Feb. 5, 2017 God the Righteous Making Sinners Righteous by Pastor Josh Sheldon

How about this morning on the way to church? Well, you certainly did.

I certainly did. We all did. Your husband or your wife did.

Your children did. Your neighbor did. Not one of us has a thought pure enough to be held up to God's righteousness and be called anything but short of His glory.

Anything but sin compared to God. And the wages of sin is death, so why aren't we dead right now?

This moment. If you sinned on Tuesday, why did you live to Wednesday? If you sinned on the way to church this morning, why are you alive right now hearing my voice?

Is it so we might continue in it? Of course not. When we get to chapter 6, we'll deal with that in much more detail.

Romans 2, 4, which we did several weeks ago, which has the only other use of this word, says,

There's that word. It's the only other place it's used. In the New Testament, His forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

Why are you alive right now? God didn't wink at your sin. Didn't wink at mine.

In His kindness, His forbearance, to give you time to repent.

This can apply as well to you who believe as it does to you who have not yet bowed the knee to our

Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe in Jesus?

Is this gospel that I'm preaching, that I'm begging you to believe, cutting through to your heart?

Is it stirring you at all? You will bow your knee to Jesus.

You will bow your knee now or another day, but be assured you will.

Romans 14, 11, As I live, says the Lord, quoting the prophet Isaiah, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God.

Philippians 2, verse 10. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father. Your knee will bend to Him. Whether in grateful adoration for what

He has done for you by the cross of His Son or in sorrow for a gospel you've despised and rejected.

Paul says that the former sins, God in His patience, in His forbearance,

He held them aside in a manner of speaking. If by former sins He means the

Old Testament saints like David and Abraham just as two examples, then the only real difference between them and us is the length of time of the forbearance.

If we sinned on the way to church here this morning, your forbearance has only been a few hours, but there is forbearance if you're alive.

For them it was a few centuries or several centuries. Many opinions on how to take this verse.

I'm not going to survey them all this morning. My take is that Paul has in mind the saints of old, those who had faith in the promises of God and hope in the coming

Savior. It is those who repented of their sins according to what they then knew, but full forgiveness, full forgiveness, had to wait for the fullness of God's purposes to be accomplished by his son

Jesus at the cross. And so, verse 26,

God can be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Abraham had faith. God the just justified him. David had faith.

God the just justified him. Joseph had faith and God the just justified him. Do you have faith?

Do you believe in this Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption He accomplished, the righteousness of God vested in Him?

Do you believe in Him? Then God the just has justified you.

This is from the Greek word dikaios, dikaios. The verbal form is dikaio.

Righteousness is from dikaiosoune. I'm not telling you those words are related. I think you can just hear it in the sound of them.

His righteousness, His dikaiosoune is shown in His justification which means to pronounce them not guilty.

His dikaio to them. His righteousness is shown in His justification.

It is Him, God, the one who is right. He is the just. He is the right one declaring us the not right ones because of faith in His Son and the work of His Son on the cross to be righteous, to be just, to be that.

Sin's not ignored or set aside. God in His righteousness keeps His word to forgive sinners.

He committed Himself to forgiving sinners by the work of His Son Jesus. This is by His grace.

This is through faith. Faith in Jesus means among many other things that you believe His perfect life,

His complete obedience to God's law is accounted as if it were yours. That's what

Paul means when he says for all. For all. His obedience attributed to you by faith, the $64 theological word is imputation.

Imputation as if it were yours. God imputes to you Christ's righteousness and thus can declare you justified without compromising

His own righteousness or His own loathing of sin. This is 2 Corinthians 5 .21,

one of my favorite verses is for our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

And so by this gospel God's righteousness has been revealed in Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ on the cross it's been resolved and by Christ God's righteousness and His hatred of sin is reconciled to His righteousness and His forgiveness of sin.

That would be an appropriate time for a very loud hallelujah because brethren this is how we're saved. God the just justifies the unjust.

