(Romans) Justified by Faith — Willie Mullan

The Richness of Romans 3:21–31

And we're at the third chapter, and we're going through from verse twenty-one to verse thirty-one this evening. We have eleven verses tonight, and if you look at the notes that I've given you, you will find that there are ten divisions, and ten headings out of eleven verses.

You must not be missing much that's in portion this evening. So you have ten headings out of eleven verses this evening. I would say that this is one of the richest and most thrilling portions of God's Word that we're dealing with this evening.

And so we want to take time to dig it all out while we're on this particular plot. I think I want to remind you of some of the things that's gone before. Just to set the stage properly, you remember when Paul was writing the first chapter, when he had got through the introduction and the salutation that he brought to the saints at Rome?

You remember that he reminded them in verse eighteen, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And Paul was just reminding these saints at Rome that the wrath of God.

Let's again remember that there is such a thing as the wrath of God. We like preaching on the love of God, and the grace of God, and the goodness of God, the wisdom of God, and the power of God. Some people don't like preaching on the wrath of God.

Well, there is such a thing as the wrath of God. And Paul was just reminding the saints at Rome that the wrath of God is revealed openly against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And then he went on to describe the ungodliness and the unrighteousness that's in this poor, miserable world of ours.

And it's really wreaking with unrighteousness and ungodliness this evening. He points out the depths to which some fell in the early days. He says in verse twenty-six, for this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their woman did change the natural youth into that which is against nature.

That's a horrible thing, isn't it? We were talking about this on Sunday evening. This is what you call scarlet sins. Women leaving men to go to animals. Verse twenty-seven is a horrible one. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural youth of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly.

You don't need to underline it too much about Lurgam, do you? But a lot of them in jail for this some years ago. Lurgam is not the only spot, you know. Happens to be the only spot in Denver with it where they were caught.

Well, in every town in the north of Ireland, it's wreaking this evening. Oh, I know it upsets modest people. This is Bible teaching you're up, and we're teaching the Bible. God knows best how to talk to you.

And so Paul lets the saints at Rome see that the wrath of God is revealed against this sort of thing. He brings out the unrighteousness and the ungodliness that's lying under the wrath of God this evening.

Self-Righteousness and Religious Hypocrisy

And then when he came to the second chapter, he changed it round a little bit, and he didn't deal with unrighteousness so much as he dealt with self-righteousness. Remember how I put it very forcibly in the third verse of the second chapter?

He said, Thinkest thou this, O man, thou judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God. You see, some people stand back and hold up their hands in horror when they hear about scarlet sins.

But even those sort of people may be even worse in God's sight than the sexual licentious fool. Mind you, if you're in this meeting and you're only an old religious philosophical hypocrite who has rejected Christ for the last thirty years, you're worse than any sexual fool that was in this town.

My, I tell you, friends, the Pharisee who's in people. Well, Paul was a Pharisee, wasn't he? And when he got saved, he said, I am the chief of sinners. There's nothing lovely, you know, in rejecting Christ.

And acting the hypocrite. The Lord Jesus said, Whited sepulcher! Full of dead men's bones and rottenness. How can ye escape the damnation of hell? And so Paul levels this out very carefully, doesn't he?

Dealing with the unrighteousness that's in the world and the self-righteousness of the world. And then when he began at verse sixteen in the second chapter, he began to deal with the empty, dead, formal religiosity of the Jew.

He said in verse seventeen, Behold, thou art called a Jew, for thou art proud to bear the name of Jew, and thou restest in the law. That is, thou restest in the law because you have it. You rest in the proud fact that you have the law.

And you make a scribe boast of God, and knowest his will, and approveth the things that are excellent. How much the Jew had! How much religiosity he had! And yet he was far away from God. He drew near unto God with his lips.

Oh, which is hard. Far from God. And so Paul levels things out in these first chapters. Dealing with unrighteousness, and self-righteousness, and dead, empty, lifeless, formless religion. And when he gets into the third chapter, he just took the time last week to bring the whole world in, guilty before God.

