Deep Theology: Romans 3:21-28 transcript

what we're getting into tonight and what we've been doing Sunday nights is deep theology things that possibly most Believers I might be wrong here but most Believers don't really know these things very very well they know hints of them it's the kind of thing where if you ask them to explain it they can't but if you explain it they go yeah yeah that so what we're doing is we're doing deep theology deep into the essentials so instead of knowing sort of a wide variety of things very in a very shallow sense we're grabbing a piece of essential Christian theology we're going deep into it to understand it really well and when you have the deep understanding you're totally protected from error because you want you know the what and the why so here we are Romans 3 this is this is giving us this deep understanding there is the kindergarten level of understanding and Christians start there you know I just know Jesus loves me and you never you never leave that place but you do go deeper you do go into much greater detail and understanding and that's where we're at so for the mature Believers and the maturing Believers we're in Romans chapter 3 verse 21. it says but now the righteous I'm going to read by the way I'll read all the way through verse 26 just to give us an overview of the passage and you'll see how deep this is every phrase every word matters but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus that is a mouthful and that is a lot of information and the interesting thing is is this is the condensed version of things what we want to do is go through and kind of understand each phrase talk about it phrase by phrase because there's so much thoughtful awesome truth in these passages so we're going to patiently plod through we're going to start in verse 21 we're going to take concept by concept and just unpack them and understand them so we can get this book I'm amazed at how many people will do in their daily reading will read the Bible but not actually understand what it is they're reading now that's fine your first time through the Bible but that's not fine when you're 20 years a Christian when you're 30 years a Believer and you still read it and you're like yeah I don't know I need to do what that's talking about and so that's why you know I think God appointed teachers in the church so that we might really get these things and grasp them although in reality if you carefully just study these things and read it in context and think about each phrase you'll probably get as much out of it as what I'm about to give you so verse 21 it says now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed what does this mean well it means that we're learning how to attain God's righteousness not not just we're seeing God's righteousness but we're attaining God's righteousness you can do it one of two ways I could do it through the law by being obedient being perfectly righteous I attain to God's righteousness to God's glory but we learned in the previous passage that all fall short of the glory of God so we we fail in that but the the righteousness here is talking about being righteous not through my works but through the gospel so I'm righteous apart from the law without obedience to the Old Testament law without working my way to heaven I gain God's righteousness there's a fancy word for this imputation imputation is not how you the process of becoming an imp rather it's it's something you've been bestowed upon you God gives you his righteousness Isaiah talks about as being clothed in righteousness that it's a sort of a gift God's clothing you in righteousness just like Christ took our sins upon himself he puts his righteousness upon us so it's God's righteousness through imputation Romans 1 verses 16 and 17 is connected to this idea it says for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to Salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek for in it notice the phrase the righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith as as it is written the just shall live by faith so he in his capsule statement that we've been talking about over and over we keep going back to Romans 1 verses 16 and 17. that there's a righteousness from God and it's given to us by faith and that's what Paul is now arguing for so before he tells you how you can be righteous by faith he tells you how you cannot be righteous through your own good works Romans 1 2 and 3. and then now he's beginning to move the subject on how you can be righteous righteous apart from the law righteous by faith then in verse 21 if we continue so he says the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets now this is an interesting concept witnessed by the law and the prophets so if you have ever seen I've seen car accidents I've seen a couple and I've actually stop and be a witness unlike some Knuckleheads who just I'm busy and they keep going you're like well it wasn't my fault but there's no Witnesses but anyway I've been actually been the witness who stays there and that means you observed I didn't do anything I just observed it and now I can confirm what happened because I'm a witness so how does that relate to the righteousness of God being witnessed by the law and the prophets is talking here about prophecy hear about fulfillment it's talking here about the Old