God the righteous forgives the sins of the unrighteous and declares that one who has no deserving whatsoever to be righteous.

God will look upon you with the righteousness of God Himself. And that's what 2

Corinthians 5 .21 says and that's what Paul is driving at here in Romans 3. But now

I want to go back to the middle. And Lord willing I can bring this to not too long of a close.

But I want to go back to the middle of chapter 3 verse 21 to 26. The second half of verse 25 and the first, excuse me second half of verse 24 and the first half of verse 25 and here the apostle explains the means

God used to do all this. The righteousness of God there in verse 21 and 22.

And the righteousness of God there in 26 and in the middle of it we have this beautiful gospel explanation.

The means that God employed to do all this through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom

God put forth as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. There's more theology here than in almost any other sentence in our

Bibles. Redemption. What does that mean? It means to purchase someone out of slavery. Redeem.

Purchase the slave and make them free. In Romans chapter 6

Paul's going to speak of our slavery to sin from which we must be redeemed or bought. Galatians 3 .13

Paul says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. What's the curse of the law? Well it's your inability to accomplish it among other things.

Christ has redeemed us from that. The whole book of Ruth can hardly be understood without a grasp of what redemption means.

And this is how we're justified by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom

God put forth as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. And what does blood do?

Blood sets our thoughts on the cross where His blood was poured out for us. The word

I want to focus on as we come to a close is propitiation. Propitiation.

It implies sacrifice and so it leads well to the idea of blood. The word translated as propitiation is thought by some to mean expiation.

I believe it's the RSV that uses that word there. As an expiation they say. If it is expiation it means forgiveness of sins.

If it's propitiation then it means wrath turned away. The original word could actually lead us to both.

It's the Greek word hilasterios. And that's the last Greek word you get today. Hilasterios.

Propitiation. And a few versions say expiation. This word in RSV propitiation this word in the

Septuagint the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew that's the word used for mercy seat.

I'll read to you in a moment a couple of verses from Leviticus 16. When you see this word in the

Old Testament that's what it means. That's how it's translated. Properly translated. The only times it's not is a few uses in Ezekiel and Amos.

It's the mercy seat. The mercy seat. What was that? It was a slab of pure gold placed on top of the

Ark of the Covenant. And in Exodus we read that there were two golden cherubim with outstretched wings looking down upon it.

It was the most holy place where it was put in the most holy place in the tabernacle later in the temple. And the slab's name was actually propitiation.

Because that was where the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled thus propitiating

God's wrath. God turning His wrath away because of that propitiation. Because of the blood.

And turning away His wrath at the sin that brought the sacrifice. So with wrath now turned aside because His wrath has been satisfied.

He's been propitiated. Well then the sin itself can be expiated.

It can be forgiven. Look if you will at Leviticus chapter 16.

If you're using the pew Bible I don't have the page number for you so Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus flip, flip, flip.

Chapter 16. Thank you Ken. Page 95. This whole chapter is about the day of atonement.

Called Yom Kippur still to this day. The annual festival where the high priest goes into the holiest place and there at the ark at the mercy seat at the helestarion at the propitiation he presents the blood of the sacrifice to God on behalf of himself and all the people having confessed their sins and now brought the blood to bring

God's forgiveness. So just the first two verses there in Leviticus 16. The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they drew near before the

Lord and died and the Lord said to Moses tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat the helestarion before the mercy seat that is on the ark so that he may not die.

And pay particular attention to these last few words. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.

Now think of this. I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. There is God in the cloud over the mercy seat above the cherubim who are looking down staring down upon that seat and seeing the blood sprinkled on the seat as God forgives the sins as he turns away his wrath as he propitiates and expiates.

Angels staring down two golden angels or cherubim outstretched wings they are staring down eternally at this seat.

Why are they looking down? Well 1 Peter 1 .12 says that angels long to look into our salvation.

They long to understand what it means to be forgiven. What it means that Jesus Christ died for them because Christ did not die for the angels but for his brothers and sisters.

He died for humans. He died for sinners like you and me.