Look at verse nineteen. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, except to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. That's where he was trying to get to.

You remember how he very forcibly put it in verses ten, eleven, twelve? There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth the holiness of God. There is none that seeketh after God.

They're all gone out of the way, they're all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. The whole world guilty. Let's get it. Poor God. You know, we're all a pack of guilty sinners.

Some of us are guilty sinners saved by the grace of God this evening, and some of you are guilty sinners hiding behind fig leaves this evening in your bedouin that you don't watch, and some of you are just guilty sinners and you know.

From Innocence and Law to Grace

So Paul leveled things out. Now I want you to notice this. That in the leveling of things out, he touched one or two dispensations, and dispensation just means a principle by which God deals with men.

Well, we know that Adam, he was in the dispensation of innocence. He was made innocent. He was an innocent creature, wasn't he? Watch what this book says. See verse twenty of the first chapter. Paul just reminds them that the invisible things of God from the creation of the world, right from the creation of the world, are clearly seen.

That's a funny statement, isn't it? Invisible things clearly seen. Then he qualifies it being understood by the things that are made. Even his eternal power and Godhead. So that in his innocence, Adam knew all about the eternal power and Godhead right from the creation of the world.

That was clearly understood. Then of course, Adam fell, and you remember all his offspring, they were born in sin, by nature, they were children of wrath even as others, and then they went on further.

You know, we must ever remember this, that primitive man, right back younger, primitive man, knew God. He wasn't a heathen, you know, or a pagan, are we of heathens and pagans today? But if we have them, it's because of what their forefathers did with the life that they had.

So let's forget that. We're always standing up for them. It's the sins of the fathers coming down onto the children of the third and fourth generation, and a bit further now. You see, here's what it says here, verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, possessing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible man.

You know, we're coming out of the age of innocence, eh, and into the dispensation of human government. My, they really thought they were everything. Real clever, they did, possessing themselves to be wise.

My, they became fools. Became fools. This is this old world, this is the history of this old world of ours. This is the Bible record of the history. This is the true one. And of course, when we come down to that horrible 27th verse, we write up the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, aren't we?

Men lusting after men, it was Sodomy. And we're into the age of human government in the deep depths. And then when we got to the third chapter where we finished last week, verse 9, 19, now we know that whatsoever things the law says.

We're into the dispensation of law. You see, what I'm trying to get out of this, as he has chased these horrible things, he's gone back to the creation, to the age of innocence, eh, then come through the dispensation of human government, then he's come right through the age of law, he's been looking at dispensations in the past.

And our wonderful portion begins tonight with these words, but, but now. Now this is different. This is different dispensation altogether. This is the dispensation of this. Quite different. People who don't like dispensation will teach them just have to take it, whether they like it or not, it's either.

But now, things are different now, praise God they're different now. But now, my we're not under law tonight, praise the Lord. And we're not under human government either. And we're not under innocence.

Now we could fall from that, couldn't we? No, no, it's not left to us anymore. This is something different now. This is the grace of God going to do things. Now watch what he says, very carefully. He says in verse 21, but, but now, isn't this dispensation, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested.

You know that's a tremendous statement, isn't it? The righteousness of God without the law is manifested. You see, men were unrighteous, or they maybe got onto the clean side of the road that went to hell and they were self-righteous.

Or maybe they rolled themselves in empty bed formalism, and they only had religiosity and had no life, and no power. It was a form without power. And all that just wouldn't do. It was still under the wrath of God.

And what man needed was a righteousness to meet the righteous requirements of a righteous Lord. And grace turns it out to him. Righteousness of God unaffected. You see, this is the dispensation of grace.

Righteousness is something that can clothe the poor lost sinner and make him stand before God just as if he'd never sinned at all. Because that's powerful, isn't it? That's justification. Righteousness and justification are co-equal terms.

