Romans 3:21-26 "The Manifestation of God's Righteousness"

Introduction

God is in the business of glorifying Himself in the fulfillment of His plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. All three of the persons of the Godhead are involved in carrying this out resulting in the end to the glorification of God. This is God’s ultimate purpose in the world.

Sadly I didn’t always believe this. At one time I believed that God’s ultimate purpose was to save lost people and bring them to Himself. I have since realized that this is only a by-product of His ultimate purpose. Needless to say that I was very humanistic in my belief system.

The glorification of God in His plan of redemption through Jesus Christ is what fuels the believer’s passion for gospel proclamation.

This is because the gospel is revealing aspects of His glory that are paramount in all of creation, human existence and it even extrapolating into eternity.

We think of the gospel being the means by which man is saved and that is true but that is only where the gospel intersects with our humanity in our relationship to God.

And that is glorious indeed but there is more. God’s righteousness is actually being revealed without compromise to His Holy Character. We see this disclosed in our text today look at verse 21-22a:

I. The Disclosure (21-22a).

The Righteousness of God is manifest apart from the Law.

This has been done in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ upheld the Law of God at every point.

He lived in fulfillment to the Law on our behalf and He died as the Lamb of God laying Himself down as a sacrifice for sinners.

The Righteousness of God was bore witness to in the OT.

Both the Law and the Prophets testified to the righteousness of God.

The Law is a reflection of the Holy nature and character of God. The whole of the Mosaic Law code testified to the moral character of God.

When you read the law code in the first five books of the Bible you are reading something that is not just a list of rules but something that reflects the divine character of God.

When you read the Prophets the primary thing at stake is the rejection of God’s Law being a rejection of God Himself. The Prophets are trying to get people to wake up to the righteousness of God.

They do it in two ways, first by calling the people out on their violation of God’s Law and calling them to repentance.

Then second by proclaiming the prophecies of Christ and the New Covenant reality to come.

And today there are some who like to argue that only the Jewish people are bound under the Law. But this is simply not what the Scriptures teach. Look at the distinction in the second half of verse 22 through the first half of verse 25:

II. The Distinction (22b-25a).

The distinction doesn’t exist. Both Jew and Gentile are condemned under the same Law. Regardless of whether it is written in the Scriptures, or written upon the heart guiding the conscience, all have violated the Law.

That is what sin is it is violating God’s Law and it is an offense against His holy character. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (23).

It violates the holy character of God and in doing so defiantly detracts from our ultimate purpose of glorifying Him.

But God has also put forth the one means by which both Jew and Gentile are to be justified as a free gift. Meaning that one can’t earn it or perform works of the Law to obligate God act on their behalf.

Christ is the means of “propitiation by His blood”. Propitiation in this context is denoting God’s act of initiating payment for sin the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

This payment made is the basis of the atonement that has removed our shame and our guilt and sets believers in Christ as justified before God.

In the OT the place of Propitiation was the mercy seat of God on the Ark of the Covenant. On the Day of Atonement the High Priest would back in to the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood on that Ark. The blood of an animal made the yearly payment.

All of those blood sacrifices in the OT were signs pointing to the critical nature of the righteousness of God in the Law and also in the Christ to come. Look at the second half of verse 25-26:

III. The Display (25b-26).

The Showcase of God’s righteousness.

During the Old Testament times the people made animal sacrifices but Hebrews 10:4 tells us that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin.

All they could do was to ceremonially cover the sins of the people and then it would have to be repeated year after year.

All these animal sacrifices were pointing forward to the final payment that would be made by Christ on the Cross.

It was kind of like how we may use a credit card. We buy things on credit based on your promise to pay.

God saved the Old Testament saints by faith on credit based on His covenant promise to pay for the sins of His people in full on the Cross.

That is what Paul means when he says “His divine forbearance He passed over former sins.” God saved the OT saints on credit knowing a day was coming when the blood of Christ would make payment in full.

In God’s act of “divine forbearance” His righteousness was still on display pointing forward to Christ. But in the present day where we look back in history to what Christ has done; His righteousness is on display pointing us to something else.

The Righteousness of God is Showcasing the justice of God.

God is the just and the justifier. How so?

God is the just because He does not compromise the demands of the Law in His plan of redemption. If God compromised His Law that would not be just of God.

Christ upheld the Law for us perfectly and then paid for our offense as our substitute. His blood has paid our debt to sin forever before God without compromising His just character. This is something no human judge could ever do. Because human judges are fallen.

OK, so God is just but how is He the justifier? He is the justifier because He is the One who before the foundations of the world that laid down the plan and implemented if through Christ and is carrying it out by the Holy Spirit.

His plan is the basis by which He declares sinners like us righteous in Christ by grace through faith. That is how God is the justifier.

Now why in the world does the Apostle Paul want the Christians at Rome to know all this theological stuff? I mean does he not know that this theological stuff is nice to know but not really that practical?

The other Apostles as well have you noticed spend a lot of time writing about theological stuff.

I tell you why they did that. They were captivated by the glory and majesty of God and they knew He was everything. And they couldn’t imagine living the Christian life without God’s glory in Christ being the whole reason and purpose of their lives.

They knew that their Christianity may one day cost them everything, their possessions and even their lives.

Back when I had this humanistic spin on my Christianity all I thought about was the priority of me and what I wanted. My idea of God was that He wanted what I wanted for my life.

I loved living with the priority of me. But the theological truth of Scripture confronts the sovereignty of the self with the doctrinal truth of the sovereignty of God. How?

I was at an art museum in Indianapolis a few years ago with my artist friend. We walked through the various rooms with their paintings on the wall. And the small displays were plenty with a few paintings.

I was asking about their value as we went through and he would tell me and most of them were in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars.

At one point we crossed the hall and there was this whole section of the building dedicated to one artist. The paintings were incredible and many were huge in size. This artist was a real trailblazer for this particular type of art.

When I asked the price, my friend looked at my and said it is really hard to price these because most of them would be in the millions and most are not even for sale they are just to look at and enjoy.

Christian Paul is calling us to cross the hall and gaze at the glory of the Master. If we are humanistic in how we are living out the Christian life we are going to be content looking at our own human works instead of the work of God.

Romans all the way from chapter 1 has been trying to get us to see that all of Creation declares His glory and even the Law displays His glory whether it is written in Scripture or upon the hearts of man.

And in Romans 3 we are being led down the isle of redemption’s plan to behold the glory of the righteousness of God in Christ.

And there we are painted into His masterpiece in Christ displayed in all His glory. But how does this apply in our immediate lives Pastor Brett?

It is the grand purpose and meaning of our lives. We have been ransomed to God in Christ.

When you realize your life is all about Him and His glory you will start to see artwork of your life as a smaller display set in the grand hall of the showcase His glory.

Conclusion:

Christian God is the just and the justifier. You are His, bought and paid for. His property, to be His forever. He is your potion and your very great reward. He has redeemed you to have Him in the end.

And He has already given you the Holy Spirit as the down payment of what is to come.

Do you not want to know about Him?

What is it that preoccupies you and keeps you from theology? It is just the study of God, do you want to know Him and live for Him with passion and joy in your hearts.

Christian come away from this world and marvel at the glory of God. Confess and receive from Him.

Unbeliever nothing will satisfy you here. You need a savior to be reconciled to God. He is the Just and the justifier come to Him He will not turn you away. Let’s Pray!