Romans 3:21-26How To Get Right With God

WREFC 8/07/18

I read about a man who bought a new refrigerator. He put his old fridge on his front lawn with a sign that said, “Free to good home. You want it – you take it.” For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking at it.

He came to the conclusion that people thought there was something with it. They felt like a free functional fridge was too good to be true. So he took the old sign off and made a new one: “Fridge for sale – $50.” The next day someone stole it. (1)

Most of us are skeptical when something seems too good to be true, especially when we’re told that it’s free. That’s how many respond to the gift of eternal life. “Salvation is a free gift” they say. “There must be something wrong with a salvation that doesn’t cost me anything.”

Just because salvation doesn’t cost me anything doesn’t mean it has no value. Salvation has infinite value because it comes to us from the gracious hand of an infinite God. Salvation is free for you and me, but it was costly for God. The price that God paid for our salvation was the death of His Son—Jesus Christ.

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The question is “Why do we need salvation and what do we need to be saved from? The apostle Paul answered that two part question in the first three chapters of his God inspired letter to the Romans:

We need salvation because all have sinned. And what we need to be saved from is the

wrath of God against all sin.

We may have never stolen a refrigerator but we’ve sinned in other ways. Romans 3:10  summarizes our desperate state: “There is none righteous, no, not one.”

For the past 6 sermons, we’ve been hit by how sinful we really are. Here’s a concise summary of each one of those messages:

Guilty as charged (1:18-23) Guilty as charged (1:24-32) Guilty as charged (2:1-16) Guilty as charged (2:17-29) Guilty as charged (3:1-8) Guilty as charged (3:9-20)

All those sermons were saturated with the stench of human depravity. The next series of sermons are permeated with the sweet fragrance of God’s righteousness. Paul is finally taking us from guilt to

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grace, from misery to mercy, from condemnation to justification.

How many remember that anti-stomach acid commercial on TV that asked the question “How do you spell relief?” In this case, it’s not R-O-L-A-I-D-S; rather, it’s B-U-T-N-O-W!

The first two words of Rom.3:21 seem too good to be true—“But now…” We can all breathe a collective sigh of relief and embrace the refreshing, life giving words “But now”. Before trusting Christ as Savior I was fatally flawed and a slave to sin, but now I’m fully forgiven and set free from sin!

As the great hymn Amazing Grace puts it “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Kata commentator Leon Morris, this little phrase, “But now” introduces the most important single paragraph ever written. (2)

When I started this series in Romans I asked the question “If you were stranded on a desert Island and you could only have one book of the bible, what would it be?” For me, I said “The Epistle of Paul to the Romans.”

Dr. Alva J. McClain took it a step further. He said If I could “have just six verses out of the Bible and all the rest be taken away…I would select these six

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verses. All of God’s gospel…is there, and in a way found nowhere else in the Word of God.” (3) The six verses he was referring to is our text—Rom.3:21-26.

Open your Bible to Rom.3:21. Our expositional journey begins there:

Rd Rom.3:21

Notice the phrase, “the righteousness of God”. In simple terms, the righteousness of God is a right standing with God. Paul has said over and over again that we’re sinners and deserving of God’s judgment. That means we do we do not have the kind of righteousness that gives us a right standing with God.

So, where do we get the right kind of righteousness that gives us a right standing with God? How can a sinner get right with God?

Paul says in v.21 that a right standing with God is apart from the Law. Paul essentially made the same point in v.20 when he said “by the deeds of the Law, no [one] is justified in [God’s] sight…” In other words, trying to live by the Law of Moses or any other law for that matter does not give you a right standing with God.

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This would be a shocking statement to a religious Jew. Like many people in our day, Jew’s in Paul’s day believed that by keeping the Ten Commandments and by observing religious rituals that God would welcome them into His Heaven. Paul says it doesn’t work that way.

Does this mean the law was worthless, that it served no purpose? Not at all! The law revealed the righteousness of God—it manifested the kind of righteous behavior that sinful man needed to have a right standing with God.

Unfortunately, that’s all the Law could do. It showed what God wanted. God wanted perfect obedience to His righteous standards. But the Law couldn’t enforce perfect obedience.

In today’s terms, when Paul says that righteousness or a right standing with God comes “apart from the law,” he is really saying that it doesn’t come from good works, church membership, giving money, getting baptized, or observing religious rituals of any kind.

How then can an unrighteous person get the kind of righteousness that gives them a right standing with God? In v.22, Paul says:

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Rd Rom.3:22

Paul says that God’s righteousness comes to us by believing not by behaving. A right standing with God is not a reward we earn through good works; it’s a gift we receive by faith.

And faith has to have an object to be effective. It’s not faith in religion, creeds, or deeds. The righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ. It makes no difference who you are. Whether you’re a religious Jew or a religious Gentile, you must believe in Jesus Christ to have a right standing with God.