It's very hard to say the righteous character. You can say the justified one, if you like. But watch this. Now, the righteousness of God is manifested. It says in verse twenty-four, being justified freely by his grace, by God's grace.

This righteousness, this justification comes to every believer absolutely free on the streams of God's grace. And that's the dispensation we're in now. It's the dispensation of the grace of God. And the grace of God is handing out the righteousness of God out of the garment, freely, for every believer.

But we'll get it clearer in a moment. Just watch the whole statement here in verse twenty-one. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Christ’s Sacrifice Fulfills the Law

You know, this is what the law—and then he uses the word law, he's using the ceremonial law—this is what the ceremonial law was saying all along, that there would come a sacrifice one day that would so perfectly meet the requirements of God that everyone who would place their faith in that sacrifice would be perfected forever, or in other words, would stand in the righteousness of God, or in other words, be justified before the throne.

And that's what the law said all along. If you're in any doubt about that, I'll make you sure. Just keep your finger in the place and have a look at Hebrews chapter ten. Hebrews chapter ten. And this is a wonderful portion.

Hebrews ten, verse one. For the law having a shadow of good things to come—and when he uses the word law there, you'll see in a moment that he's using the ceremonial law, not the moral law, not the ten commandments, the law of sacrifice.

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things—it wasn't the very image, it was only the shadow of the image that was coming—come never—that's something you underline—come never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers that brought them thereunto perfect.

No, it couldn't. Ceremonial law with all the sacrifices could never make the comer perfect. Oh, but it was a shadow of something that was coming, a sacrifice that was coming, that would make them perfect.

Why, yes it was. Now just follow this through. You see, the moment he says, come never with those sacrifices, he begins to argue—that's true—for them, would they not have ceased to be offered? My, if you could bring a bull or a goat or a lamb and place it on an altar and it made you perfect, you wouldn't need to bring it again, would you?

Wouldn't it cease? Because that the worship of one's spirit should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin.

What for? They were only shadows. They were only witnessing to something. That's all. Now what, wherefore, just because of that, when he cometh into the world, is that the Lord Jesus, he saith, The sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me.

Who made him this body? God made him. He had no human father. A body hast thou prepared me. Then he saith this, In but offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, God.

You know, God had something in his mind. And here's the will of God. Verse 10, we have heard it. By the which will we believers are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

My, when that body was offered and we placed our faith in the sacrifice. My, we were set apart, sanctified, set apart by the offering of the body. Not by closing your eyes in the back room. No, by the offering of the body of Christ was I sanctified by the offering of the body of Christ, or was I not?

Jesus answered up the scripture. Never mind about who taught you something else. Yes, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ. That's what this book says just now. Now, I want you to get this, readers.

Verse 14. For by one offering, or if you like, for by that one offering. Watch this, readers. He hath perfected forever them that he set apart. Ah, that's it, isn't it? That's what the law was witnessing all the time.

It was only a shadow. When we look back through the ages where the kings and prophets sought, we can see they're all to drink in with the sacrifice and blood, but those types were only pointing to the pastoral love of God.

My, even the ceremonial law was witnessing all the time that there would come an offering one day so perfectly made before God that everyone who placed their trust in that finished work would be perfected, check it now, check it, perfected forever.

Where would you get lost again? Where would you get? It's just because some of you don't know what was done at the cross that you get muddled. We're not going to heaven on what we do. We're going to heaven on what he did.

Are you perfected forever or are you not? Or is this book talking baloney? You just answer, that's all. I'm not trying to force you into it. Just answer, that's the thing you've got to do. What does perfected forever mean?

It just means perfected forever, that's all. So you see, the law was witnessing that this thing would happen. But here's what it says in our 21st verse, but now, in this dispensation, the righteousness of God without the works of the law as manifested, being witnessed by the ceremonial law and witnessed by the prophets.

