God Is Righteous In Salvation

Transcript

GR 1417
01/31/10
God Is Righteous in Salvation
Romans 3:21-24
Gil Rugh


Romans 3 in your Bible. Paul has spent the bulk of the first three chapters talking about sin, definitely not one of the favorite topics of people, but to understand God's work in the world and God's redemption, you have to know something about sin. What Paul has done is establish the fact that all everywhere, every person, is a sinner and not only a sinner but under the penalty of their sin, the condemnation of a holy God, and destined to a judgment that will confirm their condemnation. He started out with Gentiles in chapter 1 verse 18, and down through chapter 3 verse 20, he continually demonstrated that all are sinners—the Gentiles and then the Jews. The Jews would have agreed that the Gentiles, of course, are sinners. They weren't given the Law of God at Mt. Sinai, their nation wasn't chosen to be the nation that God would sovereignly rule and give His Law to. So the Jews thought that they would get special consideration in coming judgment. Much like people today think that because they are religious in one way or another, they belong to a certain Protestant group or denomination they are Roman Catholic or whatever, therefore being part of that system and trying to do certain things will make them more acceptable to God. The Jews had good reason, humanly speaking. Indeed God had given them His Law. The Law was given to govern the life of the nation Israel; it wasn't given to the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians or other nations. It was given to Israel because they were the only nation He had chosen for Himself. And the Law of Moses governed the conduct of Israel in all areas. The Law of Moses also showed that the Jews were sinners; it revealed their sin in a clearer way than anyone else had their sin revealed. Back in chapter 3 verse 20, “through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” The Law was the revelation of God, it was like a light, and when the light was turned on brightly it revealed more of what they were.

The Law was never given to be a way of salvation for Israel. The Law was given to govern their conduct as the nation God had chosen. And the Law was given to reveal their sin so that they might turn to their God and trust Him to bring them salvation. The Jews wandered and began to think that because they had the Law, because God had chosen them as a nation, therefore they wouldn't be judged like the Gentiles. By the very fact they had the Law, then God would deal with them differently.

So Paul in the first three chapters basically has shown every single person is a sinner. Understand, Paul has made clear, to be a sinner is not a minor thing. To be a sinner means you are under God's condemnation; you are guilty before Him. He doesn't make a distinction between little sins and big sins. All have sinned. From God's perspective there are none righteous, there are none who do good, as he unfolded in verses 10ff of chapter 3. Every sin is an act of rebellion against a holy God; it is an act of rejecting God and His will and His word in our lives and makes us accountable before the God who is the judge of all men.

After all of that on sin, verse 21 comes as a refreshing breath of air, if you will, because here is the solution, here is what God has provided to enable us as sinners to be declared righteous before the throne of the God who judges all men. Go back to the “everyone” of Romans in chapter 1 verse 16, “for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation.” What he has demonstrated is our need for salvation. We are all sinners. So he's demonstrated the need for the power of God for salvation in our lives by showing each and every one of us are sinners. “It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” We noted there a theme that will be picked up in the verses we're going to look at. “It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Salvation is only found in the gospel, the good news, the message concerning Jesus Christ and His death to pay the penalty for sin. But it is a salvation provided for all, and everyone who believes in Him is saved, rescued from their sin as we'll see.

Note verse 17, “for in it the righteousness of God is revealed.” And that is the point we will pick up in chapter 3 verse 21, that the righteousness of God has been revealed. He's going to unfold how it has been revealed. So in verse 17 of chapter 1, “the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” How can I be righteous before God? How can I be vindicated, absolved of guilt, before the throne of a holy God, be declared righteous, not guilty by Him? Well, first we need to understand we are guilty. So that's what he has done through chapter 3 verse 20.

Come to chapter 3 verse 21. Verses 21-26 are a paragraph that we won't get through completely today, but this paragraph is the heart of the book of Romans. Chapter 1 verses 16-17 give you the theme, but chapter 3 verses 21-26 are the heart of the book of Romans. Here you have it in compact form; in fact some writers have said this is the most important thing ever written. I would tend to agree with that. If you're going to memorize something out of the book of Romans, a great portion to memorize is Romans 3:21-26. If you grasp that and have hold of that, you have a clear explanation of how God could provide His righteousness for sinful human beings and still be righteous in doing it. I mean, any crooked judge can declare a guilty person not guilty. Doesn't change the fact that they are guilty, just the judge was dishonest in doing it. But Romans 3:21-26 gives you a clear presentation of how a holy and righteous God can declare sinful people righteous. It's by the provision He has made.

