Righteousness Revealed - Romans 3:21-26

0:38He tells them that he's been giving thanks for them to God. He's been thanking God for the Romans, thanking God for their faith, praying for the Romans. And he says that he wants to come and see the Romans soon, the Christians in Rome. Paul longs to come and see them. Well, after all of that, Paul launches into the gospel, the gospel message, the good news, the message of Paul as an apostle, the message that he was sent to proclaim to the Gentiles. Romans 1, verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is. Written, the righteous shall live by faith. So, Paul is not ashamed because he knows the gospel is essential. It's the way that God works, it's the power of God, the power of God to save from wrath.

1:46It doesn't matter who you are, Jew or Gentile, it doesn't matter what you've done, the key is faith. The righteous shall live by faith. The key is faith. After this, Paul will go on to teach all of the things that we've been studying about sin and how the whole world is under sin, Jew and Gentile. All have sinned, and therefore all are under judgment. But still, let's not forget that gospel message. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. The righteousness of God is revealed. The righteousness of God is revealed. Now, turn to our text for today. Romans 3, verse 21.

2:55Romans 3, verses 21 through 26. Let's look at verse 21. 21, he says, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested. Does that sound familiar? It's what we just read, right? The righteousness of God has been revealed, and then now in our text today, the righteousness of God has been manifested. And so, having dealt with the fact that the whole world, every single person, is under the condemnation of sin because of their own sin, having dealt with the fact that the law, having the law, doesn't change that, there is no partiality. So, just having the Old Testament law doesn't change that we're all under sin, now Paul returns to the gospel.

3:44The righteousness of God has been manifested, it's been made public. It's up for everybody to see, it's been displayed, shown to the whole world. And so, now there is a plainly evident way for you to have the righteousness of God. Because of what God has done, now there is a plainly evident way. It's been manifest. There's a plainly evident way for you to have the righteousness of God. But it's not the way you might have thought.

4:28It's at least not the way you have. The way that some of the Jews thought, because he says, verse 21, now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. So he tells us this pair of ideas about the Old Testament law. And he says, the righteousness of God can't be earned by keeping the law. It's apart from the law. The law is not the means to getting the righteousness of God.

5:01You can't get God's spotless righteousness by keeping God's law. That's not how it works. But that doesn't mean that it has nothing to do with the law. That's what he says next. The law and the prophets bear witness to it. So when we read the law and the prophets in the Old Testament, they bear witness to the fact that we can obtain the righteousness of God, not through the law itself, not keeping the law, but through faith. So Paul is actually saying that the law and the prophets, they agree with what Paul is saying.

5:43The law and the prophets say the same thing about themselves that Paul says, that righteousness is by faith, not by keeping the law. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Well, in our text today, we're going to see three truths about the righteousness of God. Three truths about the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is available to all, bought by Jesus, and proven at the cross. The righteousness of God is available to all. It's bought by Jesus and it's proven at the cross. Follow along as I read Romans 3, verses 21 through 26. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be justified. Just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Let's pray before we begin. Father, as we come to this text to study it, as always, we pray that you'd help us understand it. You'd help us learn about your character. Learn about what you've done.

7:50Learn about what Christ has done on the cross. Help us be people who humbly sit before your word and let it challenge us and convict us and let it encourage us as we read and study. Help us be people who rest in the righteousness of God. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, the first truth that we see is that the righteousness of God is available to all. It's available to all. Look at verse 21 again. Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So there's only one way, and it's the same way for everybody, there's only one way to get the righteousness of God, and that is by faith. In Jesus Christ. And this is true for every single person. He says, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there's no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So, since everybody universally has sinned, then everybody universally lacks the glory of God.

9:26There's something missing about all of mankind. There's something wrong, something off, and not just a little bit off, hugely off, way off because of our sin. We don't have the glory of God. We don't reflect the glory of God because we chose to sin instead. And so we fall short of that glory. We're missing something. Everybody is. All have sinned and lack the glory of God. Therefore, there's no distinction from man to man. That's what he says. There's no distinction between Jew and Gentile. All are under judgment, and so all are perfect candidates for being saved by grace, right?