Testament the law and the prophets telling us that this gospel that Paul is preaching is true now you may have heard this phrase uh what is in the Old Testament concealed is in the New Testament revealed and that's true ish because I don't want to say that it's in the Old Testament totally concealed like we're clueless about it until you arrive at the New Testament that's not the case there is a lot that's revealed in the Old Testament and so maybe a more accurate non-rhming way to put it would be what is in the Old Testament predicted is in the New Testament fulfilled I mean that's that would be probably the non-rhyming non-cutsey way of putting it um many things are perfectly clear in the Old Testament and the Old Testament stands and Witnesses and says yep Jesus this is the Messiah yep gospel this is the right message in John 5 46 Jesus confirmed this he said if you believed Moses you would believe me for he wrote about me he just claims like almost like it's plain like he wrote about me of course he wrote about me in Hebrews 10 7 prophesying about Christ applying this to Jesus it says behold I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will oh God in the volume of the book in the volume of the scriptures the Old Testament it's written of Jesus even in the Old Testament laws and morality we see a picture of Jesus who is the only one who ever fulfilled them the only one who ever walked in obedience to those things that were predicted in Matthew 5 17 Jesus said this do not think that I came to destroy the law of the prophets I did not come to destroy but to fulfill so he's coming and he's going to fulfill he's going to accomplish the things that are written in the law and the prophets now Jesus isn't the only one who made these claims even ancient Jews knew about this stuff sometimes we we as Christians we're maybe a little bit um we're not Jewish enough you know and we don't realize that these things are not new in the Babylonian talmud which is an extremely authoritative Source uh it's it says um that all the prophets prophesied all the good things only in respect of the Messianic era all the prophets prophesied only in respect of the Messianic era again in the talmud it says None of the prophets prophesied except of the days of the Messiah so there was and these are these are non-messy they're Messianic in a sense of expectation but they don't think that Jesus was the Messiah but they recognize that the Old Testament the overall flow in teaching of the Old Testament is all about Messiah and here Jesus shows up and goes yeah it's all about Moi it's all about me I'm the one fulfilling it I'm the one doing it so the the law and Prophets are witnessing of Christ their their ministering to us about him so I'm going to give you a list of a few of the ways that the law and the prophets witnessed the truth of the Gospel of the grace of God through Jesus Christ so one of the ways is in how the Old Testament Saints gets saved Paul's going to unpack this more in chapter 4 of Romans we're going to deal in detail with this but when you look at the Old Testament Saints and you see some of the some of the chief examples of of faithful Jews like Abraham and David and they're saved by faith by grace you know Noah found favor Grace in the eyes of the Lord all these Chief examples and they found Grace it's all saved by faith and Grace then we see an example of them witnessing that this self-attaining righteousness isn't the way rather it'll be God's grace another way is there's the righteous requirement of the law when you read The Ten Commandments and you realize like man nobody does that you know like this is like we all know what's right but we don't do it and then God reveals the Ten Commandments well Christ Alone walked in obedience think about it this way the Old Testament stands there for generations and generations and generations saying do do do do but there isn't a doer until Jesus shows up he comes and he fulfills it he does he actually does it so that he can stand in our place as the perfect righteous one another way the Old Testament Witnesses of Christ stands in witness of him is in direct Prophecies of Christ now I actually have uh on YouTube 10 weeks of prophecies actually have like three or four videos just on Prophecies of Jesus in the evidence for the Bible series so you're welcome to go look at those in detail um but there's tons of direct Prophecies of Christ and the the Jews of Jesus time knew this they knew that there was messiah prophesied in the Old Testament they found even in the qumran uh caves they found uh I think it's called 4q testimonia if I remember correctly and this is actually a document that has a collection of Messianic passages in the Old Testament that they knew were all about the Messiah some of which we would also agree as Christians go yep see that was fulfilled in Jesus this is this is like Messianic passages fulfilled in Christ so we have Genesis 3 talking about the initial statement about this this coming one who would crush the serpent this descendant of Eve that would crush the serpent to his head Psalm 22 d detailing the the crucifixion of Christ what crucifixion was before it was invented and the details of how he would die and rise and then his name would be proclaimed to the whole world so there'll be a whole world knowing this one messiah's name