We're going to have some key words here, the theological section—justification, redemption, propitiation—three key theological terms that we'll be looking at. Justification, to declare righteous; redemption, to set free by paying the price; propitiation, satisfaction or turning away the wrath of God by satisfying the demands of His righteousness.

Let's pick up with verse 21. “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the prophets.” Now, the contrast of what has preceded. We are all sinners, we are all guilty. That includes the Jews, that includes those who would think that they could be saved by keeping the Law of Moses. Chapter 3 verse 20 has made clear, “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight.” And we've noted the words 'to justify'. They come from the same basic root stem, to justify, to be righteous, taki. You'd put an ending on it basically and get a different perspective. (?)........... So if you were reading this you would see the basic word 'righteousness' in the word 'justify' because 'justify' means 'to declare righteous.' So one who is just is righteous.

So by the works of the Law no flesh will be declared righteous, justified in His sight. “But now apart from the Law”, because the Law never was intended to be a way of salvation. God did not give the Law to the nation Israel so that by keeping it they could be saved. It was to govern their conduct. But you'll note in the Law there were the sacrifices that were to be offered for sin. In the very giving of the Law, there is the presupposing that you will break this Law and God will provide sacrifices so that you can have forgiveness. The Law revealed their sin as well, as we noted.

So when we talk about apart from the Law, we're talking about the Mosaic Law, the Law that God had given to the nation Israel. But His righteousness never was found by keeping that Law. So he says “but now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested.” Has been clearly revealed, has been made known. This is the righteousness that God will provide for fallen sinners. That's where the confusion came on the part of the Jews. They thought because they had the Law, because they observed circumcision, because they did certain other things that the Law required, therefore, they were acceptable before God. That has never been the case. Never

So now the righteousness of God has been manifested, revealed, shown. How? In the work of Christ. That's the point. The Old Testament could anticipate it, the sacrifices under the Law, but the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. That animal could never take the place ultimately of a human being. So the Jews knew the penalty for their sin was death. When they went and offered this animal, the animal was sacrificed, it was a reminder to them: I'm a sinner, the penalty for my sin is death, this animal is serving as my substitute. There had to be the question, how can an animal take my place? The animal never did. When we get to chapter 4, we'll be clear how God has always saved people by faith. It was believing God and trusting Him as the only One who could save and cleanse from sin that really brought about the circumcision of the heart that we saw in chapter 3, cleansing within.

So now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, revealed in a way that it hadn't been before. It was witnessed by the Law and the prophets, testified to. The Law and the prophets are a reference to the Old Testament, all the Old Testament. The Law, the first five books, the prophets, all that came in the message that God gave through His spokesmen testified to the coming of Christ. In the Law, the animal sacrifices anticipated that there would be a sacrifice that would satisfy the demands of God's holiness and righteousness. The prophets testified to that, testified that the penalty for sin is death and spoke of a coming Savior.

Go over to Galatians 3. See what he says about the Law here. Verse 19, “Why the Law then?” And we'll get to a more detailed unfolding of the Mosaic Law and its purpose and function and so on when we get to Romans 7. But just note here in Galatians 3:19, “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions.” Note the end of the verse, “until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.” So you see the Mosaic Law was added after the Abrahamic Covenant. Some 500 years later, after the covenant with Abraham that established the descendants of Abraham as God's special people, the Mosaic Law was added. Why was it added? Because of transgressions. And it had a termination point. It was “until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.” That refers to the Messiah, to Jesus Christ, the One in whom the provision of salvation would be found that would enable all the blessings promised to be realized.

Look down in verse 24, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to Christ.” That doesn't mean you preach the Law so that people then will be ready to respond to grace and believe in Christ. It's saying the same thing as verse 19 said: the Law was the tutor, the overseer, the schoolmaster for Israel. It never was given to another nation, remember. It was given to Israel to guide them and keep them on the path, if you will, until Christ came and the fullness of God's plan would be manifested, that we might be justified by faith in Him, declared righteous by faith.