10:17All are perfect candidates for receiving the righteousness of God because we can't get righteousness on our own. We have to receive the righteousness of God and all. Who believe, all who do have faith in Jesus Christ, will receive the righteousness of God. And trust me, we need it. If you haven't been with us the past few weeks, we've seen in Romans 3 that all of us are sinners and that we're sinners through and through. Every single one of us is a sinner, and every single part of us is full of sin and under judgment. And there's nothing we can do to earn our own righteousness.

11:07The only way that we can be made spotless is if God were to do it. Because we can't. And he has made a way to make us righteous, to make us spotless. And that way is by giving us his righteousness. Giving us his righteousness. That righteousness is available to us all. A few years ago, have you guys ever been to Red Robin? It's like a burger place. A few years ago, they were doing some Christmas promotion where if your name was any variation of Santa, you could get a free burger. And it just so happened that there was this couple that we were wanting to go on a double date with anyway. And I think we had even talked about wanting to go to Red Robin. And it just so happened that their names were Chris and Kristen, which counted as a variation of Chris Kringle. And so they got a free burger. And so, of course, I offered to take them, my treat, to Red Robin. And I just remember the feeling, like, oh, wow, you know, this deal is available to us. I know that sounds silly, but you do get that shock of, you know, all right, we can go do this. This is available to me. And then, as we looked into it, we were like, now, wait a second, my wife's name is Nicole. And so that counts too for St. Nicholas. And so we got another free burger. It's available to us. Now, the example doesn't work all the way, right? It's not available to all. My name, Jeff, is certainly not a variation of Santa Claus. But I still remember that feeling, as silly as it sounds, I remember that feeling of being surprised, like, wow, this is available to us. We can go get four dream burgers for like less than 10 bucks. And just a surprise of something. Well, I think we get a similar surprise in the book of Romans so far. You know, I think that some of you have this idea of, you know, wait a second, this righteousness can apply to me. It's available to me. And you might have thought, you know, I thought that was only for church people. You know, it's good for those church people, they have their religion, but I'm no good for that stuff. You know, I've sinned too much.

13:42But surprise, it's available to you. It's available to everybody. In fact, it's a gift that was intended for someone just like you, a sinner just like you. This free gift of righteousness was intended for you. Or maybe you're on the other end of the spectrum and you're like the self-righteous Jew that Paul has been talking to. And you think, yeah, forgiveness is great for all of those church people. But I have gone to church every Sunday in my life. I've got my own righteousness. Thank you very much.

14:18Well, surprise. Surprise for you, too. It's available for you. It was intended for somebody just like you to receive that gift, the free righteousness of God, spotless in your life. The righteousness that you can't earn, but that's available to everybody. Well, next, the righteousness of God is bought by Jesus. Bought by Jesus. It's been paid for, and so now it's free. Verse 24, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

15:01So, here we don't really get a nice, clean sentence break. In fact, our whole passage today is kind of one big run-on thought. But it seems to be that after he's explained now that it's available to all, now he's explaining how it's available to us all. Being justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. All being justified by his grace as a gift. I don't think he's saying that everybody in the whole world who's ever lived is now justified through the cross. I don't think he's saying that, but I do think he's saying that all kinds of men, if anyone is going to be justified, they're going to be justified by grace as a gift. All who believe are justified by his grace. And so, on the one hand, like we've studied in the past few weeks, everybody's on the same footing as regards to God's judgment. We're all on a level playing field. There is no partiality.