The righteousness of God apart from the Law was nothing new. In v.21, Paul said that it was witnessed by the O.T. Law and the Prophets.

The sacrificial system of the Jews and the predictions of the prophets all pointed to faith in person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus made that clear when He said to the religious but lost leaders of His day “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,” (Jn.5:39) In other words, their study of God’s Word did not produce saving faith in Jesus Christ.

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I hope that’s not true of anyone here this morning. Your study of Scripture should lead to saving faith in Christ and an ever growing desire to be faithful to Him.

If you’re following the outline on the back of the bulletin, in v.23, Paul moves from God’s righteousness revealed, to God’s righteousness required:

Rd Rom.3:23

It’s difficult for us to understand, but in God’s eyes there is no difference between a serial killer or a brain surgeon; a terrorist or a housewife—all have sinned. All means all and that’s all all means. Since all have sinned, all need God’s righteousness.

The word “sinned” literally means to miss the mark. In medieval times, the term was used in archery contests. When you missed the bull’s-eye, you “sinned”.

In biblical terms, Paul defined the bull’s-eye as the glory of God: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Using this target analogy, we could read the verse this way: For all have missed the target and fall short of the bull’s-eye of the glory of God.

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What is sin? Sin is falling short of God’s glory. If you want to get to heaven, you have to hit the target of God’s glory. The problem is that we’re all horrible shots.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary defines the glory of God as “the outward manifestation of His attributes” (4) Pastor and author John Piper gives this definition of the glory of God. “The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of his manifold perfections. (5)

Combining those two definitions, we could summarize God’s glory as “the visible display of His perfections.” All the attributes of God are expressions of His sinless perfection. Jesus said “…be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt.5:48) In other words, because all have sinned, all have missed the bull’s-eye of God’s manifold perfections.

Ask yourself “How do I measure up to God? God is holy. Am I as holy as God? God is righteous. Am I as righteous as God? God is love. Am I as loving as God? God is truth. Am I as truthful as God? God is merciful, patient, and kind. Am I as merciful, patient, and kind as God?

A perfect God, in a perfect heaven, requires absolute perfection. If you want to get into heaven,

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you have to be perfect. Since all have sinned and fall short of sinless perfection, no one qualifies for heaven.

Thank God for the big blessing of two little words—“But now…” But now, the righteousness of God that we sadly lack and what we desperately need has not only been divinely revealed, it’s graciously offered to any and all who will receive it!

Rd Rom.3:24-26a

This passage introduces us to three vivid word pictures that explain what it means to be saved. If you want to highlight them in your bible, the first word is justify or justification. The second word is redemption. And the third is propitiation. I’m reminded of the preacher who mixed up his words one Sunday by telling people he was going to “confound” the Scriptures when he meant that he was going to “expound,” or explain them. I hope I don’t confound you with my explanation of these terms. As Howard Hendricks used to say “A mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew.” (6)

Here’s my attempt to clear the fog of what these terms mean. Each of these terms takes us to a different location. Let’s look at the first one:

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Justification takes us into the Courtroom. Justification is a legal term that pronounces a verdict of “Not guilty”. When a sinner trust’s Christ as Savior, God transfers the perfect righteousness of Christ to the believers account and declares him/her righteous. Justification doesn’t make us righteous, it declares us righteous.

Iv’e shared this story before, but it illustrates justication so well. A man purchased a Rolls Royce and decided to tour through Europe. While driving the car and enjoying the sights, it unexpectedly broke down. There was no one around who could fix it. He sent a cable to the company in England. They immediately flew a man over who did the repairs. The owner of the car thought to himself, “This is going to cost me a ton of money.” He waited for a bill but it never came, so he sent a letter to the company telling what had happened, how the mechanic had fixed his car, and wondered what the charge would be. He got a letter back from the Rolls Royce Company which said, “Dear Sir, Thank you so much for your letter. You need to know that we have no record in our files that any Rolls Royce has ever broken down at any place, at any time, for any reason.”

That’s what justification means for the believer in Christ. You broke down and ran yourself into a sinful ditch. But God sent Jesus Christ, the Master

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Mechanic. He fixed your life and made it run as it was intended to function. God looks down on the believer and says, “There is no record that my child has ever broken down in sin at all.”

Justification for Christians means that their sin record is wiped clean. Believers in Christ are declared righteous because they have been credited with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

There’s more. In v.24, Paul says we are justified “freely”. That means we are declared righteous without any cost to us. It’s completely free.

As if that word alone were not enough to convey such wonderful news, Paul adds one of his favorite words. Christians are declared righteous without cost “by His grace.” Grace is God’s unmerited favor shown to those who deserved His wrath. God’s righteousness is a gift. There is nothing we can do to earn it.