Come back to the Old Testament. We'll just go to Isaiah 53. You know there are over 300 promises relating to Christ in the Old Testament. So when it says that the manifestation of God's righteousness in the person of Christ and His finished work was testified to by the Law and the prophets in Romans 3, there are hundreds of such testimonies in the Old Testament. . Isaiah 53 is one clear one. This prophecy concerning Christ really begins in Isaiah 52:13. We're going to just pick some verses out. Look at verse 5, “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed.” Verse 6, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” That was the point of the bulk of the first three chapters of Romans. Isaiah 53:6, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” That was a prophecy of what God would do. How would God bring His righteousness to us? How could He declare sinful man righteous? By having His Son take our place, pay our penalty, which is death.

Look down at verse 8, “He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due.” He was taking their punishment. Down in verse 11, “By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify, declare righteous the many. He will bear their iniquities.” See that emphasis. Down in verse 12, “He bore the sin of many.” That's the point. So you see the Old Testament anticipated. This is just one passage, a tremendous passage. You see the clarity of it. It testified to the time when the righteousness of God would be manifested, revealed and made known with its fullness.

Come back to Romans 3:21, “Now apart from the Law,” the Mosaic Law, “the righteousness of God has been manifested.” So you find the righteousness of God as it is manifested now in Christ. That's where he is going in a moment, but you can find this testified to in the Law and in the prophets, the entire Old Testament.

Verse 22 clarifies how you receive the righteousness of God and who can receive the righteousness of God. “Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe” This whole section is about righteousness. We saw in verse 21 “the righteousness of God”; verse 22 begins with “the righteousness of God”; verse 24 “being justified” That word means being declared righteous, same basic word that we're talking about with righteousness. Verse 26, “for the demonstration I say of His,” God's, “righteousness” so that He would be just, righteous, and the justifier, the One who declares righteous the one who has faith. God's righteousness, God's righteousness, that's what we need. We are sinners; everyone is defiled; everyone is guilty; everyone is the enemy of God. We need His righteousness to be acceptable in His sight.

So verse 22 says we're talking about “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” The righteousness of God, God's provision of righteousness, has been manifested. And this is what the Old Testament prophets talked about. Back in Romans 1:2, Paul said the gospel of God was “promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy scriptures.” Now we realize it. “The righteousness of God,” Romans 3 verse 22, “through faith in Jesus Christ.” Faith in Jesus Christ. You know there is a lot of talk about faith today. We have faith based initiatives. I was reading an article about several religious groups who had come together to help in the disaster in Haiti and they were faith based groups. We begin to talk about faith and we talk about faith as though it has some inherent value, as though faith in and of itself is worth something. You know there is no value or worth in faith. Faith can be good; it can be bad. You know what determines that? The person you are believing in, the thing you are believing in.

Recently we had some financial turmoil in our country; maybe we still are, but I'm talking about the past. One of the things that came out was a major ponzi scheme. Many people had believed in a certain individual and his organization and given him their money. As it was revealed that it was all a sham, these people have been interviewed at different times. One I saw here just in the past week saying, “I made a decision to trust him and I put my faith in him; I gave him my fortune. I lost it all.” Well, he had faith; he really believed in this man and what he was doing. But you know what? The faith was worthless. Having faith doesn't change something. If you go up on the roof of this building and believe with all your heart you can fly like an eagle and you jump, you can flap and you can believe, but you only have a few short seconds to do it because your faith changes nothing. We talk about faith as though it had some power. Faith is only as good as what you are believing in.

So in the context here, having faith doesn't please God. Having faith in Jesus Christ is pleasing to God, and it's faith in Jesus Christ that brings the righteousness of God to an individual. So God has manifested His righteousness in the death of His Son on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Now how do I receive the benefit of that death? Through faith, by believing in Jesus Christ. Now note here another thing about faith. It's not believing about something or someone, it's believing in Him.