16:08But on the other hand, what that means is that we're also all on the same footing as regards to justification. Yes, we're in the same footing as regards to judgment. We're all under judgment, but we're also on the same footing as regards to justification, that it's available, the same gift is available to all men. And that is the word he uses. He says, justified by his grace. Justified is another courtroom word. Last week we looked at how, in the courtroom of God, the verdict is, we're guilty. And it says, every mouth is going to be stopped because there's this huge pile of evidence that is our sin. And so our mouths are going to be stopped in that courtroom. But here he says that when that day comes and we see the Lord face to face, some people, instead of being declared guilty with that guilty verdict that we deserve, some people are declared just and right. They are justified in that heavenly courtroom.

17:13Justified. That's not the same thing as being pardoned. It includes being pardoned, right? But pardoned can be something like, maybe you're guilty, maybe you're not. But being pardoned means you don't have to serve out your sentence. This is something different than that. Yes, you're pardoned, but it's also saying that there's never any stain against you to receive the punishment to begin with. You are actually justified. So when you stand before the Lord, you are actually just and right in His eyes. There's nothing to be punished.

17:50You are not declared guilty and sinful. And this is not because of something that we paid for. He says, being justified by his grace as a gift. This righteousness, this justification is a gift. It's given like a present. It's a gift to us, totally free, never paid for by us. Outside of anything we've ever done, believers have been granted righteousness. About a year ago, one of our children went through a phase where she wanted to give gift cards to everybody.

18:39She was at Christmas or birthdays, and she kept seeing how everyone got so excited about gift cards. And so she thought, oh, I can make those. I can make those gift cards and give them to people. It's very sweet, but as you can imagine, it didn't work in quite the same way as a normal gift card, right? And when you get a real gift card, it's exciting because it's free money for you, right? You know, to your favorite restaurant or your favorite store. It's free money for you. But it wasn't totally free, right? Somebody paid it. That's the point of the gift. Somebody paid for it and gave it to you so that it's free for you. In fact, if someone, this is the same for all gifts, right? Somebody paid for it. In fact, if somebody gave you an expensive gift and they Told you, I didn't pay for this, you might raise an eyebrow, right? Something shady is going on if they're giving you this gift and saying they didn't pay for it. And so, gifts are paid for by somebody, even if they're free for you. And it's the same with our justification, verse 24, being justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, this free gift was paid for by Jesus Christ. Redemption in these times was often a word that was used for buying somebody out of slavery. You know, a slave can't buy themselves out of slavery. They don't have any money. But if they're redeemed, if someone comes and buys them out of slavery, then they're not a slave anymore. Their price has been paid. Or maybe it was that their debt has been bought. They owe this debt, and someone came and redeemed that debt. They paid that debt.

20:35Someone is taking responsibility for that person. And the same is true for your redemption in Christ, right? Somebody took responsibility. And in the same way, we might have raised an eyebrow if somebody gave us this expensive gift and then said, I didn't pay for it. I think we might have raised an eyebrow if we heard that God just said, Oh, it's no big deal. It's just a little sin. It's okay. You know, if that was how God justified us, it wouldn't be good. But that's not what happened. God didn't just brush our sin under the rug, He paid for it, He paid the penalty for our sins on the cross.

21:23Colossians say He nailed the record of our debt onto the cross. Christ took responsibility so that it's free for you. Christ took responsibility for the righteousness of God being given to you as a free gift. You who were the very opposite of being righteous, the very opposite of the righteousness of God. It was put on you, freely given, justified. So the righteousness of God is available to all. It was bought by Jesus. And finally, the righteousness of God is proven at the cross. It's proven at the cross. After mentioning the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, on the cross, Paul goes on to tell us more about the event of the crucifixion. Look at verse 25: whom God put forward as a propitiator.

22:31By his blood to be received by faith, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Jesus Christ was publicly displayed. He was put forward like the serpent raised up on the rod for all to see. Jesus Christ was put up for all to see, publicly displayed, displayed as a propitiation, as an appeasement for the wrath of God, as a place where you can come and find forgiveness, find appeasement of the wrath that's due to you because of his blood shed on the cross.

