would have questioned the truth that the gospel of salvation by grace through faith is an old covenant as well as a new covenant reality. Yes, under the old covenant they had to look forward to the coming of the promised Messiah, but they still trusted in Him for salvation. Under the new covenant, we live on the other side of the Messiah’s first coming, so we look back to Christ’s completed victory trusting in Him by grace through faith. That’s the reason for Paul’s “but now” statement in Romans 3:21 – he’s telling us that this teaching is not new. He goes on to say in verse 22:

[READ Rom. 3:22]

22 even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:

Paul is saying that God planned for His righteousness to be received by means of the gospel by trusting and believing in Jesus as the Messiah.

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This righteousness he is talking about is received by faith, by a personal trust in God and His promises, especially those concerning His Son, Jesus as the Messiah.

Now I need to clarify a couple of things. When he says, “by faith” Paul does not simply mean that you say, “Okay, I understand that. I understand that Jesus claims to be the Son of God, the Messiah.” That is not faith. Faith entails knowledge, belief, and trust. The Old Testament uses some wonderful images to illustrate faith. It talks about rolling your burden over upon another person. It talks about trusting God in the dark where you cannot see. Faith is not only belief in the truths which the Bible teaches about Jesus Christ. It is personal trust in Him as your Lord and Savior.

Notice that Paul goes out of his way to identify the object of our faith as Jesus Christ. There are a lot of people today who think that they are saved by their faith. They think that their faith is what commends them to God. That’s not what commends us to God. Christ commends us to God; and faith is our way of laying hold of Him. So the object of our faith is not our faith, much less our works. The object of our faith is Jesus Christ.

Paul explains, “As we believe in Jesus Christ, as we trust in Him as the Messiah who is set forth in the gospel, that we find the benefits of salvation and will be able to boldly stand before God on the day of judgment.” Beloved, in the last day, what will make us right with God is not that we have lived a perfect life or nearly a perfect life. What will place us in good standing with God is not that we will be able to keep all of our hidden sins secret from Him. What puts us in good standing before God is that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It’s upon that solid rock that we stand. Jesus and His righteousness is appropriated to us as we trust in Him alone for salvation. That’s the beginning of justification by faith as Paul explains it here.

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We will progress further into this study next time. My exhortation for you all is this: Do not fool yourself into thinking that God will sweep your sin under the carpet, or that you are basically a good person, and that God is going to let you into heaven on some merit of your own. But rather, do you trust in Jesus Christ alone as He is offered in the gospel? That’s the only sure foundation you can stand on in the day of judgment. Let’s pray. Black Slide

Prayer: Heavenly Father, there is a deep-rooted temptation in the human spirit to deny our own sin. And even after accepting our sinful condition, there is a chronic temptation to try and find ways to justify ourselves. Oh, Lord, save us from these temptations and enable us to flee to Christ for our eternal good and for Your eternal glory. We ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Invitation # 404: “The Solid Rock” (4 vs.)

Benediction: Beloved, may God be a tower of salvation to you and may He show mercy to you…through His anointed One, Jesus Christ. Amen. (2 Sam. 22:51)).