 else. No, with that we'll begin our study. We're in Romans 3. We're going to begin at verse 21 and we're going to be looking at chapter 3 from verse 21. I'm going to be obviously doing what I normally do, which is a brief review, then we'll be picking up at verse 21. So I'll begin by reading verses 21 and 22, giving you the review. And it's going to be a little extensive, to be honest with you. And then we'll pick up and move and prayerfully continue until we conclude at verse 31. So beginning at Romans 3, verse 21, Paul says, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe for there is no difference. Now, as we've been going through the book of Romans, we've seen how Paul has been building a case for man's guilt before God. He had said that the Gentiles, the non-Jews, the Gentiles stand guilty before him as sinners, but he pointed out that so do the Jews. Now Gentiles, as he has said, have the witness of creation, they have the reality of conscience. Creation demands a creator, conscience demands cleansing. And because Gentiles have no special revelation, he said they have turned to idolatry, their need for a connection with a God has produced it. And it resulted in the worship of the creation and not the creator. Now conscience in the Gentile also produced in them a sense of guilt. They're aware of moral laws, but they still violate them. You see, conscience can accuse or it connects, excuse, but it cannot free you from the guilt of sin. Now the Jews, they have something that theologians refer to in this way. They call it special revelation. They have the law, they have the prophets, they have what are called the writings. And so the law is what is the first five books of the Bible from Genesis through the first five books. It's called the Pentateuch, the first five books, but they also have the prophets. The prophets are what is called the second division. It consists of Joshua and judges of Samuel, Kings. It consists of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the 12 minor prophets, and it contains a message as God had given the prophets to deliver to the people. So they have the law, they have the prophets. They also have what are called the writings. The writings make up the final division. That would include the Psalms and Proverbs, the Book of Job, the Song of Songs, Ruth Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles. So it would be consisting of those things. For those of you who are taking notes, sorry I went so fast. None of you are, so I don't care. Anyway, within these books, there are instructions on how to please God. And within those books, they have given advantages to the nation of Israel. The advantages would include the temple, the sacrifices, the priesthood. When we get to Romans chapter nine, verse four, Paul speaks of the Israelites. He says to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises. And so Jews have spiritual advantages. And so Paul is saying that the Gentile has creation and conscience. The Jews have special revelation. But in spite of all of that advantage that Israel has, they are still both Jew and Gentile guilty before God. Now that's something by the way that the first martyr of the Christian church, man named Stephen, that's something that he called Israel out on. In Acts chapter seven, verse 52, he said this. He said, was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. And so Paul is speaking of that, which is true. Gentile and Jew. Gentile who has creation and conscience. Jew who has revelation. Both stand equally guilty before God. And the Jews, though they had advantages and still do really in many ways, are no better than the Gentiles because both need to be forgiven. And so as Paul has been saying that, he began to make a scriptural case for all humanity being under sin. And he made a point, we saw that as we went through verses from verse nine following. He pointed out that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. In verse 10, he had said, it is written there's none righteous, no, not one. No one has ever outside of Christ. He's saying been morally righteous. And because we have sin nature, no one can do absolute good. You can do a certain kind of good, but you cannot do absolute good. And he was pointing that out. He said in verse 11, that there is none who understands. In other words, no man has the ability to comprehend spiritual truth without enlightenment by the spirit. He said in verse 11, also there's none who seek after God. There's none who seek to know God and to do his will. He was pointing out that we're all lost sheep in need of a good shepherd. In verse 12, he had said they have all turned aside. They have gone out of the way as what he's saying. They've gone in the wrong direction. Humanity has left the true path of pursuing God in his will. Together, he said in verse 12, they become unprofitable. I pointed out last time we're together that that word unprofitable in the original language speaks of something that is putrid. It's like sour milk. He's saying all humanity has with one consent fallen to ruin. And that man without God cannot produce righteous works. And again, in verse 12, he said there's none who does good. No, not one. There's none who is morally upright. Instead, all seek to sin. Verse 13, he had said their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues, they have practiced deceit. When he spoke of this open tomb, I pointed out that that speaks of an open grave. Their speech is not only corrupt, but it corrupts others. They're like an unsealed sepulcher. Stench and death are present. And he's saying death proceeds from them for the words are dead. So the one who is spiritually dead cannot speak spiritual life. He said with their tongues, they practice deceit. In other words, they are smooth liars. They become smooth liars because they practice lying. He said in verse 13, the poison of cobra's asps is under their lips. When the unsaved preach, there's danger. The words are poisonous. Verse 14, he said their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. So they use their speech to harm and to hurt, not to heal. Their feet versus 15 and 16 are swift to shed blood. They're eager to commit terrible sin. They leave pain in their wake. The way of peace, verse 17, they have not known. They haven't sought the peace of God and they haven't sought peace with God. So they have no peace. And they're unfamiliar with what peace really is. The reason they have no peace is because they have no fear. They have no fear of God. So after making his case, Paul makes it clear all humanity is guilty before God. And his final statement, you cannot be saved if you try to keep the law to obtain righteousness. So in verse 19 and 20, and I'll begin there and roll into verse 21. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. You stand condemned in the law, and that he's saying is why we need the grace of God. And those who've received the written code are guilty. And most of us have done something that has caused the shame. We'll ask ourselves, why did I do that? And so he says, all people violate standards, and that's why I'll stand guilty before God. And so by the deeds of the law, you will not be justified. No matter how hard I try to be good, no matter how hard you try to be good, we'll always fall short of the glory of God. The law condemns. The law does not, does not save. The law reveals how far we fall short of the standards of God. The law defines what sin is, shows how we broke it, and then it sentences us. And unless God had done something for us, we would never realize our guilt before him. And no matter how good we are compared to others, we still fall short. And that's why we're to be thankful for his grace, because grace changes everything. And that's why we left off in our last study. So we'll pick up now at verse 21 and move on. Verse 21 and 22 again. Now, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the laws revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference. So somebody is really asking the question, and this is kind of like Paul's answer to this kind of question. The question would be, well, wait a minute, you've condemned man as sinners, both Jew and Gentile. And you're saying that God has a right to be angry. So my question to you would simply be this, if God is so angry about sin, why hasn't he immediately judged? If there really is a God, why has he not immediately judged? I've had people actually say that to me. I've had people and I've seen people who have made, they have raised their fists before God out there and they've said, if there's really a God, then strike me. And then they turn and say, see, there's no God. He didn't strike me. And then I step out of the way and a truck hits him. No, lightning. Why doesn't God immediately judge? Why doesn't he? Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. It is of the Lord's mercies that were not consumed because his compassion's fail not. They are new every morning. Then he goes on to say, great is thy faithfulness. Why haven't we been immediately consumed because God is merciful? Because God is graceful. And so he's balancing now. And this is what we'll see. He's balancing the judgment of God with God's mercy. So he says in verse 21, now the righteousness of God apart from the laws revealed. So he's saying that righteousness apart from the law of righteousness isn't the result of keeping any kind of moral law. If it's worked for to achieve, then that would be self-righteousness. So he's speaking of the righteousness of God in verse 22. He said, which is through faith in Jesus Christ. So instead of working for righteousness, righteousness comes through faith in Jesus. Righteousness, right standing before God is not the result of our effort. Righteousness is something the word is imputed that is given to us, something we don't possess without someone giving it to us. Righteousness is imputed to us by God himself. It isn't the result of me working because if I'm working to achieve righteousness, the only righteousness I'll have is self-righteousness because I made myself righteous. So I have to receive something that I don't have. And I receive that by faith. In Galatians 2.16, Paul said it like this. He said, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. You see, God requires a righteousness that he provides. He does not require us to produce it ourselves through our efforts. That's why Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5-21 are so powerful. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He made him who knew no sin, Jesus Christ, to be sin. He literally took upon himself the sin of the world, became an offering. He took upon himself our sin. So he took what was not his that he might give to me that which is not mine. So he took my sin, but he imputed to me his righteousness. That's how he gets right with God. It's not by doing your best. It's by receiving by faith. I was around eight years old. I was in catechism classes. Many of you have your own testimony. This is part of mine. And as I was sitting there, we used to receive a little workbook of some sort. And I was reading about prayers because I got bored with what the teacher was saying. So I started reading on my own. And it's said that if you pray these prayers that you would actually remove certain times, certain days, off of your stay in purgatory. I was raised Catholic. Some of you remember that word purgatory. It's a place where your sins are burned off, purged. We now call that junior high ministry, but then it was called purgatory. And so if you pray this prayer or you pray it had several prayers on this little workbook, you will you will pray 300 days off of your sentence. I prayed for an hour and I started counting up how many days I was praying off of my sentence in purgatory. That's the mentality and not just an eight year old. That's the mentality of people in general. If I do these good things, how much credit do I get for doing them? If I do a good thing for you and you appreciate it, what do I get from you for me doing that good thing? That's human nature. Many times we do good things so we can get good things. That's again, that's human nature. But in Christianity, it's not me doing something good. It's Jesus who did something good. And see, so I received from him his forgiveness, his mercy and his grace, not because I did something, but because he did something. Verse 23 says it all speaking of humanity have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There's none righteous. No, not one. Ecclesiastes 7 20 says there's not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. I'll have sinned that word sinned. Many of you already know that word means to miss the mark. It is a word that could be used if I had a bow and arrow will say and I was aiming at the at the target and there's the bull's eye. And so to miss the mark simply means to not hit a bull's eye. My whole life is not filled with hitting the bull's eye. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I have not been 100% accurate in the life. That's the point he's making. I'll fall short when he speaks of falling short that literally speaks of coming in last. It speaks of being inferior. So to fall short of the glory of God is to fail to receive the honor that God gives. No one has glory like God. And because of that, all will fall short of his glory. Paul, when he was writing to Timothy in 1st Timothy 6 verse 16 said it like this. He said, God alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light whom no one has seen or can see to him be honor and might forever. So I'll miss the mark. He said, all fall short of the glory of God. Now often the reason for this is because instead of desiring the praise from God, many times we do our good deeds to be seen by men. Jesus pointed that out, right? He said that some pray, some fast, some give, why? To be seen by men. And he said, I tell you, they receive what they're looking for, the honor from man. A lot of people look for the honor from man. Jesus said it like this. He said in John 544, how can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? You have made a choice, he's saying, to receive glory from man. Oh boy, can you pray? Oh man, do you know the scriptures? Oh, you know, are you such a generous giver? Oh, I can tell you're fasting because look at how sad your face is. You know, that kind of thing. You know, I've had friends like that. How you doing today? Oh, you're fasting. So give me your lunch, I'll eat it for you. We have to be careful, and Paul's pointing this out, that we don't seek glory that comes from man. Jesus said be careful. Be careful about that when men say good things about you. Be careful about that. Why? Because it goes to your head. Because after a while, you begin to long for it. We see that today in social media, don't we? I mean, people do things for likes. We want to be liked. We want to be noticed. That's a human thing. We can't argue against that. It's true. And so what happens is you begin seeking glory that comes from man, but not the glory that comes from God. So I'll have sin and fall short of the glory of God. All because of their sinful lifestyle, fall short of receiving the honor and glory that comes from God alone. Why? Because our sin has made a separation. So what should I do? Well, verse 24 tells me it says being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We can't be justified by trying to obey the law. We are justified by faith in Christ. Now the word justified for those who take notes means to declare the rightness of something or someone, to declare the rightness. God, in other words, forgives us of our sin and he frees us from its penalty and then he imparts to us his righteousness. So justification, I got the definition from a theological handbook. So I'll read it by justification. The sinner is declared righteous by God because the sinner has placed faith in Jesus. This has resulted because in Jesus he has come into a righteous relationship with God. And as a result, God has declared him to be not guilty because of Jesus justified. We used to say it like this. It's not really that accurate, but just as if I had not sinned. Justified is when God wipes away all of your sin and you stand before him in a righteous way. He's not looking at you. He has clothed you in something from him. So it's not your righteousness. It's his. He has decked you in his garment of righteousness. And so that comes by faith. It's not you trying hard until somebody says, man, righteous, you're righteous. We used to say that all the time. I even had a favorite group called the righteous brothers, but they were not righteous. So justification comes from redemption. That word redemption speaks of a ransom. In 1 Peter 1 18 and 19, Peter said it like this. He says, you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers. But he said, with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect, justification comes through Jesus's shed blood. It comes through him paying the price for me. When he's on that cross, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. He's making provision for us. And so he speaks in verse 25 and says, whom God, speaking of Christ Jesus, set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. Because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. Now he says, whom God, speaking of Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by his blood. That word blood, I looked it up today, just as I was reviewing my message. And the word blood actually is a word that speaks not simply of blood itself, but it's actually a word that the Greek, those who know it said, it speaks really of bloodshed, of the bloodshed, of the death of Christ. That's what it's pointing to. And so God has set forth Christ to be the one through the blood shed through him pouring out his blood. God set him forth to be the propitiation. Now, I don't know how many of you use the word propitiation today, maybe a hundred times or so, probably not. That's not a word we use, right? We don't use it unless we're looking at the Bible and talking about Bible concepts. Well, the word propitiation, the word means to satisfy. It speaks of appeasing