23:20And when we think about that, we see that all of the pagan religions that attempt to appease a fake deity by offering these fake sacrifices on fake altars, all those attempts are shown here to be utterly worthless, right? Because it's not just anything that's sacrificed on this altar to the true God. It's God Himself on the cross. That's what appeases the wrath of God. It's the Son of God, God the Son, publicly displayed to be received by faith.

24:14And this proves God's righteousness because it proves that he is patient and just. Look at the middle of verse 25. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, in his divine patience, he had passed over former sins. So the cross proves God's righteousness because it teaches us how patient the Lord was before. In his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. And so now that we see what sin truly requires, this penalty, this payment, then we realize how patient God was all along to the Old Testament believers, to the ones that God was going to forgive in the Old Testament, how patient God was with them, patiently storing up the wrath that was due to them until it could be paid for by Jesus Christ. The cross shows us God's patience. So it's not like the people in the Old Testament, as they do their animal sacrifices, it's not as if they were really finding forgiveness through those animal sacrifices. And then for some reason, when Jesus made his Sacrifice, those old ways of sacrificing stopped working, or something like that.

25:36No, the book of Hebrews says it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. It's impossible. All of those things, all they ever did was point to this real sacrifice. They didn't cause the forgiveness. That was going to be paid for by Christ. I think the old, the people, the faithful people in the Old Testament, knew this. I think that's why you have passages like Isaiah 53 that is looking forward to that real sacrifice where real forgiveness is going to come.

26:14But in the meantime, they could just hope and have faith that the Lord would forgive, like he said. What Paul is saying in our text is that God is patient. The cross shows that God was having this divine forbearance, this divine patience as he passed over their sins and waited for them to be paid for and totally forgiven in the sacrifice of Christ. So the cross proves that God is righteous because it shows that he's patient, but also because it shows that he's just. Look at verse 26. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27:00Shows his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This is the answer to the great mystery in the Old Testament, right? You know, we read in their scripture reading today, we read that from Exodus that God is the God who forgives iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty. Well, how does that work? We're all guilty.

27:40And yet, God says that he forgives iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clears the guilty. So in this text, he's saying that he is both the justifier, he forgives us, and he's just, he will by no means clear the guilty. Well, how does that fit together? How is that even possible? That is the hope of the Old Testament believer, right? That that is somehow possible for God to remain just and still be the justifier, the one who forgives. Well, how is it possible? How does it fit together? There's only one way, right?

28:27That was the cross of Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus Christ. This shows his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. The crucifixion is the answer to how God can remain just and still justify, still forgive, and therefore it proves God's righteousness. That's what we see on the cross. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was a chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. That's how God can be just and the justifier.

29:30God is perfectly righteous. There is not a single blot or stain on his character. It is not within his nature to be able to sin, and therefore it's impossible for God to sin. He never has, and he never will. And this righteousness, this perfect righteousness, is proven at the cross. But because of the Payment of Jesus, this righteousness is also available to you. The question is: how do you get it? How do you get that righteousness, that spotless righteousness of God? How do you get that put on you?

30:23Listen again, verse 21. Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, so it's not by keeping the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. That's the message that's repeated over and over throughout this passage: faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, all who have faith. So it's not the law, it's apart from the law, it's through faith. That's how you get this righteousness. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift. It's not something you earn, it's a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. You see how much this is being emphasized? This propitiation, this appeasement of the wrath of God, is something for you to receive by faith, to trust.

31:23This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present. Time so that he might be just and a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So, what is the only way to be given this spotless righteousness of God? It's faith. We receive this gift by faith. Faith in Jesus. We trust Jesus. He said, I am the way and the truth and the life.

32:04No one comes to the Father except through me. So we trust His words. We trust that He was right. But we also trust His sacrifice, that it was enough to pay our entire debt, right? We throw up our hands and we say, I can't pay for any of this. I'm disqualified. I can't pay for any of my own righteousness. Not 1% of it, not 0.0001% of it. I can't do anything. Only Christ can pay. And so we rest and we trust and we let Him pay.