Jesus alone being the one to fulfill that Isaiah 53 where it sounds so much like Jesus that people upon hearing it think it's from the New Testament so and uh and yet we have verification that this was written before Christ through the same qumran caves we have Genesis um 22 and that picture prophecy of of Abraham being told to offer Isaac and then turn and then saying that this is a prophecy in this mount in the Mount of the Lord it'll be provided and it was a symbol of Christ we have Daniel 9 giving us the timeline of Christ coming before the destruction of the second temple you've got uh psalm 16 10 about the resurrection Micah 5 2 telling us where the Messiah is going to be born in Bethlehem Malachi 3 1 talking about him having a forerunner and how the Messiah when he comes it'll be Yahweh who's coming and we were talking about a trinitarian uh verse and Zechariah 9 9 Zechariah 11 verses 12 and 13 Isaiah 7 14 9 6 proverbs 30 verse 4 Psalm 118 Genesis 49 10 Psalm 2 I could go on and on and on and on because the Old Testament is a pact with direct Prophecies of Christ of this Messiah but there's more the Old Testament also has pictures of Messiah so not only do we see him in the example of how the Old Testament Saints got saved not by law but by grace in the righteous requirement of the law that says do and Jesus is the only doer in the direct Prophecies of Christ but we also see the witnessing in pictures of Jesus like Jonah as as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish so the son and man will be three days and nights in the heart of the earth we see it in the bronze serpent we see it in the rock that Moses struck twice these are stories that don't even make a whole lot of sense until they're applied to Christ you're like what is this about and then Jesus says what does the bronze servant was lifted up by Moses so the son of man must be lifted up you know and all who what just look to the serpent Look to Him well why a serpent because he's taking on the curse of our sin he became sin for us on the cross wow we see it in the pictures of people uh Adam and how Adam and Eve and how she's taken from his side in Christ he's around the cross he's pierced and the church comes out of this we're born because of his death you know and he's put to his sleep and it's all just symbolic of Jesus Christ in jephthah I love jephthah I don't know why people don't talk about Jeff though more often you're like who's Jeff well in the Book of Judges you read about this guy jephthah who he's he's considered to be a son of a harlot so his family and and the people of his town they chase him away You're the son of a harlot you'll have no inheritance with us and they reject him but then later oh it says then worthless men come together and they band together with him that's us by the way worthless people gather together with jephthah and then the people are are suffering they're having a hardship and they go to Jeff they're like Jeff to please come Deliver Us and he asks them this question if I come and deliver you will I really be your lord will I really be your king and Jesus asked the same thing he's like I'll deliver you but you need to receive me as your king and so they say yes you will and he comes and he delivers them and they accuse Jesus of being the son of a harlot they didn't think that virgin birth was real they chased him out they rejected him and the Gentile World gathered together with Christ just like the worthless men gathered with jephthah and there was a day coming praise God when the Jews in large numbers not just the numbers we have now but much larger numbers will turn and say Yes be our King be our King and they'll be great Deliverance for Israel at the time so jephthah I love that I love that story David is a picture of messiah in so many ways Boaz and Ruth the temple itself is a picture of the Messiah of Jesus in so many ways you've got uh the sacrifices even the sacrifices in Leviticus you go through them and you patiently look at them and thoughtfully consider them and you're like man these are these picture Jesus in different ways and you've got the Illusions like little little little just little spots and Casual mentions of Christ and of pictures of Jesus in these little ways so what is this what is this saying it's saying Paul is saying guys Jesus it didn't just show up out of nowhere and say hey believe me I'm a prophet of God like Joseph Smith did or like Muhammad did or like the other people who claim they are Jesus nowadays there's always somebody you know um no no no none of that Jesus came and stands with a million arrows from the Old Testament all pointing at him saying he's the one he is the one this proves the Old Testament this proves the New Testament this proves Jesus this proves your salvation is legit and Paul's point is even bigger than that his point in Romans is not only that the law and the prophet stand a witness about Jesus but his point as he shares the gospel is that the law and the prophets stand and witness not only Messiah but about how we get saved by Messiah about the gospel of grace that's witnessed in the Old Testament so not only is Jesus predicted but the gospel of salvation by faith through Grace that is also in the Old Testament it is not a new New Testament thing it is simply fulfilled in the new it is prophesied or predicted in the