And angels long to look into this. They long to understand that. And there is the angels looking eternally down upon that.

The cherubim over the mercy seat symbolizes this. They are watching the proceedings in wonder.

There is another reason they look down. In Isaiah chapter 6 the seraphim cover their eyes even as they sing holy, holy, holy.

Do you remember they have the six wings? And with two they flew and with two they cover their feet and with two they cover their eyes.

They cannot look directly upon the face of God whose praise they call out forever and ever and ever.

Think of all that picture as you try to imagine the ark with the mercy seat over it and the angels looking down and the blood being sprinkled on there.

And then God in the cloud over the mercy seat accepting the sacrifice.

That's what Paul is getting at here. This is what Paul would have us have in mind. Hezekiah addressed

God this way. Oh Lord, the God of Israel who is enthroned above the cherubim.

This word, this hilasterios is translated mercy seat in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 5.

Above the ark where the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat the hilasterios which is just what

Paul means in Romans 3 .25. So what is the point here? What is

Paul trying to get us to think of? Jesus Christ the revealer of God's righteousness.

Jesus Christ the one who brings propitiation and expiation of God's wrath that we might be forgiven.

Jesus Christ whose blood was poured out on the cross. Jesus Christ the

Savior I plead with you to believe in. He is the mercy seat.

Jesus Christ is that hilasterios. This is what the angels look at.

The place where sin is covered. Where God's righteousness is reconciled to his mercy. Where the just and the justifier is able to declare us both righteous and justified.

There's no more ark. No more tabernacle. No more temple. There's only Jesus the mercy seat by whose blood we're redeemed.

By whose blood our sins are forgiven. Well God met with the people of old over the mercy seat.

That was at the end of verse 2 in Leviticus 16. I will appear over the mercy seat as the blood of the sacrifice is placed there is sprinkled on there that your sins might be forgiven.

And because of that because sins have been covered because forgiveness has been conferred because the sacrifice by faith has been offered because of that God meets with the people and the glorious cloud appears over the cherubim.

And now but now but now the righteousness of God revealed in the

Lord Jesus Christ made manifest in him but now God meets with you over the mercy seat.

The mercy seat is Jesus. He is all that the whole scripture pointed to.

Paul says he's the propitiation. This is what he means. He's the mercy seat.

And by faith in him and faith alone in him alone does God meet with us.

Because Jesus he alone can answer for your sin. His blood and that alone shed once for all time on the cross only that can cover your sin.

He's the mercy seat. He is the one, the only one through whom God meets with man. It was

Eliphaz who asked can mortal man be made right before God? Think of that question.

Can mortal man be right be in the right before God? Do we harm the text if I say can mortal man be righteous before God?

Can a mere excuse me can a man be pure before his maker? Romans chapter 3 verse 26 answer resoundingly and gloriously and hallelujah praise

God the answer is yes. Because in him in Jesus Christ in the mercy seat by whom, through whom because of whom

God meets with his people in him all the promises of God are yes and amen.

And he meets with us by that free gift of justification by faith, by faith in Jesus Christ I proclaim to you this day.

Amen. Heavenly Father we do thank you again for the day you have given us for the time that we have had together.

We thank you Lord for Jesus Christ our mercy seat by whom and through whom you meet with us and I just pray

Lord that we who know you by faith in him will avail ourselves of your presence that you have so freely offered because of your son.

And Lord if there are those in this place who do not know Jesus Christ who cannot come to you and come boldly to the throne of grace because they have not believed

I pray that today would be the day that the knee is bowed the heart is melted and faith by your grace in your sovereignty is granted.

