Okay, so we are in Romans chapter 3 in what I think and consider to be some of the most important verses in all of the scripture, verses 21 to 26. And we'll read them now. 

It says, “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” 

Now as we look at these verses this morning, I want to call to your attention that he began the message of the good news in chapter 1. In verses 16 and 17 he says this, “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, but the righteous man shall live by faith.” 

And so he pauses here now as he begins the introduction to the gospel, he pauses and he begins to immediately talk about the unrighteousness of man. In verses 18-32, he gives the description of the pagan man who has rejected and suppressed the truth that God has through nature revealed to him. Turned aside, I do not believe, I've said this before, I'll say it again, I do not believe in an atheist. I don't believe that they exist. They're suppressing the truth, perhaps. But there is no such thing as an atheist. God has revealed himself and they have suppressed the truth. 

But like any little child who tries to hold that full beach ball down underneath the water, eventually they're going to give up and that ball is going to come shooting out of the water. And in the same way, the truth of God is going to shoot up and they will either, outside of Christ, they will suffer the wrath of God. But in Christ Jesus, for those who have not suppressed the truth but have embraced the truth, there's grace and there's mercy. Amen? 

So from 18-32 he gives the description of the pagan man and how degraded and depraved the natural man is, the pagan man who doesn't have the law and the gospel. And then in chapter 2, beginning at verse 1 and through the 16th verse, I believe that the Apostle Paul is dealing with the moralist, the man who considers himself moral, or the philosophers that kind of look down their noses at other people and consider themselves to be better than these pagan people. Their actions were better, they thought they were better. 

And so from verses 1-16 of chapter 2, he deals with that moralist man and how he does not live up to the law or to what has been revealed in his heart, the law that is revealed in every man's heart. The law is there, it's written, it's there, and he has not lived up to that law. 

And then in verse 17, chapter 2, verse 17 through chapter 3, verse 9, he deals specifically with the Jewish man, or the religious man, the man who thinks that because he has the law, because he has the law and he knows the law, that that makes him immune from the judgment and the wrath of God. And he shines the light of hypocrisy on them as they boast in God and they boast in his law, but by their actions, they deny. And by their actions, they prove that they are worthy of the judgment of God. 

And so that's the backdrop that he gives, and then in chapter 3, verses 9-20, he sums it all up with some of the most graphic descriptions of the man in Adam, the man outside of Christ. We'll read that, chapter 3, beginning at verse 9: “What then? Are we better than they?” He's speaking about the Jews now; he, being a Jewish man, he's kind of summing up everything, the pagan, the philosopher, the religious person, he sums them all up. 

“What then? Are we better than they? We are better than all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become useless. There is no one who does good. There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 

Now think about that; that's his description, his summing up of the entirety of the human race. He says that there is none righteous, not even one. Not even one. There is none who does good. There is none who seeks for God. I know that we talk about it in our culture in this day and age with the seeker-friendly churches. They think that people are seeking God. No, they are not seeking God. Nobody seeks God unless God first begins that work of seeking them out, just like he sought out Adam and Eve in the garden when they fell. 

God was the one who sought them out and said, “Adam, where are you? Adam, where are you?” God did the seeking, not man. And so when God does a work, A.W. Tozer calls it prevenient grace; he does a work in the heart of man that causes him to desire to seek after God. But that doesn't originate with man, that originates with God. And we need to understand that. 

There's none who seeks for God, everybody's turned aside. And he says there is no one who does good, not even one. I know that I talk to my family a lot; they all think that they're good. They all think that they're going to heaven because they are relatively better than most other people. They don't do things like Jeffrey Dahmer does or like Adolf Hitler does or Stalin, you know, those are really bad people, but we're basically good. 

And God's assessment is that there is no one who is good, not one, not one person in the estimation of God is good and has claimed to the mercy of God or, excuse me, has claimed to be free from the wrath of God based on goodness because there is no one who does good. And he says their throat is an open grave. Everything that comes out of them is death. Everything that comes out of man is death. His throat is an open grave. Their tongues, they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips. 

Think about that, how that asp, its teeth are kind of folded back and when he strikes those teeth come out and he injects venom, and that venom does an almost instantaneous work of death in some of the worst of them. It says that their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths. 