old um that's why in verse 22 it says being witnessed by the law and the prophets then in verse 22 it says even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference so that we've got um the righteousness of God being given to us that was revealed in the Old Testament when Paul and the other Apostles when they went around in the New Testament times preaching they didn't have the New Testament I mean they were since preaching the New Testament but they were doing it all based on the Old Testament and throughout the new we see it founded and grounded on and in the Old Testament so we'll continue through this um Paul is going to unpack this more in chapter four that all who believe all who believe can be saved through grace through faith not just Jew but Gentile as well and now if I can say this and this might seem a little out of sorts for our Bible study but Muslims too all who believe can be saved it's just been on my heart recently I just want to mention this that there's a lot of people out there who think um that Muslims are somehow not going to be saved can't be saved won't be saved not only is that not true because we're seeing it happen all over the world but it's unchristian to even think such a thing name the people who you think can't be saved and that's where you're not Christian right there that's the spot there is a jonah-like attitude that some people have towards Muslims how Jonah felt towards Nineveh is how they feel towards Muslims and Christ would say oh yeah love your enemy you were my enemy and I loved you love your enemy so it just breaks my heart to hear to hear that and that's why we're doing Outreach and going to be trying to have an even greater impact in the Islamic communities around us because Jesus loves them and wants them to be saved there's we keep reading in verse 22 he ends the verse and it's probably a bad verse break a bad place to break the verses I mean these these verse numbers were added many years later I like them they're convenient but they're not like divinely inspired they were just added to make it convenient for us to talk about where we're at in the passage but here we are at the end of 22 it says for there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God it's interesting because Paul his his philosophical argument for for this the reason why even the worst person you can imagine the reason why that person can get saved Paul says isn't because they're not as bad as you think it's because you're just as bad as them that's the reason so instead of elevating Humanity as hey we're not that bad he's like yeah you're all horribly terrible and if anybody any of you can get saved then any of you can get saved you know it's that's really his point it's the opposite of I'm a good person and the whole idea of I'm a good person completely falls apart when I realize that to truly qualify as a good person I have to live up to the glory of God all fall short of the what the glory of God it says in verse 23.

I didn't fall short of being a decent human I'm a decent human It's just sad that decent humans aren't really as decent as we'd like to pretend it's God's glory that I get measured by when I stand before him in heaven it's his glory not my personal opinions about what's right and wrong I'll Stand before God and be judged according to his standards not mine you don't get to self-grade when it comes to Eternity there are teachers that experiment with self-grading they don't really do self-grading because it doesn't work because kids especially the worst the kid is the more likely they are to just give themselves an a they don't deserve so what they do is they say you grade his paper you grade his paper you create his paper and then and then maybe they'll even say grade your own paper but afterwards they'll look at it and and this is this is the the rubric they use the I think that's what it's called rubric that they use for how they self-grade they'll say yeah grade yourself and if your grade matches the grade that I give you then I'll give you extra points which is really not the same as grading yourself is it I'm just guessing what grade they'll give me but really we grade ourselves much better than we are and you find any group of people and they're not so bad just ask them I just ask him I'm not so bad it doesn't matter how bad they are they're not so bad I'm not so bad you know but I always treat my mom good I always treat my mom good yeah but I only stole from people who could afford it [Laughter] okay all right you're you're a great you're a really good person yeah but I'm loyal to my friends I'm loyal to my friends just don't cross me just don't cross me okay all right go for it but the problem is I get judged by God's glory and I know I fall short of God's glory that's why there's a sense of fear upon the idea of standing before him in his presence so this is why anyone can get saved it's because you're all dirt bags yeah and if that dirt bag can get saved then anybody can get saved this is one of the reasons why God chose Paul it was not because Paul was a great guy it was because Paul was a horrible guy he was a terrible example of a human being he went around persecuting the church murdering Christians trying to destroy Christianity God picked him so we would all know for all time that anybody can receive Christ and get saved anybody