I pray in Jesus name. Amen. I was talking to my friend on the phone last night

Pastor Mike Kelly recently became pastor of the church out there in Livermore Gateway Church and as we're talking what does one pastor say to another but what are you going to preach tomorrow it being

Saturday evening what do you have in mind and I told him Romans chapter 3 verses 21 to 26 he says what are you going to preach

I said well let me think about this a moment let's see I have 6 verses and 8 times righteousness is mentioned in these 6 verses and that's sort of at the beginning and the end of this passage and right in the middle is how this righteousness is accomplished by Christ on behalf of sinners

I said I think I'll mention a time or two at least about God's righteousness this is a bit of a preacher's dream where we do our work in the word we do the study that we have to do and we do the exegetical work in the original language and yet in this passage

Romans 3 21 to 26 I have to tell you it jumps right out and any preacher who could stand and present to you anything other than the righteousness of God and what

Paul is saying about it here righteousness being of course the subject here and throughout the book of Romans but so particularly here has really missed something

God's righteousness this righteousness of God this thing that Paul has been making us yearn for and realize how short of it we come this righteousness that men have tried to gain through the law through their effort this righteousness revealed by God in the very heavens in the creation in all that you see and also more particularly in his word through the prophets and through the apostles this righteousness we need to understand the righteousness of God and what it means to us and how we attain unto it this righteousness of God it has two equally and equally important and seemingly conflicting aspects to it because God is righteous

God in his righteousness hates sin because he is righteous because he's perfect in all he does he's holy and he's just his righteousness causes him to hate sin and yet in his righteousness the righteousness that we've been yearning for throughout this series in Romans and this righteousness particularly given to us here in Romans 3 21 to 26 is seen in God's forgiveness of that which he hates he forgives sin that simple statement doesn't come close to exhausting or even really scratching the surface of all we could say about God's righteousness but it does describe to us how it's presented here to us by the apostle

Paul here in these verses we see God's righteousness it's revealed it's resolved it's reconciled it does have to be reconciled doesn't it?

if God in his righteousness hates sin God in his righteousness forgives sin we need to see how these two work together these two sides of the same coin what is righteousness?

again we won't exhaust this subject very much we need to only explain it enough that we are true to the scripture and to what

Paul is saying here in these particular verses it has to do with if you will in a very simple way it's just having right standing in a particular setting it's a quality attributed to those whose ethics whose behaviors are consistent with the demands that are placed upon them thus

David in Psalm 7 verse 8 he can plead his righteousness to God hear me

God because I'm righteous he says Psalm 5 verse 8 he can then ask that God lead him in his in God's righteousness he has his own righteousness which he pleads to God in one

Psalm and in another Psalm he speaks of God's righteousness Abimelech and Job likewise can in certain places claim that they were righteous they had met demands placed upon them by their positions by their commitments we speak of God's righteousness in many ways it's the same as Conley pointed out in Sunday school this morning one way we know

God is by analogy so never think for a moment that I'm going to preach to you or imply and if you get this at all from anything

I say well I misspoke or you misheard but our righteousness is not the same as God's by analogy by analogy we have this righteousness and so by analogy when we speak of God's righteousness it's a lot the same as what

I just said about meeting the expectations and the commitments in a particular setting well with the great exception that no one puts demands upon God no one places an expectation upon him so it's by analogy

God acting freely and according to his own good pleasure his volition and because he is by nature righteous every word he speaks is true both in and of itself and it is a perfect reflection of his person because of his righteousness his nature his attributes come through in everything he speaks and because he is righteous every word he speaks is turned into works that are representations of himself the heavens declare the glory of God the firmament shows his handiwork it's like the heavens are speaking because God put them together and what do they show forth with his glory keep that word in mind because we will speak about glory and righteousness a little later in this message this quality of God this righteousness of God it means not only that everything he does is true to his own nature it also means that whatever he does he does fully a completely reliable God who is righteous for man for us for you and me for believers in Jesus the definition is really not that much different it's in the execution of it that we falter in the execution of it man by nature suppresses the truth in unrighteousness

God in his righteousness gave us his law so that we might see his righteousness and how it must play out in us what are the demands being placed upon us how are we righteous by meeting those it's what

David pled in Psalm 7 the law shows us the demands placed on us if we are to be in right standing with him with God so the passage this morning