There’s are two ways you can respond to someone who offers you a gift—accept it or reject it. Justification is a gift. Being declared righteous is a gift. The verdict of not guilty is a gift. Having the slate of sin wiped clean is a gift. God offers this gift to you without cost! Have you accepted that gift?

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Let’s go to the location of that second term—Redemption. We’re now leaving the courtroom of Justification and entering the slave market of Redemption.

In the ancient world, slaves were routinely bought and sold. The only way to be freed from slavery was for someone to pay the price and then set the slave free. This purchase price was called redemption. Redemption means to set free by the payment of a price.

(pic of S & H Green Stamps booklet)

Years ago, certain grocery stores used to give out green stamps. You would collect these stamps until you had a certain amount and then you would go to a special store and you would redeem certain items - you would purchase them with the stamps.

Who has been purchased in this passage? Those who believe in Jesus Christ! In spiritual terms, redemption means to set free from bondage to sin by the payment of a price. And the purchase price of our redemption was not green stamps, but red blood. The red shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price to set us free from sin’s bondage.

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An O.T. illustration of our redemption in Christ is Israel’s freedom from Egyptian bondage. To avoid the deaths of their firstborn sons, the Jews had to kill a lamb and place its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their houses. The death angel saw the blood and passed over those homes. Jesus is the Pass Over Lamb of God. He shed His blood on Calvary’s cross to redeem us—to set us free from our slavery to sin.

Some of you may be thinking “I know all that preacher. Why don’t you talk about something more practical that I can use in my daily walk with God!” There is nothing more practical in your daily walk with God than a proper understanding and application of Justification and Redemption.

Dr. John Piper speaks about the practical importance of this section: “If you build your life on…Ro 3:23,24; if the truth of these two verses becomes the foundation of your life, you will be unshakable in a hundred crises. If these verses become the sun in the solar system of your life, all your planets will orbit in harmony around the will of God. But if you put these verses out on the rim of your life (say near Uranus or Neptune) you need not be surprised if there is confusion and uncertainty and fear and weakness in your life.”

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He goes on to say “There are some truths that are so foundational and so central that you should memorize them, meditate on them, bind them to your mind and heart with chains and ropes and every kind of adhesive you can find. Many professing Christians are very weak, and amble through their days pretty much like unbelievers, because they don't hold on to these verses the way a drowning man takes hold of his rescuer's arm (7)

In other words, what you believe theologically, determines how you behave practically in the everyday circumstances of life. There is nothing more foundational to your walk with God than a thorough understanding of justification, redemption, as well as the third term Paul used to describe what it means to be saved—the word is propitiation.

Justification takes us to the Courtroom; Redemption takes us into the Slave Market; Propitiation takes us to the Temple:

“being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood through faith…” (Rom.3:24-25a)

This word “propitiation” comes to us from the O.T. sacrificial system. Once a year, on the Day of

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Atonement, the High Priest would take the blood of a goat, and enter the Holy of Holies in the Wilderness Tabernacle, and later in the Jerusalem Temple

(pic of Ark of Covenant)

Before the High Priest was an article of furniture called the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the Ark was a copy of the 10 Commandments. On top of the Ark was a lid made of pure gold with Cherub figurines facing each other. The High Priest would carefully take the blood of the goat and sprinkle it on the lid. When He did that, the lid became the mercy seat—the place of propitiation.

What did God see when He looked down on the Ark. Without the bloody lid, He saw a sinful people who broke His commandments. It was an Ark of judgment and wrath. Within the ark, it’s as though the 10 Commandments cried out: "The penalty for breaking God’s Law is death. The penalty must be paid! Every lawbreaker must die. God’s judgment and wrath won’t be satisfied until the penalty is paid in full (Exodus 21:12-17; Rom. 1:32; 6:23)!” But with the bloody lid on the Ark, God no longer saw the broken law.

The blood of that sacrificial animal covered the sins of the Nation. This satisfied the judgment of God

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against sin; it appeased the wrath of God who has a holy hatred of sin. That’s the idea behind propitiation—satisfaction and appeasement.

Propitiation is a sacrificial offering to satisfy God’s judgment of sin and to appease His wrath against sin. What the blood of sacrificial animals did once a year on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies, the blood of Jesus Christ did once-for-all on Calvary’s cross.

The Bible says “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1Jn.2:2)

The sacrificial death of Christ on the cross is the N.T. mercy seat. It’s the place of propitiation. In the O.T. the mercy seat was hidden in the Holy of Holies. But in the N.T. the mercy seat was, as Paul said, “set forth”—it was out in the open for all to see.

When Jesus died on the cross, it completely satisfied God’s judgment against a sinful people. The penalty for sin was paid in full and God’s wrath was appeased. (Jn.19:30; 1Jn.2:2)

Faith says, "God is satisfied with the sacrificial death of Christ and so am I.” As the song says “It

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is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me!" Is the death of Jesus Christ enough for you?