anybody praise God because we're all losers verse 24. amen there's the humility of Christianity right there and it's a beautiful thing being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus so we all fall short and therefore we're Justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus we fall short in Works we're brought back in Grace we fall short in what we deserve so we're given what we don't deserve freely we're Justified this phrase Justified as a fancy fancy term it's very neat but it basically means I'm made right I'm declared righteous or I like the old worship song that says Justified just as if I'd never done anything wrong and that's an interesting way to put it I like that um I made right I'm declared righteous that's what justification is it's I take your sin away and then I I make you just I've made you just but I haven't been just like righteous I haven't been that but I've made you that because of Christ that oh wow I meet I literally meet the qualification of God's glory through Jesus the law stands in Witnesses this is what you need Jesus says I will provide what you need and I will give it to you as a free gift this this is a couple things it's justification so Step One is it takes my sins away and step two is he gives me his righteousness I don't know that it really happens in two steps but it's two different concepts to think about gives me his righteousness he sees his own righteousness in me so I can by all rights enter Heaven holy by the grace of God I'm actually righteous in his eyes this is the opposite of condemnation this is why I can be confident before the Lord because I have not performed up to the task of entering his presence he has performed and gifted it to me and this is why my my biggest Chief thing in heaven is going to be worship because I am just grateful for the grace of God we have a worship song that we sing that says we lift up or we lift our holy hands up and I think this is a really interesting song if you understand theology and it can be a really stumbling song If you don't because you're thinking we lift our holy hands up and you're like am I holy enough to lift my hands as I sing this song and the answer of course is no you're not you're not holy you can't live hold it by holy hands up you know I want to praise you I can't do that but if I realize the Holiness that I possess is the Holiness of Christ gifted to me what I'm saying is Lord You've washed me you've made me clean you've Justified me I by Grace lift up holy hands to praise you and man that's powerful that is powerful I'm forgiven I'm Grace I'm Justified I'm made righteous in the eyes of God and I'm I'm blown away by this because I fail and fall short every single day there's never been a day where I earned if you let me in heaven and just said here we're going to let you in heaven for free Mike but you just you're gonna stay here based on your behavior I would last three seconds maybe maybe it's like I can't get clean and I can't keep myself clean I'm Justified I'm made righteous it is Grace and oh thank you God and I like every word so important being justified it says in verse 24 freely freely it says we all know this word I don't have to explain the word freely to you it means without cost without cost I don't have to throw coins into the coffers of the church I don't have to crawl on my knees to some special holy shrine it is free I get my justification and I do nothing for it nothing in the category of works I just believe freely it says by his grace though you don't deserve it you have no qualifications you're disqualified that's what this word Grace means it's getting what you don't deserve I like the acronym God's riches at Christ's expense I think it's a beautiful way to put it but this word Grace implies something a little bit more than just getting something by Grace because Grace involves people right like when a tree bears fruit and you just walk up and take it you wouldn't really call that getting it by Grace Grace is a personal term people give people Grace persons give persons Grace when God has Grace on us it not only involves giving you a free gift it involves him loving you so we're Justified freely by his grace not only his free his free gift but his free love his love upon us so it implies love and then as you keep reading it says being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus that Redemption probably the most consistent uh way to picture this word Redemption is the idea of a Slave who is purchased and then set free somebody pays the cost for the slave and then says I bought you and now you're free I I I give you your freedom that's the idea it's Redemption it's being I'm I'm bought back I'm bought back and that's what God has done for me I sold myself under sin when I chose to sin and Christ came and he bought me back he paid the price for what for what I had done he set me free so being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus see it's free but it is only in Jesus he is the only way he's that Messiah all the arrows point to him he is he's the one this is exclusive because he's the only one who's ever bought you back he's the only one who's ever made the way as he said I'm the way the truth and the life some people complain about this they don't like the Christianity is exclusive why is there only one way these are the