Romans 3 21 -26 righteousness righteousness righteousness that's what this is about if we go up one more where I had

Dale begin the reading though our text for the preaching is 321 and down to the 26 but I had him begin at chapter 3 verse 20 where that concludes a long argument that Paul's been making about the law as the way to righteousness as righteousness as that necessary as that crucial goal if we are to be with God if we are to be able to stand before him this is what we need and then it sort of pulls the rug out from under us doesn't it by telling us that this standing which we must have in unequivocal terms it tells us it just can't be done for by the works of the law no human being shall be justified in his sight the problem we have is that our righteous

God will have in his presence nothing that isn't like him nothing that is not righteous that's a dilemma is it not that's a dilemma if by the works of the law if that body of law those precepts

God's revelation to us that represents that righteousness that we must have and yet by works of the law by doing the law by striving to become righteous through the works of the law no human being your

King James says no flesh no one will be justified in his sight you have to have it

I've made you want it and I'll yank it out from under you and say you cannot do it here in Romans 3 21 to 26 is the answer to it here is the answer here we are told how the righteousness of God is met how it is fully satisfied and how this is to be known and how it's to be attained no contradictions works are still out of the question works are still useless here you remember chapter 1 and verse 17 for in it in the gospel in this gospel we are declaring week in and week out in this place and now especially from this book of Romans in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the righteous shall live by faith that's been our theme when we started this study in Romans I told you for my analysis

I'm totally satisfied that that verse with 116 before it run through the entire book of Romans the righteousness of God revealed in this gospel now

I've given a working definition of righteousness I've told you how simple it is for a preacher to look at this passage and see what the main point is going to be and how it has to focus on this righteousness starting at chapter 3 and verse 20 no human being shall be justified in his sight justified comes from the same word group as righteous they have the same root the same beginning point if you will chapter 3 verse 20 no human being shall be justified chapter 3 verse 21 the righteousness of God has been manifested verse 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ verse 24 justified by his grace verse 25 to show

God's righteousness verse 26 to show God's righteousness verse 26 that he might be just remember same word group as righteous that he might be just verse 26 the justifier of the one who has faith in his son

Jesus Christ eight times in six verses the only verse that doesn't have this word is verse 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and that tells us that we all need to be justified we all need to be made righteous because all we have done is unrighteous all have sinned verse 21 chapter 3 verse 21 look at those first two words but now but now what an incredible freight of hope these two words carry after all the futility of trying to establish this righteousness on your own or trying to achieve it through the law which is really on your own but now man's pursuit of righteousness by the law has carried on for centuries stretching all the way back to Adam and our efforts have been uneven some did better than others the person next to you might be much more righteous and much more obedient to the law than you are or you compared to them but neither of you succeeded none has done this not a single man ever achieved the righteousness of God by the works of the law as a brief and as a quick excursus

I might even tell you that Jesus Christ did not achieve righteousness by the works of the law he didn't need to achieve it of course

Jesus Christ is was always has been righteous he proved his righteousness we might be able to say it that way by obeying the law perfectly for us it's different it's something to be achieved but it's impossible to achieve but now but now the gospel age has dawned the righteousness of God has been manifested it's been shown it's been displayed it's been broadcast the law and the prophets look for this day the law set it forth in commandments and precepts on things to be done the prophets referred to it when they made

Israel see where they had failed the rebuke of the prophets prophets coming in as the prosecuting attorney if you will and showing

Israel their fault against what? against this law their lack of righteousness because of their failure to the law the prophets looked ahead for this and if we read the prophets rightly the prophets still speak to us today speak of this righteousness to be attained this righteousness where we have failed but now but now it does not open the curtain on a new kind of righteousness understand this but now the righteousness of God is revealed it's not a different righteousness that would mean

God had changed which of course is impossible for I the Lord Malachi says in chapter 3 verse 6

I the Lord do not change Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever the gospel did not introduce a new a different a better an improved righteousness of God the same righteousness of the same