anger. It is used to describe what is called an atoning sacrifice, propitiation. God is a righteous God. God is angry with sinners all day long. So John 3 36 makes it very clear that the wrath of God abides on those who have rejected him. So God's wrath needs to be satisfied. That's what propitiation through the blood of Christ has done. Now, there is a theologian named George Morrison, and he said, we read in the New Testament of Christ being offered as a propitiation for our sins, and our thoughts go back to pagan faith, excuse me, pagan faiths, where men tried to appease their angry gods. But the tremendous difference is that in all these faiths, man had to provide the propitiation. Man had to do it. Now, here's something for you that most of you don't care, so I'll say it anyway. Some of us remember mythologies. There's the legend or the myth of Helen of Troy. Just out of curiosity, I'm going to make this quick, but I'm just curious. How many of you have heard Helen of Troy? I'm just real interested. Okay, all of us have pretty much. Good. That way, I can bore you with facts. Here we go. Let me give you an insight. Okay, in pagan faith, man provides propitiation. In pagan faiths, man would do something or give something, and the more valuable it was to that man, the greater the favor in pagan faith, he receives from the God he's worshiping. And there's a very famous legend in the story of Helen of Troy, and so I wrote this down just to make sure I said it quickly. When the Spartan king Menelaus, when his wife Helen was abducted by the Trojan prince, Paris, and you never can trust those Trojans, anyway, boom, though we're going to have Anthony Munoz outside. But anyway, I'll go back. When Helen was abducted by the Trojan prince, Paris, his brother Agamemnon led the Greeks or the Spartan expedition to Troy to take back Helen. For the Greek fleet to set sail because Agamemnon had offended the goddess Artemis, he was required to sacrifice his daughter to appease Artemis' anger that he might gain favorable winds. That is a classic example of pagan propitiation. I need favorable wind. I kill my daughter so I can get favorable winds. I offended you. I'm sorry. That's pagan. And that's the point. In the Christian faith, God provides propitiation. He doesn't ask man for an atoning sacrifice. He gives the atoning sacrifice and he gives it because he loves the world and wills not that any should perish. And it's because he is so passionately eager to forgive that God sent his son to die. There's the difference. Man, I'll do this. I'll do that. I'll give you this. I'll give you that. I'll sacrifice this if you, God says, none of that works. What I'll do is I will give my son. And you could never give something as great as that. So God demonstrated his righteousness by the blood shed of Jesus. So when Jesus shed his blood, God provided justification for us as sinners and he showed that he hated sin and he showed he would deal with it. In verse 25 it says that he passed over. He said, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood to faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. So in doing this, he made it possible for all of our past sin to be forgiven. In giving Jesus, he revealed his righteousness and his rejection of sin. And through Jesus, he revealed his grace, his mercy, and his love for us. Excuse me for some reason I'm coughing. From Adam and Eve to the flood throughout history, God has been patient. In Psalms 78 verses 38 and 39, Eddie was merciful. He forgave their iniquities, did not destroy them. Time after time, he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. He remembered that they were flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. God's mercy, he knows our frame. And so he passed over all your previous sins. He's forgiven you through Christ. And so in verse 26 to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So man can now see that he is both just, but he also justifies us. And he did this by drawing us to himself through Jesus when he died on the cross. So verse 27, where is boasting then? It's excluded by what law? Of works? No. But by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith, the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law. Now this is a complicated argument, right? It's difficult to understand. So let's just close here. No. Verse 27, where is the boasting? It is excluded. He says by what law? The law of works? Man couldn't come to God in his own way. The point he's making is man comes through Christ. In Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, it says by grace you've been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves. It's a gift of God. Not by works so that no one can boast. Not by works so that no one can boast. Who is first given to God? And God says, I owe you something. Who is ever first loved God? None of us. We love him because he first loved us. So there are those who say, oh, I really love God, but they hate his word. There are those who say, I really love God, but they disregard the Son. Jesus made it clear you can't have the Father without the Son. There's only one way you can have the Father, and that's through the Son. And so no, I'm going to try to do good works. None of the good works I've ever done could ever in any way outweigh the evil that I've done just by being alive, just by living as long as I have all the evil. It's accumulated over a lifetime. And what, a few good things, you know, mowing somebody's lawn or painting somebody's walls is going to make it better? No. It doesn't work that way. I can't, you can't, nobody can be right with God outside of just accepting the grace of God. This Baptist pastor is attempting to teach his children about God's grace, and he says, I have this potted plant up here. I know you like potted plants. Anybody who wants it, I'm going to give it to you. I want to show you what grace is. And nobody comes up to get it. He says, what's wrong with you? This is a nice plot. Get it. It's yours. It's free. Nobody will get up and get it. And he keeps thinking to