types of questions that that remind me of children you know well why do I have to brush my teeth it's like you know it's just you're like it's a it's a it's a it's a childish question why is there only one way like well if there was another way Jesus wouldn't have come if you could get there on your own he never would have come is the the scripture says if if uh if righteousness could come by the law then Christ died in vain what we should be out here preaching is hey do better and you'll make it but instead Christ came and he died for us by All rights I'm condemned and to complain that there's a way is really silly it's really silly when it comes down to it it's like complaining for someone who has a terminal illness and the doctor says here you go I've got the Cure you have to take this pill and you go doctor is there another way and he goes no no you just take this pill what do you mean it's free I'll give it to you for free all you do is take the pill you're fine but really shouldn't there be another way are you an idiot are you are you suicidal are you crazy there's a way you should be happy um acts 4 12 it drills this into US Peter says nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved Jesus said he was the only way scripture forces us to see that we're the only that he's the only way the apostles said that he's the only way the teaching here is that in Romans is that the Redemption it comes in Christ we all fall short it just comes in Christ he's the only way um so let's let's keep reading verse 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood that's a word every time I mean even as a pastor as a teacher I look up propitiation again and again because it's one of those words where I'm like what was the thing what was that meaning because it's just a word you never use in casual conversation you're like so the other day I was filling up my gas and uh some propitiation happened it was like you just don't consider these types of things the idea of propitiation and there's theological debates on this term but my understanding of it is that it's the idea is paying a ransom to appease God paying a ransom a price a sacrifice to appease God now this bothers some people that's why there's a debate about it they're like we don't really like the idea that you're saying God's angry God's angry and he's going to judge people and then Jesus sort of like gets in between me and the Angry God so God's mad at me so God and this is the way the atheists tend to put it the strongest thing atheism ever does is restate Christianity and means sarcastic cruel terms um rather than dealing with what we really believe they restate it in mean terms so they say something like God is so mad at me that God sends himself to kill himself to die for us to please himself to appease himself because he was mad at us and they're like haha see your religion's stupid and I'm like no your your rendition of my religion is stupid but that's really not how we would put it that's not quite what we believe it's not exactly accurate is it but there is a fact that God is angry I know there's many people teaching other God's not mad at you I my view of this is well he is mad at you but he also loves you that it's a little bit more complicated than that if you've had children you can understand the idea that God might be angry with us yet still love us and still want us to be saved and want us to be redeemed but oh yeah he's upset and he's a holy and righteous God he's not acting in Anger the way humans do like I'm just mad for no reason or you bothered me he's upset for True good honest right reasons there is wrath and this is really what Romans has driven in it showed the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness Christ is the only way out of this because he is our propitiation God's Wrath is against sin and Justice the fact that he's a good judge demands that he'll judge us it demands that there is payment for the sin it would actually be unrighteous if God were to Simply ignore sin I met one time a lady who told me that she had a vision from God where God said there is no judgment there's only love I was like God did not say that and so she went out and she was doing what she thought of his missionary work and she was out telling native peoples that not that they needed Jesus but they don't need anything God loves you you're fine you're absolutely fine and this is doing the work of the false prophet the false prophet doesn't come out there and beat on your door and tell you what a horrible person you are they come on knocking her they go hey I just want you to know you're doing fine don't change nothing you know that's the false prophets always pleasing people appeasing people saying nice things to people that's now you can say nice things to people and be legitimate but at some points you gotta confront sin and realize that Jesus is the only way it would be unrighteous if God ignored sin so for us to ignore the wrath of God would be wrong it ignores everything that Paul wrote so far propitiation really is this idea of God's Wrath against sin but he loves us so much that though he must demonstrate his righteousness he must do the judge the right judge thing he lets that fall upon Christ instead of on us and he stands as the as the propitiation for us it's a beautiful beautiful thing so whom God set