God the difference is not the quality of the righteousness the difference is the means of its revelation and the means of the way we attain unto it we live in the but now age but now in the gospel glorious times in the church age understand we are not apprentices in God's redemptive plan as the dispensationalists would have it be

Solomon says very wisely chapter 7 verse 10 of Ecclesiastes say not why were the former days better than these for it is not from wisdom that you ask this they weren't better the former days are not better than these days the temple days with all the gold golden accoutrements and the wonderful clothes that the priests wear and all the beautiful pictures of Jesus Christ that that represented those days were not better than these days because we're in the but now days and those days weren't better because they had the law and all their effort to attain to the righteousness that the law demanded ended in frustration if you are one who has labored to make himself or herself herself right before God I want you to hear these two words and we've barely even touched on righteousness yet have we hear these two words if you're one who felt like you are going up a hill and then you step on a piece of ice and you go down six feet further and then you went up and you go up again you step on a piece of ice and down you go and you just can't do it the messages have been you can't do it hear these two words but now but now the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ you don't measure up he does you can't do it he did but now all the obstructions to our vision of him are removed by faith, by faith in Jesus Christ named here for the first time since chapter 2 verse 16 he being the purveyor of this righteousness the achiever of this righteousness the giver of this righteousness the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ this glorious prize displayed in all its brilliance not by works, not by effort, not by wanting by faith a righteousness of God God himself,

God almighty his righteousness known by us by faith in him the

Son of God the law contains it no one is ever able to take away the veil so it can be seen clearly but now the obstructions are removed but now by faith in Christ this is yours no limit here understand there's no limitation given here we are believers in predestination

Ephesians 1 .3 would say that God elected the believer in Christ before the foundation of the world by name, each individual before the world even existed

God determined who would benefit from Christ's sacrifice

God is sovereign notice I didn't say 100 % sovereign 110 % sovereign fully, he's just sovereign just let the word stand on its own and yet Paul says for all who believe does not mean everyone will believe this good news

I pray everyone here will leave here believing this good news but it's not a guarantee that everyone will it does mean that if you will believe this gospel if you will believe this good news if God has given you a heart to accept this gospel then this manifestation of his righteousness is yours where verse 21 speaks of the righteousness of God as something intrinsic to himself here it speaks of it as attributed to the believer it is for all who believe we'll come back, we'll talk about this in more detail a bit later

Paul goes on to say there's no distinction there's no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God which means what?

now is Paul pulling the rug out from under us again? no, he's not doing that I think

Paul is at this point satisfied that self effort has been repudiated and that anyone reading this letter of his to the

Romans to us today would understand, okay I've got the point now,

Paul it took a few times most of us are slow to give up our pride most of us are not easy giving up that and accepting humility and inability but we do have the point now and he says there's no distinction remember this all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God we're all in the same barrel we're racing, as it were, in a barrel we're going headlong to the precipice of Niagara Falls and we don't even know that the falls is ahead of us all have sinned meaning at least once all it takes is one if you violate one jot or tittle of the law says

James you may as well have violated the entire thing all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God meaning that because of that one digression you are currently here and now and consistently short of that glory now you might hear this from Paul talking about righteousness righteousness has been the theme since we opened this up in chapter 1 and all of a sudden he says you've fallen short of the glory of God there's your problem you fell short of the glory of God and you might look at Paul if he was standing there and say wait a second you just changed the rules you got me going after this righteousness thing

I'm getting it I'm understanding I can't do it that God's providing it in his son and all of a sudden you say now

I have to have God's glory did you suddenly change the rules not righteousness we lack but glory and we know

Isaiah 48 11 tells us that God will not give he will not share his glory with anyone or anything his glory is his and his alone what are you saying to us

Paul which is it righteousness or glory what is it you want me to have in order to be before God consider these passages

I'll read them very quickly Psalm 97 verse 6 the heavens proclaim his righteousness and all the people see his glory

Isaiah 46 13 I bring near my righteousness it is not far off and my salvation will not delay