I have some dealings with a bank, not my personal account in that bank. I believe that bank is reliable; I believe it is trustworthy; I believe a lot of things about that bank. But I don't have any of my money in that bank. So I believe facts about that bank, but I have not put any trust in that bank. I don't rely on that bank, for example. Many people are like that about Christ. They know a lot about Christ. Protestants, Catholics say, I believe this about Christ, I believe that. But you understand, that doesn't bring the righteousness of God into your life. I have a set of commentaries over the New Testament that I read often. The man writes many interesting and helpful things. He did not believe in Jesus Christ as the only Savior. I read sometimes and say, look at all these verses he's quoting, look at all he is writing. And he died being a universalist, that you don't need to believe in Christ to be saved.

But you can believe all these facts about Him and never really believe in Him yourself as the One you are relying upon and trusting as your Savior. We have to be very careful. We learn a lot, can sit in a church like this where we study the Bible and learn a lot about the Bible and a lot about Jesus Christ and die and go to hell, because knowing a lot about Him, knowing a lot about the Bible, knowing a lot about the cross doesn't save you. I must come to understand I am a sinner guilty before God, and Jesus Christ is the Savior who took my place and died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. That is saving faith.

That's what we're talking about here. “Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.” That's the only salvation there is. That's about as narrow as you can get. With all the billions of people in the world today, all the people who have lived in all history, there is only one person that you can believe in and experience God's power for salvation, only faith in one person, Jesus Christ. You say, that's so narrow. But you know what? It is so narrow, but it is so broad because look at the next statement.

“Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.” It's narrow, it's one person, but everyone who wants to believe in Him can be a recipient of the righteousness of God, be declared righteous, not guilty, by a holy God. So we only need one Savior because His work is sufficient and is offered to all. If you place your faith in Him, you will be saved. It's for all who believe.

So he's not just repeating what he said in verse 22, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. That expands it. It's the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ; that's how the work of Christ becomes credited to your account. And it's for all those who believe, whatever race, nationality, religious background. This was for the Jews, this was for the pagan Romans, this is for all who will believe. That's Who it is credited to your account.

Now he continues on, “for there is no distinction,” verse 23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This provision is for all on the same level, Jews and Gentiles, and on the same ground. Not saying that God hasn't selected the Jews, but they stand on the same ground as far as sin is concerned. That has been proved. A Jew is no less a sinner than a Gentile, a Gentile is no less a sinner than a Jew. “There is no distinction, for all have sinned.” That summarizes chapter 1 verse 18 through chapter 3 verse 20. All have sinned; there are no exceptions. That was the point driven home in chapter 3 verses 10-12, “there is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is none who does good, not even one.” You see that emphasis.

So we come to chapter 3 verse 23, “all have sinned.” There is no distinction. We're all sinners “and fall short of the glory of God.” What is the glory of God? It's the perfection of who He is. While we think we are getting along pretty well, we compare ourselves with one another. I mean, look at us, we're better than some people, aren't we? Some people are still hung over from their drinking last night. Isn't it better to be at Indian Hills listening to Gil Rugh preach than it is to be having a hangover on Sunday morning, still in bed? I like to think so. But you know, that's not the difference. We fall short of the glory of God. We can't compare ourselves with one another saying, I'm better than that.

I used to go to school in downtown Philadelphia. If I was a little early in the morning, I'd take the long way, get off the subway a few blocks earlier and walk the sidewalk. There I am 7:15, 7:30 in the morning and here is a drunk lying on the curb. I mean, I'm better than he is; I'm going to Bible school, and he's a drunk. So we compare ourselves and say we're better than they are. On the human level, sure, there are some people that manifest vileness more openly than others. But you understand, the measure is not how am I doing compared to you or somebody else. The measure is how do I measure up to the eternal God who is perfect in His holiness, in His righteousness? And I don't. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” There is no distinction. So God has provided a salvation for all so that they might believe because there is no distinction. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

So he goes on in verse 24, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” Being justified. That's a word we've referred to before. It's the same basic word as righteousness. You take the basic core, the stem, put a different ending on the word. But if you were reading it you'd say he is talking about being justified, being declared righteous. So verse 21, “the righteousness of God has been manifested”; verse 22, “even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe”; verse 24, “being justified, declared righteous as a gift.” That's what I need when I stand in the courtroom of God before the throne of God. I've sinned, I've fallen short of His glory, His perfections in holiness and righteousness.