forth his propitiation by his blood and that so it was that it was his death by his blood now to a Jew this makes total sense right blood sacrifice you know like sprinkling and all that it's all sort of ingrained you've been trained to understand the sacrifice of Christ by the Old Testament sacrifices it just clicks because all those arrows are pointing to Jesus and then it says this through faith again we're getting this idea that it's through faith just in case you forgot it's by faith it's by Grace you just believe you just trust you just put your hope and trust in Christ and then reading on there's a very interesting phrase it says to demonstrate his righteousness to demonstrate his righteousness that the propitiation that Jesus was was a demonstration of God's righteousness God's Wrath poured out on Christ was to show that he really is righteous and he's serious about Sin that demonstrated his righteousness in a sense the flood demonstrated God's righteousness Sodom and Gomorrah demonstrated God's righteousness and Christ's death demonstrated God's righteousness it showed that he really is righteous it says because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus so um in the earlier part we see God's righteousness revealed as accessible through Christ but now we're seeing God's righteousness demonstrated or shown to us that's what righteousness looks like it looks like me also judging sin and there we go we see Christ demonstrating righteousness from one end being the perfect righteous one God demonstrating his righteous the father by judging by by pouring out wrath on our sin unto Christ so as we read on we'll read this again it says because in his forbearance that that would be God's long-suffering or his his patience God has passed had passed over the sins that were previously committed or to put it this way his passing over of those sins that was a delay that kept his righteousness from being revealed because what if God judged you the second you sinned this would be bad for most of us it would be bad so God has patience he has patience he has patience some take his patience as him not really being righteous oh he won't judge at all he's not really righteous in that sense but he's passing over he's passing over he's before bearing and then on Christ he unloaded the Wrath that we might be forgiven in other words every sin a man commits that he is not yet judged for that issues unresolved and like you said earlier in Romans they're storing up Wrath now that wrath is poured out on Christ or the person will take it one or the other it creates all this tension this tension of sin and between man and God I've sinned and I ca I have to resolve this issue because God is a just judge he has to judge me and it will either be resolved through Jesus or through final judgment it's one of the other so that's the why that's why God demonstrated his righteousness so then here's the question is how did he demonstrate his righteousness um through Christ again both by Jesus being perfect and by Jesus experiencing God's judgment the the wrath of God being revealed through that so what was the end this is what I love into verse 26 this is such a powerful powerful phrase that he God might be the be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus let me read that again that he might be just righteous and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus How could a righteous God allow any sinner into heaven he can't be just letting me and and let me into heaven but through Christ he can be righteous he can judge sin and yet take the sinner cleanse them make them righteous and bring them into heaven it it fulfills the tension it deals with it in fact turn to Psalm 85 10. this is one of the most beautiful verses in the Psalms to me and I think it encapsulates the gospel how we were saved Psalm 85 10 this is how God is just and the justifier he remains righteous as well as making us righteous which would seem irreconcilable without Christ Psalm 85 10 it says mercy and Truth have met together righteousness and peace have kissed I think that's the cross I think that mercy and Truth and righteousness and peace we see all these sort of things that seem like you couldn't coexist how could God be righteous and merciful how could God be truthful about my sin and yet give me peace Jesus that's the answer Christ he's a propitiation he's the way he's he's how I get saved so I just love that mercy and truth of met together righteousness and peace have kissed it's in Christ so what I want to do now is this we just went we plotted through phrase by phrase thought by thought hopefully this passage Romans 3 21-26 it makes a lot more sense now I want to read it again and I want you to read it again having all that sort of packed into your brains because I know that you soak up every word and you store it all and it never goes away so Romans 3 21 it says but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus to demonstrate at the present excuse me read verse 27 we're going to keep reading on where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of Works no but by the law of faith so Paul then he's going to say let's apply this all these beautiful truths here's the point you have nothing to boast about dreadfully Lost Sinner Saved By The Grace Of Christ through only Jesus all you did was believe