I will put salvation in Zion for Israel my glory Isaiah 58 8 then shall your light break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up speedily your righteousness shall go before you the glory of the

Lord shall be your rear guard Isaiah 62 2 the nation shall see your righteousness and all the kings your glory and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the

Lord will give Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 2 and if you swear as the Lord lives in truth, in justice, and in righteousness then the nation shall bless themselves in him and in him shall they glory 2

Corinthians chapter 3 verse 9 for if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory

Philippians 1 11 finally Paul prays for the church to be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God do you know that you have fallen short of the glory of God?

can you admit that? I think anyone hearing my voice would say yes if God is who the

Bible proclaims him to be he's a glorious God so jealous of his own glory sharing it with none other of course

I've fallen short of that I've fallen short of the best man or woman in this place how much more so God but now you know why because you have fallen short of his righteousness the two are different but you can see they are related but now remember church you live in the but now this gospel age if the kingdom is only inaugurated and there's a kingdom yet to come that's not true of the gospel the gospel is here in fully orbed glory but now look at verse 24 with me because that's part of this but now verse 24 justified by his grace as a gift the original language would let us say are justified freely by his grace which is more the way our

King James our new King James has it for me that's a bit preferable but you get the same point across justification this righteousness making justified by his grace as a gift recall justification and righteousness from the same root word so what we have here is really pretty simple this gospel this gospel this end of the treadmill this cessation of your frustration all who believe in Jesus Christ will know his righteousness which is necessary for us all because we've all sinned if you believe in Jesus Christ you will know

God's righteousness it's been manifested to you in Jesus Christ and it is necessary for us all no one does not need this gospel because all have sinned all have fallen short of God's glory verse 24 tells us that this justification this made to be righteous this is a gift of God's freely bestowed grace upon undeserving sinners all of whom are short of his glory all of whom cannot gain righteousness by the deeds of the law because of sin all have sinned no exception

Alistair Begg likes to say death is that startling statistic one out of one sin is the same one out of one none accepted or justified by his grace a free gift justification means to be declared not guilty not guilty before the bar of the law if you want to know how tremendous this is just go home this afternoon early this evening open up your bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 20 read the ten commandments ask yourself in the quietness of your home have your mind and your spirit calmed down with your scripture open look at them seriously and ask yourself have

I not violated each of these I have very little patience for people to say well

I didn't do the big ones and the small ones I kind of fell in that just makes it all kind of silly just read them and know how much law how many precepts derived from them read the book of Deuteronomy where the law is given in great specificity and detail all have sinned and need this justification need to be declared not guilty against that entire body of law the whole corpus it's not like we can divide it up into misdemeanors and felonies all have sinned and all sin chapter 6 verse 23 tells us deserves death but if you look at the second half of verse 24 and the first half of verse 25 the second half of verse 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and then verse 25 whom

God put forth as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith which is to say this gift of God's justification and righteousness remember they're from the same root word is available only because of and by means of and by faith in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross and that's what this is leading us to those verses though I read them to you so you can understand where Paul's argument goes

I'm going to skip over them but we're going to end the message with those so I want them to be in your mind for now I want to look at the rest of verse 25 understanding as we go through this how is this accomplished through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus by his blood received by faith the rest of verse 25 this now this being our redemption by the shed blood of our

Savior of Jesus this was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus here's what

I meant earlier when I said that the gospel resolves and reconciles God's righteousness because he is righteous he ate sin and yet this very righteousness was shown in his forbearance his willingness to delay punishment of sin and all this to show his righteousness now as it is written but now but now former sins were not winked at as though God only started caring about sin after Jesus died for sin a cursory reading of the

Old Testament would dissuade us of any sort of notion like that the former sins were not forgotten and they weren't less bad than your sins so God could just kind of put them aside or put them in a suspense account nothing like that could be they weren't forgotten they were in a manner of speaking held in abeyance and this shouldn't be too hard to figure out ask yourself did

I sin this week? did any of us sin any time this week?