Think about what's going on in the world today, what's going on in Ukraine and what's going on in Israel, in Gaza right now. There is war, nothing but war; destruction and misery are in the paths of men. And if you think that that's not a part of your own life, think again because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And then he finishes that off with there is no fear of God before their eyes. 

Now he does, he's pretty interesting here; I like his style and his argument. Everything that he just quoted there comes from the Old Testament or the law, okay? Quoted from the book of Psalms most of it and also from the book of Isaiah. He has brought to the Jewish mindset God's own estimation of the Jewish people and with them, all of them. 

Now how many actually believe that if God had chosen somebody else that they would have done a better job? Anybody? Does anybody think that they would have done a better job with what God had given them than the children of Israel? No, they're just kind of a sampling of the wickedness of man. They took the smallest of, he took the smallest sample of man and showed that this is pervasive in all of mankind. 

But it's interesting in verses 19 and 20. He says this: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” 

So after just quoting the law and bringing all men under the same guilt and condemnation, he says what the whole purpose of the law was, and that was to shut everybody's mouth. That every mouth may be shut and every individual man, woman, and child ever born on the face of this earth are accountable to God. 

And then he says that because through the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. That is what God gave the law for. Did you know that? He gave us, that is what he gave us the law for. First of all, that no flesh will be justified in his sight. The law was never intended to bring us justification; it was only meant to bring us condemnation. It was meant to show us the glory of God. It was meant to show us the nature and the character of God, but it was meant to show us our failing and our falling short. 

That was the purpose of the law, not to justify us. So you could from this day forward, you could obey the law perfectly and you will still perish because you've sinned already. But it's already shown that we can't keep it. Galatians chapter 2, let's turn there for a minute. Galatians chapter 2, and it's replete throughout the scriptures, and we're not going to look at all of it this morning, but it's replete throughout the scriptures that there is no justification under the law. 

In chapter 2, verse 16, Paul addressing Peter when Peter came and walked in hypocrisy and pulled away from the Gentiles and walked in hypocrisy. And he says this in verse 16: “Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified.” 

I think we need to get this into our thinking and our understanding. The law cannot bring justification to our lives. It was never, that was never its intention. That was never its purpose. In fact, Paul says in another place, he said that if righteousness came through, justification came through the law, there would have been a law that was given that could impart life. But there is no law that was given that can impart life. We have to get that into our thinking and understand that, especially when we share the gospel with others. 

Because people need to understand that they have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. They need to know it, they need to understand it. And then in another spot in Galatians chapter 3, he says this in verse number, well we begin at verse number 22: “But the scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Amen. 

So he says here that the purpose of the law, like he says in Romans chapter 3, verse 20, he says that the law was supposed to be a schoolmaster, to lead us to Christ, to drive us to Christ, to show us our sin, to show us our need of a savior, to drive us to the feet of Jesus. And when we have come there, the law has fulfilled its purpose, praise God. That is the extent of the law. That's what the purpose of the law was. Amen. 

It was not for sanctification. I know that in evangelical churches throughout this country, throughout the world, it's taught that once you're saved, you have to keep the Ten Commandments. We understand that there's a higher law that we walk by. Amen. We walk by a higher law. He has written his law in our hearts. He has put it in our hearts to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. The law never gave us the ability to do what it said. All it did was said, “Do this or die.” But it didn't give us the ability to accomplish what it said to do. 

But the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ, now he has given us the ability to do two things: to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Those are the two commandments that we have now, and those commandments are not burdensome. The gospel gives us the ability, through regeneration, we now have the ability to love like we ought to love. Amen. 

But the purpose of the law was not to bring justification or sanctification, any of that. The whole purpose of the law was to drive us to the feet of Jesus. And so we need to understand that, because in 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul says—we're not going to go there, but Paul says that for the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing that the law is not for a righteous man. The law is not for a righteous man. 

What makes me righteous? Well, that's what the glory of the gospel is. God makes me righteous. He imputes his righteousness to me, and that's what we're going to look at for the rest of this time. The imputed righteousness of God, given to me freely as a gift of grace. That's what makes me a righteous man. And it says the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the unrighteous, for the ungodly, and then he gives a whole list. And so that is who the law is for, all right? 

So we need to use that law properly. I know we throw it at each other in the church a lot. You know, we see a brother or sister sin, and we're ready to bring the law down upon them. Not even giving the Holy Spirit a chance to work, sometimes. We need to let the Holy Spirit do his work, amen? Because he doesn't bring condemnation. The law brings condemnation. The law brings wrath. The kindness of God leads us to repentance. Praise God. Remember that always. It's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. 