so can you boast no you cannot boast now this is the application he brings in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians chapter 2 it says this for by Grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God not of Works lest anyone should boast I have nothing to boast of this is this is the humility of a Christian it should be right I have there's nothing I boast about I boast in Christ I boast in God I boast in him alone all of my all of my bragging is all about Jesus and what he did for me ask me about me and I'll just tell you how I'm a loser and he saved me and you might laugh but I'm like oh I not only do I mean it but I mean it a lot more than you probably think I do because I know me and I know this heart and I know my sins and I know my failures and I am just grateful that I fall broken like like with the bronze serpent bit with the poison of sin of my own failings I'm dying on the ground and I just look to Christ on the cross and I am saved and he gets all the credit and all the glory I only boast in God now think about how this applies you have nothing to offer you have nothing to boast of so that means if you have Jesus you have nothing to fear if you were a completely lost sinner who was saved completely by the grace of God doing nothing to earn your salvation but just turning yourself to Christ in faith then what do you have to fear now as a Christian Hebrews 11 25 it says this about Jesus therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him are you going to come to God through Christ then God is able to save you Christ is to the uttermost are you barely saved or are you saved to the uttermost are you barely good enough to get to heaven or are you completely not at all and you're given righteousness from Christ when you understand the deeper teachings of the theology that we're getting into here in Romans you are given boldness not in you not boasting in you but boasting in Christ he's my savior man he paid for me I am forgiven in Christ as a young believer I struggled with failure and then feeling like am I even still saved am I really okay can I walk with God still because I lacked theology I lacked an understanding of the word of God and the more I study the word of God the more my heart became secure in Christ and it did not encourage me to go sin more I sinned less the more understood the word of God also the more I walk in in goodness and in things God calls me to but it gave me courage and it gave me strength now some people you get saved and you're like I never for one second doubted it but that's not true for all of us and there are times where especially for those of us who maybe don't fully understand the gospel and how we get saved we believe it but we don't fully grasp it all you know we're still young and weak in the faith or we struggle and I go man I don't know I I don't know I feel like I feel like I I feel like I can't go to him I feel like I can't be confident in him and for you I'd say what you need to do is just study the Bible just study the Bible man just read into it and really take for take it Face Value the things that we read in the scripture we conclude it says in verse 28 therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the from the Deeds of the law but as a Christian sometimes you can think oh I got saved by faith but I'm trying to then do Works after that to sort of maintain or keep myself going in God this is not the purpose of works to a Christian every deed and work you do is meant to be an act of love and gratitude to God you're not earning anything and if you did earn it what would you do you would boast you would boast but because you know you don't earn it because you know it's God's grace poured out then you know that you can just be washed and clean and stand before God and say God I I offer nothing I know what I deserve and it's not good but by the grace of Christ I'm forgiven I hope that we see this when we let Romans 1-3 push us into the corner of saying I am a Lost Sinner who totally falls short of God's glory then we let it bring us out of the corner into the righteousness of Christ that comes through imputation right through his propitiation through justification upon us where it's like I am washed and clean and given God's righteousness I'm not just giving a clean slate and I have to keep it clean no I am given God's righteousness then I am now reaching the glory of God because it's his glory he put upon me and that's it it's always always Grace it starts with Grace ends with Grace stays on Grace let's pray father God we love you for the grace that you have offered us the justification we've received through Jesus Christ who is our propitiation who who sacrificially gave and died because you could then be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus well we put our faith and trust in Christ we offer nothing nothing of ourselves we believe in Jesus and that's it and that is our our sole salvation and we boast in only you so may we also Lord have confidence in our savior that we could lift up holy hands holy with your Holiness not our own imputed Lord given to us freely from you God we love you we are so grateful that you save wretched Sinners remind us of our state of wretchedness so we can stay humble so we can then live out love to God our savior in Jesus name amen [Music] foreign [Music]