What am I going to do? I believe in His Son, I believe that He took my place and died for my sins and I'm trusting Him only and alone. On that basis God declares me righteous, being justified as a gift. Do you know what a gift is? It's something you get that you don't deserve. I'll embarrass Makiah; today is his birthday. We may give him a gift. But if he shovels my walk and I say I'm going to give you a birthday gift, well, wait a minute. If I earned it by shoveling the walk,I can hardly say I'm giving you a gift. A gift by definition is something not earned, not worked for. That's the definition of a gift. When you go and work a week for your employer and he gives you your check and says, here's a gift, wait a minute. I appreciate that, then where is my paycheck? Because there is a distinction.

So he says here we are justified as a gift. And then note the next expression—“by his grace.” Well, a gift is something you don't earn or work for or merit; it is given freely. That's what a gift is, something freely given. And you know what grace is? It is something undeserved, unmerited, unearned. I want you to understand that when you are declared righteous because you have believed in Christ, that's a free gift from God. It was given by His grace.

Turn over to Romans 11:6, “if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” So you see, I don't earn the righteousness of God, I don't receive the righteousness of God because I did my best, and even though I fell short, I tried hard. This is where the Jews were. They had the Mosaic Law. Now they didn't keep it perfectly, that's why they had to take sacrifices, but they were doing better than others.

We used to live near the Atlantic Ocean and I used to like to swim when I was younger. I'd go down to the ocean and swim. I swam far out one day; I could hardly get back. The lifeguards were up there hollering and I'm trying to get back. I never lost sight of land. I was a lot farther out than some people were, but I wasn't very close to England. I could say, look at them, they can't swim like I can. But I wasn't anywhere. Some people think I'm doing well: I go to church, I take the sacraments, I've been baptized, I try to be a good husband, a good father, I try to be fair in my business. That's nice, but that doesn't get you anywhere near the holiness and perfection of God. You know what He decided to do? I'll give it to them as a gift; I'll give it to them as my grace because no one can earn it. How am I going to get perfect like God is perfect? Holy like God is holy? Righteous like God is righteous? I've already sinned; I already blew it. Well, we think He's going to say, “It's all right, I understand.” You don't understand; every sin is a serious sin. God isn't saying that's a little sin, that's a big sin. That is an offense against a holy God, that is an act of rebellion against Him, that is a rejection of Him and His word. I'm guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty. God says, “I have a gift, I give it freely, I give it by grace.” You can't earn it, you can't work for it. In fact if you try to earn it, if you try to work for it, you can't have it.

That's what the book of Galatians says. There are some people who say I'm going to trust Christ, plus also I think you have to be circumcised and keep the Law. That really gets you there. Paul says you are under a curse, you are cursed to hell because it is God's way and God's way only that brings salvation.

So we are justified, declared righteous as a gift by His grace. How is God going to do this? Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. The word redemption, one of those biblical words we need to understand like justification, to be declared righteous, means to set free by paying the price. Remember when we were in Isaiah 53 and I said note here, He's taking our place. “All of us like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to his own way and the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” He took our place; that's what redemption was. It was used in slave language. A slave could be set free if someone would pay the price required. Here's a slave worth $1000. We pay the $1000 so he could be set free. That's what redemption is. Being set free by paying the price.

So we are justified as a gift by His grace, but somebody has to pay the penalty, somebody has to pay the price that God's holiness and righteousness demands. You know what the amazing thing is? God pays it Himself; the Son of God steps from glory to come to this earth to pay the price because, as we'll see in Romans 6:23, what is the price of sin? What are the wages? The wages of sin is death. Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty.