32:47We have faith. We repent and ask Him to pay for our sins. This is Paul's gospel message, right? Romans 1:16. Again, for I am not ashamed. To the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So, if you want the righteousness of God, you need to have faith in what Christ has done on the cross, that he died and rose again and will pay for your sins. Have faith in Jesus, and you'll live.

33:34Last night, we were watching an animal documentary, and there was this baby albatross, which is still big because it's an albatross, but it was cute and brown and fuzzy and just floating on the top of the ocean. But it didn't know that there was a tiger shark swimming underneath it. And, you know, you just, when you see moments like that in those, you just want to scream at the screen, right? You know, get out of there. There's a shark, you know.

34:09And so, sure enough, the baby bird just floating there, and the tiger shark comes up and tries to get it, and it misses. And so then you're like, oh, phew, you know, the bird got away. Now it knows there's a shark under the water. I need to get out of here. But it didn't. It just like moved out of the way of the shark and landed. Like 10 feet over. And so then the shark came and got the bird to the horror of my daughter.

34:40But, you know, I fear that some of you are like that baby bird. I know that sounds silly, but you've heard that you need to be saved. You've heard that your sins need to be paid for. You've heard that you need the righteousness of God if you're going to stand in the judgment. And you have this attitude like, yeah, maybe someday. Maybe you've even had a health scare. And in that moment, you were so frightened you were going to die, made you make all kinds of commitments, and then it went away, and your fear went away, and you're back to normal, and you're back to that attitude of, you know, whatever. Maybe when I grow up, if you're a kid, then I'll get serious about the Lord. Or if you're already an adult, maybe when I have kids, maybe when I retire.

35:46But the shark is right under you, right? You need the righteousness of God. And it's available to you. This free gift. Was intended for somebody just like you. You need it. You don't get to set an appointment for when you're going to meet God face to face. And when you see him, you're going to wish you had his righteousness. So have faith. The righteousness of God has been revealed. And though the law attests to it, the righteousness of God is apart from the law. It's not for some only. It's not for some who keep the law. It's for all. It's available to all. It's not earned by law-keeping. It's a free gift, bought by Jesus. It's not contrary to the law. It's just.

36:57It shows the righteousness of God. So, Christians, let's get the word about this out. Let's get the word out about this. That's what I was trying to say. You know, I can get so excited about sharing news with people. Silly news. For some reason, it's just really exciting. You know, have you heard? So-and-so is pregnant? Or Marshalls is moving to town. Or Krispy Kreme is giving out free donuts. You know, whatever the news is. I'm excited to be the one to share that news, except when it comes to the things of the Lord, for some reason.

37:40I find I don't want to share that news. And that should be the one we're the most excited about, right? Have you heard? Christ really died and rose again. Christ really offers to fully forgive you for free, a free gift. Have you heard this righteousness of God is available to everybody, bought by Jesus, proven at the cross. So let's get the word out. But also, Christians, let's rest in this reality. Let's breathe in deeply our new identity in Christ that we are totally paid for, totally righteous, covered in the righteousness of God.

38:41No need to work, though we are zealous for good deeds. No need to earn our righteousness, because we can't, anyways. So we're free to rest while we work. Our righteousness has been paid. For it's been freely given to you, and so we can just give thanks and rest in that thought. The righteousness of God has been manifested, it has been revealed, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Let's pray, Father, what a gift to us that you offer your righteousness to us so that we can be justified and have nothing staining our account, so that we can in the heavenly courtroom where our mouths should be shut and there should ring out a guilty verdict because of our sin.

39:58We thank you that in that same courthouse, it will instead ring out that we are justified, we are righteous with the spotless righteousness of God Himself. Help us, Father, to trust, help us to rest and have faith. Help us to remember that this righteousness was bought by Jesus Christ on the cross. It was freely granted to us. As a result, help us be zealous for good deeds. In Jesus' name, amen.