So that brings us to our verses this morning, chapter 3, verse 21. But now, I love this. I love those words. They are like the most beautiful words in the entirety of Scripture. But now! After all of this, you know, two and a half chapters of doom and gloom and that deep look into the horrible wretchedness of man's heart, there is but now. 

But now. Something has changed. The righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and prophets. Now, I'm not a Greek expert. I should probably give this off to you. But the word here is "phanaros," I believe it is. Anyway, it means to make visible, to bring to light. And comes from a root. And correct me if I'm wrong. I know that Koine Greek isn't the same as Greek, but we have some Greek experts here. 

But phanaros comes from the root "phan," which means to shine. And so, set against the backdrop of this black, disgusting, vile nature of humanity shines brightly the glory of the righteousness of God. Much like you would display a diamond on a black velvet, you know, so that you can see how glorious that thing is. 

That's the righteousness of God set against the wretchedness of man. And this righteousness is manifested, made known, visible. And it says being witnessed by the law and the prophets. And isn't that what Jesus said? He said, “You search the scriptures” to the Pharisees. He said, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. But it is these that speak of me.” 

And then when he had the apostles gather together, the disciples, after his resurrection and before his ascension, it says that he took them through the scriptures, through the law, and the prophets, and the Psalms, and opened to them all the things concerning him. His death, his burial, his resurrection, all of that was that he made known. 

So this righteousness of God is witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. And he reiterates, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

And interestingly enough, that word “have sinned” is, I guess they call that a constative aorist. It means that it's something that's done, it happened in the past. They sinned. That's it. They sinned. But not only did they sin, but that's all they could do. That's all you and I could do before we came to Christ. We sinned. That's all we did. 

But interestingly enough, those following words, “and fall short of the glory of God,” is a present participle, which means that it's something that's ongoing. It's something that's happening now. We have sinned, and we are falling short of the glory of God. That's kind of what happens. So he says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

Now here's where it gets beautiful. Being justified. Now what does that word justified mean? It means to be made right. That's what righteousness is, to be made right. And so we have just spent two and a half chapters looking at how we are not right. We're not right in the heart, we're not right in the head, we're not right. But now we are made right, justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. 

And I like that. He made us right, as a gift. What do you do to get a gift? Nothing, it's a gift. You don't have to do something, it's not something you earn. It's something that somebody gives you out of the goodness of their own heart. I have to confess, I was watching a stupid sitcom last night, and it was kind of funny, or dealing with Christmas. 

And one person thought that was going to get a really nice gift for her dad, and it was a really expensive gift to the Bahamas or something like that. And he got wind of it, and so he wanted to buy, he thought that he had to get her something nice, so he went to get a really nice gift for her. And the whole thing kind of blows up, and she gets the really nice jacket, and they're all upset. Well, they don't understand a gift. A gift is not something that you earn. It's not something that you barter with. It's something that's given to us freely by the Lord Jesus Christ, by God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

He says, “being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” Now listen, this is where the righteousness of God begins to be revealed, all right? He says, “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed for a demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” 

So this is where the righteousness of God now begins to be unfolded, all right? God displayed publicly, publicly. He took Jesus and displayed him publicly as the satisfaction. That's what the word propitiation means: the satisfaction. He satisfied, the death of Jesus satisfied the wrath of God. We talked about the holiness of the Lord this morning a little bit, that God is holy. His holiness has been offended by our lives, right? Before we were in Christ, our lives were an offense to him, and a holy God cannot look upon sin, and so sin has to be dealt with. 

But for years it seemed as though God didn't care, didn't it? It seemed like man was just going about doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, to whoever he wanted, and nothing was happening. All of this gloom and doom and all of this wrath was not coming down upon his head. You know, in the garden he said, “Do not eat of the tree unless for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” And yet physically they didn't die right away. The process began, the process of death began, and within 900 years Adam and Eve were dead. But it would seem though that there was no, God just didn't seem to care. 

And how could he be a just God if he just let sin go on? If he just let all of this continue on? He couldn't be a just God. But he says that God displayed Jesus as a propitiation in his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed. 