I wouldn't need to take you through all the prophets tonight, would I? I think Isaiah 53 would do. By his knowledge shall my righteous servants quick justify. He would do it. The one who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, my, he would be able to justify many.

So that this righteousness of God in this dispensation of grace is the very thing that was witnessed by the ceremonial law and by the prophets. And praise God we are living in the day when it's happening.

Justification by Faith Alone

So that's the dispensation of grace. So watch this, verse 22. For even the righteousness of God, we'll read verse 21 again, but now, in this day, the righteousness of God without the works of the law as manifested, being witnessed by the ceremonial law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ it can be, or of Jesus Christ.

So watch this. Unto all and upon all them that believe, how do you get this? Through Mary, Virgin Mary, through Ken Brinkley. No, through faith in Christ. That's the old Protestant faith. We believe with all our hearts tonight and I'll persuade you before you get out, that we are justified by faith alone.

No pardon, no penance, no merit, no candle, no priest, no pope, no purgatory, no work, no religiosity. By faith in Christ alone. Amen. Come on, you're a dead lot, aren't you? Ah yes. Ah, this is it. Ah, this is it.

This is the manifestation of the faith. This is it. Now, let's get just tidied up a little bit more. We'll read from verse 21 again. But now, in this dispensation, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ upon all and unto all them that believe.

For there is no difference for all of sin and comes short of the glory of God. You see, as God is going to move out in grace, well, it won't be grace if he places one man before another. Oh no, this grace must come out to all because all and all comes short.

You see, if we take the unrighteous crowd, well, all of the unrighteous crowd has come short. So there's no difference from the law. You see, if you were standing at the waters of Fairhead and you were going to jump over to Scottish border yonder, well, some of you might jump further than others.

Oh, but you'd all come short a good bit. And so it doesn't even matter where you jump or what you're getting about. The whole world is guilty and all have sinned and all have come short. And that's the grace of God.

It's coming fully out to the guilty world and offering justification by the appropriation of grace. So it's glorious, isn't it? Wonderful thing, isn't it? But just because of the magnitude and the boundlessness of the grace of God, righteousness that makes heaven the crown of the throne, that makes the sun before God just as if I'd never sinned at all.

The Old Testament prophesied, though your sins be as tar as they shall be, as white as snow, thundering just as white as snow. Ah, Lord, my will never let that go. Now, let's get the hold of this, because it's deeper than that, you know.

I'll read it all over again. But now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all, them not believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace.

Redemption Through Christ’s Blood

Now, what's it say? Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You know, I want you to get this. You know, I know that the grace of God's a wonderful thing, but though the grace of God is this wonderful unbounded ocean that brings out the righteousness and justification that men have believed, you know, it couldn't flow except on a righteous foundation.

You know, a holy God just can't step out of a holy heaven and get a poor scarlet sinner and pass it on the head, or him on the head, and say, well now, it's a pity of you, all right, we'll forget all about it.

Oh no, oh no, oh no. It wouldn't be just at all if he did that. My, you'd just get the judge on the bench, and the man is drunk in the Monte Carlo and kills a child. And you know the law of our land, don't you?

Well, he just can't lean over the balustrade of the cross and look at this fellow and say, well now, it's a real pity, I know you had a terrible night and all that, we'll forget all about it. Well, what else now, would he?

He wouldn't be just. He wouldn't be a jester. Come on now, but God is just here. So God had to deal with sin. Sin had to be just. There had to be a foundation made that would keep him just, and that at the same time would allow him in grace to justify, to justify the believer in Christ.

Yes. And the foundation was the redemption that was made by our Lord Jesus Christ in sacrifice at the place called Calvary. Well, let's put the ground of it in now, because it's a wonderful story when you get it all.

You see, we're just sinners, and God's a holy God, and yet in the dispensation of grace, the grace of God is bringing out to us a righteousness that will justify it freely that we only trust in Christ.