himself, this is ruining my illustration. Nobody wants to come and get it. Finally, a lady from the back gets up and comes walking up to the front of the church, picks up the pot, walks away, and he says, see, this is grace. And he begins to explain grace to the people. Then what happens? He's standing at the back, shaking hands with people when the woman who had the potted plant comes walking up. In one arm, she has the potted plant. In the other, she shakes his hand. And when she shakes his hand, she deposits a $20 bill in it. She said, a plant this beautiful can't be free. She undermined the entire illustration of grace. That was the point. It's free. And see, I'm telling you, be very careful. We as believers that we don't want to abuse the grace of God by thinking it just covers everything I have done or will do. Therefore, I can and still go to heaven. No, we don't abuse the grace of God. But at the same time, we don't reject it either. We live in it. We walk in it. We serve in it. We've been saved by it through the grace of God. And so it came through Jesus Christ by grace we have been saved through faith. So we're made right by faith in Christ. Why? He's the only one who could ever say, which of you can convict me of sin? He's the only one who has ever been able to say that in front of family and friends. Now, if I said, which of you can convict me of sins? My wife's sitting right here. I'd have to wait for her to leave because we're all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. And so that's the point he's making. We're made right by faith in Christ. In verse 29, he says, is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? He asks of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Is he the God of the Jews only? No, he's the God of the world. In Jeremiah 32, 27, I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is there anything too hard for me? So there's only one God, and this one God works consistently. So both Jew and Gentile, he's saying, come to God by and through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, as a Jewish believer, Paul made that clear. In Philippians 3, he had said this at verse 9. He said, I've lost all things that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. So do we make void the law verse 31 through faith? No. Was the law of Moses useless? Then and now? No. Jesus came to fulfill it. And that's why we need him. And this last week, that's what we're looking at on the road to Emmaus. Jesus, when he was speaking to these two disciples, and I have a couple of insights I want to give you, by the way, on Sunday about that kind of an interesting, and I'm going to use that as my introduction. But those who were on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, verse 44, as they were questioning amongst themselves and all, and Jesus attached himself and began to ask questions and then shared with them. He said to them in Luke 24, 44, this is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms. That all must be fulfilled. He had to fulfill those things. And one last thing, the law had many, many uses, but one of them, one of the purposes of the law was to lead us to Jesus. In Galatians 3, 24, the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. One last thought. If you've been raised in a home, if a person was raised in a home that had a, at least a bit of knowledge of God, that was useful in formulating within you a conscience. You knew what was right and you knew what was wrong because if you had a mom or a dad or both who would read to you and pray with you, they were imparting to you a moral barometer. And so, if you went out and took something, you had a guilty conscience. Why? Because you were taught that that's called stealing. I remember my son David when he had taken something and I was so upset. I thought, Oh my goodness, I've got a thief. And he was like three years old. I mean, I was already worked up over those things. I've got a thief. He's like his mom. Oh, she stole my heart. But I knew what was right and I knew what was wrong because I was raised in a place where you were taught that, right? But what about those who were not raised in a home that teaches us this is right and this is wrong? We're seeing that right now. We're seeing that right now in homes that don't have a moral barometer in homes where the children are not taught to pray or the children aren't are not taught this is right. This is wrong. Keep your word. Things like that. Go to church like that. What you end up with and I'm seeing it in my own lifetime. Whereas at one time, the general population, when you would speak to a person in the general population, they would admit these things are wrong. These things are right. But when you eliminate those things, you end up with everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. And that's what we have right now. And so the law has a purpose. It is like a tutor, instructor who brings the student to the answer. The law brought people to faith in Christ. So when it said thou shalt not steal, you violated that. When it said thou shalt not lie, you violated that. So you had morals. And so that caused conscience, a bit of guilt within you to the point where you said, I need to be freed of this pain. And that's why the Gospel found a home in you. Because it's the answer. The reason you're hurting is you're in war with God. When you surrender, you can have peace. You won't have peace until you surrender. And that's how peace comes, right? We know that from the word. That's how it comes. And so people who are trying to argue that their position is right are not admitting that they're miserable because they are. You cannot have peace without God. You cannot have joy without God. You cannot know what love is without God. You can't. You can't have any of that. Why? Because he gives you peace. He gives you joy and he is love. And so the law awakens us to the reality of who he is, how far I have fallen short. And the answer is Jesus Christ. And that's what Paul is teaching here in this chapter. Father, we bless you.