So that means that from the time of Adam up until the time of Christ he passed over sin. He did not bring immediately his wrath upon man. And from the time of Christ onward, I mean, it's the entirety of man's sin has been satisfied in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the glorious good news because this is the righteousness that God imparts to you and me. Not my own righteousness. I don't have any of my own. 

But he imparts it. He takes his righteousness, and what is his righteousness? His righteousness is his son, his risen son. And he places him in us. You are in Christ Jesus. You who have given your lives to the Lord, you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in you by faith. Amen? The righteousness of God is imparted to you. It's inside of you now. And that's the glory of the righteousness of God. 

It says to demonstrate his righteousness because up to this point he wasn't apparently dealing with sin. But when he brought his son who lived the perfect sinless life on this earth, the only one, the only man to ever live a sinless life was put to the tree. You say, “Oh, well, the Jews did that” or “the Romans did that.” No, my sin did that. My sin put him on that cross. Your sin put him on that cross. And it's my sin that held him there until it was accomplished. We just sang it this morning. It was my sin that put him there until it was accomplished. And it has been accomplished, beloved. 

God took at that point in time, he took all of the sins from Adam all the way to the end of time. He took the entirety of man's sin and dumped it on the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. So that all of our sin now, all of our sin has been propitiated, satisfied in the eyes of God. God did this to his son. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would have eternal life. Amen. That's the gift of God. It's not something that we've earned. It's not something that we can earn at all. 

This is God's forbearance. When I think of God's forbearance, I think of like the mighty Hoover Dam that holds back all of that water. And if that thing let loose, oh, the destruction that would happen. And what did God save us from? People say, “Well, God saved me from my sin.” Well, that's not really true. I mean, it's true, but it's not really true. It isn't my sin that he saved me from. It isn't hell that he saved me from, although that's a part of it. 

What Jesus did was he saved me from the wrath of God. He saved me from his own wrath. He loved us enough that he sent his only begotten son to save us from the wrath of God which we had built up and allowed such a buildup that if that torrent ever burst, we would be swept away, you and I and every other man, woman, and child on the face of the earth. 

And so up to that point, God, in his forbearance, held back his wrath until it was accomplished on the cross. He poured the entirety of it on the Lord Jesus, all of it, all of it, all of it. Glory to God. The righteousness of God is so much more beautiful than my own filthy righteousness. That's what the scripture says about my righteousness. It says filthy rags. It's like a menstruous cloth. Nobody wants to touch it. Nobody wants it. God doesn't want it. 

You know, you don't bring anything to the table when you come to salvation. You don't. All you have is your sinful being, his robes for mine. He took my filthy garments. The Father clothed Jesus with my filthy garments and he gave me the good, beautiful, clean garments of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now I live by the faith of the Son of God. Now I live in newness of life because of what Jesus has accomplished. 

So for the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, because God dealt with sin and he dealt with it so thoroughly, he is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. Beloved, these are probably the most important words that you will read in the entire Bible right here because it sums up all of God's purpose and plans for our lives. Amen? 

Oh, we ought to be thankful. We ought to rejoice always before the Lord. Do I still sin? Yeah, it happens. It happens. But God has paid the price. Our God has paid the price. And it's not something that I can accomplish. Oh, put the law away. Be done with it. Quit judging yourself by the law. Quit hanging yourself and condemning yourself. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen? 

You don't have to live under that anymore. God has set you free. And the law now that we follow is that law of the life of Christ Jesus in us. I like how John puts it, just live out who you are. That is what you were. That's not what you are. Amen? Just walk out who you are. Praise God. I think we'll stop there. 

Let's have a word of prayer as we get started. 

Father, we are grateful to you today for that incredible gift of your son, that from the foundation of the world of the scripture says that he was crucified from the foundation of the world, that Lord before even this world was created, Jesus' plan was to come and die on our behalf. Oh amazing love, amazing love, amazing grace. 

And so Lord we stand this morning as the recipients of it, and I pray, Father, that if there be any among us today here that still are trying to find peace with God through their own works and their own righteousness, that Lord you would convict them of their sin and show them their need for Jesus Christ. And I pray, Lord, that as we go throughout this week that we would meditate upon the goodness and the kindness of God that has led us to repentance. 

And we're so grateful, Father, that you have begun that work in us. We are confident that you will bring it to completion. We thank you for it now in Jesus' name. Amen.