But it flows out on the grounds of the redemptive watch at the place called Calvary. You see, we're being freely justified by his grace through the redemption. Oh, I know it doesn't cost us nothing. We just put out the hand of faith, and we embrace the Saviour, and immediately this robe of righteousness that was woven on the cross of Calvary becomes ours.

Jesus' blood and righteousness, my beauty, are my glorious dress. With flaming woes and either rage, without any fear, I lift up my hand. But that only comes to you on the redemptive work of Christ. My, what a work that was.

You see, we had to pay the price of our redemption. You see, we were captives of the devil. You see, God just couldn't look down through a window in heaven and say, well, let them go. I'm taking them home.

I'll keep them in the glory. The devil will look up and say, you're not righteous anymore. You don't care about sin now, do you? No. So God had to deal with it. And there had to be a price paid that would satisfy the claims of a holy God.

Satisfy. There had to be a price paid that would shut them out of sin forever. There had to be a price paid that would really bring me out of the kingdom of darkness righteously. And it was the redemptive work of Christ.

Oh, what a wonderful work this is. You know, sometimes when I'm preaching on the jets, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I point out to the people that we, when we were born in this world, we were born at a distance from God.

But we were born at a distance, way in the kingdom of God, born in sin and in iniquity, children of God. And there had to be a way made back to God from the dark past of sin. And Jesus is the way. We were not only born at a distance, we were born in the dark.

We were born in the kingdom of darkness. And we need light. And truth is light. And Christ is the truth. But he is the best. We were not only born in the dark and born in the distance. We were born spiritually blind.

We need light. He's the light. Rendered at the cross of Calvary, he poured out his own life, laid it down in drops of ruby blood, blood that sanctified God. Thank you. Blood that saved us. It's all now to redemptive work that the grace of God brings us, the justification that we can embrace by faith in Christ.

Propitiation and God’s Justice

Ah, but that's not all, sure it's not. We're not halfway there yet. Let's get it all over again. This is a portion you need to get the whole thing. Verse 21, But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all, them not believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation.

Ah, it's different again, isn't it? You see, this redemptive work at the same psychological second as it was being perfected and finished, there was this work of propitiation at the top. You know, the word propitiation just means a sort of fine sacrifice.

And at the very moment that the Lord Jesus was laying down the price of our redemption and of the holy blood, at the very same spot in that precious blood shed, was making a satisfactory sacrifice, God had to be satisfied first.

And on the grounds of the reflection of Christ, Amen. Oh, that's good gospel preaching. That's where I learned to preach the gospel. That's good old-fashioned gospel preaching. That's what we need. Oh, this is a mighty work.

Propitiation and redemption being the foundation whereupon the grace of God falls out, bringing this righteousness which is actually justification to everyone that believes in Jesus. Wonderful thing. I think I should take time to just point this out.

Verse 25, speaking of Christ itself, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation. You know, it's wonderful to notice what God did with Christ. Well, if you go way back before the foundation of the world, you'll find the eternal Son in the bosom of the eternal Father.

And you'll find that the Father selected the Son. He was the Lamb chosen before the foundation of the world, if you want it in Scripture. So that God selected him for the job. Then when the fullness of a time would come, God set him forth.

And then God set him forth to be this satisfying sacrifice. And then God selected him. And then God sent him. And then God set him forth. And then God spared him of God's trouble. And time and God can't quite demand.

First at my bleeding shoulder's end, and then again at mine. God didn't only select him, and God didn't only send him, and God didn't only send him forth, and God didn't only not spare him, but God brought him back from the dead and took him back and healed him at the right hand of the throne of God, just to let everybody know he was satisfied with Christ and the work of the cross.

Oh, this is wonderful, isn't it? It's a powerful portion all together. Let me make it all clear. You see, you work backwards with the propitiation, the sacrifice that satisfied God, and the redemption that paid the price for my free do, that grace is flowing out to us upon, bringing us the righteousness of God, and we get it when we trust the Saviour that God has brought back from the dead.