Paul now tells us the purpose of Christ’s death in v.25. All the things we talked about so far—justification, redemption, and propitiation—all these salvation blessings—was “to demonstrate His righteousness…” He says it again in v.26—to demonstrate His righteousness.

Paul wants to make doubley sure that the point of our salvation was not so much for us; it was for God. Justification, Redemption, and propitiation points to the righteous character of God. Why?   Because it shows that God was righteous, even though He passed over past sins. Listen to Paul’s own words: “…because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,”

Paul is answering the charge that if justification and redemption and propitiation come only through faith in Christ’s death on the cross, then God was either unjust or lax about not judging sin before the cross.

God certainly judged some sin in the Old Testament. For example, God sent a worldwide flood to judge sinful man. God reigned fire and brimstone on the evil twin cities of Sodom and

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Gomorrah. And He opened the earth to swallow up the followers of Korah who rebelled against the God appointed leadership of Moses.

But overall, God didn’t immediately punish sin when it occurred. God could have destroyed Adam and Eve, and therefore the human race, but instead, He passed over their sins. His forbearance in not judging sin was not a sign of being unjust, but a token of His grace and mercy. God is not willing that any should perish, but for all to come to repentance. (2Pet.3:9)

Forgiveness didn't start at the foot of the cross, it started in the garden of Eden. Throughout the O.T. God forgave sins. But the question remains. How could God forgive people if Christ had not yet died for their sins? Why did sinners go unpunished before Christ paid the penalty for their sins on the cross? Does this mean that God is unrighteous after all? Of course not!

Paul is essentially saying that God postponed the penalty of sin until Christ fully paid the penalty for sin on the cross. Hebrews 10:4 it makes clear: “…it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” An animal sacrifice could not pay for sins. God merely allowed them to serve as a spiritual IOU until the coming of Christ.  

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It’s like those who offered the prescribed sacrifices paid for their sins with a credit card. God accepted those sacrifices as a temporary payment. However, the bill came due later, and Jesus Christ paid that off entirely when He cried out on the cross—“tetelestai—it is finished, paid in full.” The cross, yet future in O.T. times, vindicated the righteousness of God. From a human standpoint, God seemed to have a dilemma. How was He going to satisfy His own righteousness demands that sin must be punished, and at the same time manifest His grace, love, and mercy to sinners who deserve to be punished. The solution was the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. God’s righteous wrath was poured out on Him. Rather than vindicating His righteousness by slaying sinners, God vindicated His righteousness by slaying His Son.

But, note carefully that the benefits of Jesus’ death do not apply to everyone. Justification, Redemption, and Propitiation only applies to the one who has faith in Jesus. Through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you can be justified—declared righteous; you can be redeemed—set free from sin’s bondage; you no longer need to fear God’s judgment, because Christ Himself is the propitiation for your sins—His death appeased God’s wrath; He satisfied God’s judgment by paying the penalty for your sin.

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What’s our take away from this study? One of the things that these verses teach is that God takes sin seriously and so should we. God takes sin so seriously that He made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). As believers that means we should hate sin and strive to be holy as God is holy.

William Cowper was an 18th century English poet who suffered greatly from depression. His mother died when he was six and he was sent to a boarding school. The older boys bullied and beat him mercilessly. In his late twenties, he tried to commit suicide and was admitted to an insane asylum. Cowper struggled with his guilt and often cried out, “My sin! My sin! Oh, for some fountain open for my cleansing!” The main doctor there was a Christian, who pointed Cowper to the only fountain that can wash away our sin and guilt.

One day Cowper opened a Bible and read Rom. 3:24-25: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to demonstrate His righteousness.” Cowper said, “Immediately I received strength to believe, and the full beams of the Sun of Righteousness shone on me. I saw the

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sufficiency of the atonement he had made, my pardon in his blood, and the fullness and completeness of his justification. In a moment I believed and received the gospel.” (from James Boice, Romans [Baker], pp. 371-372.)

I wish I could say that Cowper was also delivered from his depression, but he struggled with it for the rest of his life. Still, God used him to write many great hymns, including “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”

Whether God chooses to heal your mental or physical infirmities, Cowper’s experience of instant forgiveness the moment he believed in Jesus can be your experience. When you trust in Jesus Christ, God’s wrath is satisfied, He’ll set you free from sin’s penalty, and He’ll declare you not guilty both now and forever—Amen!

(1)http://www.preceptaustin.org/sermons_by_brian_bill-1#21729(2)ibid (3)http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/romans/romans3. (4)Witmer, J. A. (1985). Romans. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 451). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. (5)ttps://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-gods-glory—2 (6)http://www.preceptaustin.org/sermons_by_brian_bill-1#21729 (7)http://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_324-26