Turn over to Ephesians 1:7, talking about Jesus Christ, “In Him we have”, here is our word, “redemption.” How? “Through His blood.” The wages of sin is death. God's justice demands the penalty be paid. He paid it. We have redemption through His blood. His death paid my penalty, “the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.” It's a gift by His grace in Romans 3. Here it's according to the riches of His grace. What do you say when the eternal triune God determined to intervene and pay the penalty for sinners? Do I deserve it? No. I was a rebel against God; I rejected Him, I was doing my own thing, my own life. He intervened to do what I couldn't do. We have redemption through His blood. You understand, there will be no forgiveness of the penalty except on the basis of the payment of the penalty. All your good works, all my good works, all my best efforts can't pay the penalty, because it is death. And that death includes eternal separation from God which is called the second death. The Son of God being God in the flesh could suffer to an infinite degree and pay an infinite penalty. And He did. It's through His blood.

Go back to I Timothy. Timothy is at Ephesus when Paul writes the first letter to Timothy. He wrote the letter to the Ephesians and then he also writes to Timothy who was at Ephesus. I Timothy 2:6. Verse 4 for the context, “God desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” That's the desire of God. Think about it. Lost sinners in rebellion against Him, stubborn, arrogant, proud. And God desires us to be saved, all of us; “desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” Verse 5, “For there is one God and one mediator also between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” The only way to God is through Jesus Christ. He's the only mediator. Note this, verse 6, “who gave Himself as a ransom for all.” That's the same basic word that is translated redemption. He gave Himself as a ransom to pay the price to set us free: free from the bondage of our sin, the slavery of our sin, the penalty of our sin. He gave Himself as a ransom for all. Now how is that payment credited to my account? Through faith in Him as we have seen.

Keep going back to I Peter 1:18, “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold,” note this, “from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers.” The Jews couldn't have salvation by just receiving it passed on. No one can. You don't get it from the empty things of this life. But you are redeemed; that's our word there, ransomed, set free by paying the price. What was it? Verse 19, but with the precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” That was the price paid to redeem us, to ransom us, to set us free from the power and penalty of sin. Back in Titus 2:14, Christ Jesus “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us.” Note, He gave Himself to “redeem us from every lawless deed, to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.” One other passage on this, Matthew 20:28. Jesus speaking during His earthly ministry, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve,” now note this, “and to give His life a ransom for many”. A ransom, redemption, pay the price, so we could be set free. What a remarkable plan.

Come back to Romans 3. You see the beauty of this passage. We're not done, but we'll break here. Verse 20(?), after showing the awful condition of every single person, the human race and everyone in it, we noted there is an individuality as we worked through these opening chapters. The judgment will be to each one individually. We come to this bright sunshine, verses 21 ff. “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed and manifested.” It's been made known. Verse 22, “The righteousness of God through faith in Christ for all who believe.” Oh what a tragedy that there are multitudes of people who haven't believed. The righteousness of God is available for all who believe. And we all need it, verse 23 “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” God will justify us as a gift, a free gift, by His grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ. He paid the penalty; He paid the price that God's holiness demanded. Now it can be credited to your account, my account, by simply recognizing and acknowledging before God: I am a sinner, God, your evaluation is true, I also believe that Your Son, eternal God Himself, became a man, came to this earth and suffered and died on the cross. And you know what was happening? Peter wrote in 1st Peter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Amazingly, when I place my faith in Christ He views me as having died with Christ. Paul will develop this in Romans 6: 5 (?) Buried with Christ, raised with Christ. The penalty is paid, you are forgiven, you are declared not guilty, because the penalty has been paid. There is no comparison to this in the human realm, but He has washed me clean, as white as snow because in His death Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, paid for all my sins, past, present and future. So before, my sins t were red like scarlet, now I'm white as snow. And the eternal God who is the judge of all men has declared me not guilty. God declares you vindicated, absolved, righteous, declared righteous in the courtroom of God. You would think people would be flocking in droves to the grace and salvation that God has provided. It is available today for all who believe.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for Your salvation. Thanks for the wonder of the plan of redemption. Lord, we may not understand all the details and grasp the wonder of what You have done, but we do understand clearly that we are sinners. And we understand You have manifested, revealed the provision of your righteousness in the death and resurrection of Your Son. And Lord, amazing as it is, You have made clear that we cannot earn this salvation, we cannot work for it. But You will give it freely as a gift by Your grace to all who will turn from their sin and place their faith in Your Son and the work that He accomplished for them. We praise You for so great a salvation that saves us, not only for time, but for all eternity. We thank You in Christ's name, amen.