But I want you to notice this, verse 25, whom God has sent forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are part through the forbearance of God.

You see, maybe the devil or some critic would like to come along and argue. I say, well, this is all right, you know, this is very nice, we can see it all now, we see the propitiation in blood and the redemption in blood, and the foundation laid, and God satisfied, and sit in silence and all believers saved.

How did God forget one of the fellows in the days of the past when there was no sacrifice satisfying God then? No, that's perfectly true. But you see, the man and woman in the age before the cross, and the ages before the cross, as these sacrifices were placed on the altar, and the blood of the sacrifice was brought in before God, their faith was looking down through the shadow to the day the substance would come, and God was putting them on trust.

It was as if they were giving God an eye on you. And the day will come when you will be fully paid, and God's forbearance or toleration was there because he knew that Christ would eventually come and pay the price.

Dr. Irons had said they were saved on thought. It's a lovely one, isn't it? Ah, there's no difference. They were looking that way to the cross, and their trust was yonder. We're looking that way to the cross.

But it's the same look, and it's the same cross. They were saved by faith in the cross, and God took the credit note, as it were, and the forbearance of God let them put up with them, even when they sinned in the cross.

You see, all this is bringing out this, to declare, I say, verse 26, to declare of this time his righteousness, God's righteousness, that he might be just, and that the same psychological be the justifier of him which believeth on Jesus.

My, this is a wonderful thing, isn't it? You see this propitiation that Christ made and shed blood, and this redemption that Christ made and shed blood, this thing that silences Satan and saves believers, that satisfies God.

My, it allows God to amend the just God, a God who hates sin, for he's dead within and he's come. And yet, at the same time, it allows him to be the justifier of them that believe in Jesus. That's the easy way back.

Are you one of them? You don't need to get muddled and muddled, do you? Do you believe that Christ will save you? You're going to hell. Do you believe that baptism by a merchant saves you? You're going to hell.

It's them that believe in Jesus. That's it. That's where your faith is. It's your faith on a work that satisfies God and that has made you perfect forever. Tell me that. Or are you trying to work your way to heaven and not being also perfect?

Are you? It's a great pity of you, for your works are no good. It's sinners that get justified by faith. Now, this is not something that I feel. I don't feel justified. Indeed, I feel very unjustified at times.

This is not something that I have a feeling about. This is a truth that is clearly taught in Romans chapter 3 and that I personally and wholeheartedly believe. I don't have any feelings at all. My dear friends, I think it's wonderful.

You know, sometimes I have to do this for the young believers. See that palm? It's worth twenty holes to me. It's not worth a thousand to you, for it's mine. Now, it's mine. See, I own it. It's mine. It's my possession.

I hold it in my hand. It's mine. If I try all night and it rains all week, and everybody in our house is down in the dumps, it won't become ten pounds for my feet. It will be a pound at the end of a miserable week.

And if I sing to the morning birds, and the birds are singing all around me, and the sun is splitting the trees, and everybody's happy, it will never become five pounds. My feelings have nothing to do with it.

It's a subtle thing. Subtle. And I just know whether I cry or whether I laugh, it's a pound. If I give it to a tramp on the street with no shoes on his feet, it's a quid. If I could give it to the queen upon the throne and she would accept it graciously, it would only be a pound.

It's not a feeling thing. No! This is a truth taught in God's Word, which I believe with all my heart. But the moment I put the arms of my faith round the Christ who died and the truth be cleansed, I'm justified by faith.

I have the right to smash the God required. And neither the devil nor demons can do a thing about it. It's a powerful thing. That's what you call getting saved by grace through faith. That's what that is.

It's wonderful, isn't it? Let God be just and the justifier. I want you to get this bit. We're past verse 27, it's all questions, and we'll come back to it, and we're at verse 28. Therefore, because of all this we've been hammering out, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law at all.