Book of Romans chapter 3. Now begin reading for our Bible reading before we seek the Lord's face for help. We'll begin reading in 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 that 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 through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. Amen. We'll end our reading in verse 31. Trust that the Lord has already blessed your hearts through the public reading of his word. With the scriptures open before us, let's bow briefly in a word of prayer. Our Father, we are thankful for the means of grace that have already blessed our souls, the reading of thy word, the singing of these great songs of the faith. And Father, we now come to this all-important time of the service, the preaching of thy word. And Father, we pray that the entrance of thy word would give light, that it would give understanding unto the simple. Lord, we freely confess to thee that we are simple folk, speak to our hearts, give us liberally of the power of the Holy Ghost today, that we will know thy help and that we would rightly divide the word of truth we ask in Jesus' name, amen. This morning, if I were to ask you the question, what is the gospel? What would you say? It's a pretty important question. And the answer that you give is a pretty important answer. When Christ began his public ministry, he went to his own synagogue in Nazareth, as he did every week, said that it was his custom, it was his lot to go to the synagogue, which is another reminder to God's people to always be in the Lord's house. We have the blessing of being with those that are of like precious faith. Christ gathered week by week in the synagogue with those that eventually rejected his own ministry. It's just a... a reminder to us of the joy that being in the Lord's house should bring to us. Christ was in the Lord's house every week. But he went to Nazareth, to the synagogue in Nazareth, as he did every week, and he began to read from Isaiah chapter 61. And we read in Luke 4, verse 18, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. And then a few verses later in verse 21, it says, and he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. When Christ ended his earthly ministry, just before he ascended to heaven, He spoke his final words to the disciples, which we read in Mark 16, verse 15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Christ began his earthly ministry with a reference to preaching the gospel, and he ended his earthly ministry with a reference to preaching the gospel. For that reason, I say that your answer to the question, what is the gospel, is pretty important. Christ began his ministry and ended his ministry here on earth with those two bookends that the emphasis of his ministry was upon the preaching of the gospel. It doesn't take us long as we look out upon the world of men to realize that the world is a pretty messed up place. Scriptures give one reason. for the vile condition, the vile state of the way that the world is, and that reason is sin. Ever since man fell into sin, the world has been a messed up place. The Shorter Catechism sums it up pretty well when it asks in question 19, what is the misery of that estate wherein to man fell? The answer that's given, All mankind by their fall, that is their fall into sin, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. I was just going over my notes a few minutes ago up here, and as I read through that, I realized in a way that I didn't realize when I was preparing it, that almost everything you read in that answer you can see in the world today, except for obviously that last part referring to the pains of hell forever. All mankind by their fault lost communion with God. You look out in the world today and it's not only a world that has lost communion, it's a world that wants nothing to do with the Lord, would sever communion with the Lord at every opportunity that the world can take. And it goes on to say, are under His wrath and curse. Doesn't take much of a reading of the word of God to understand not only are we liable for the wrath of God and that we deserve the wrath of God in many places in the scriptures, you can read that we're already under the wrath of God because of our sin. And then the last part, so made liable to all miseries in this life to death itself and to the pains of hell forever. The world is a miserable place. the miseries of this life, and to death itself. All these things are things that we can see in the world around us. And so we can say, obviously, that man's fall into sin has affected the world to the point that that's why the world is so messed up. The world has fallen in sin. The only answer to the results of the sin of man, which is separation from God, being under judgment for sin, and the just and legal condemnation for that sin, is the message of the gospel. In the preaching of the gospel, we not only understand that man has sinned, and we not only understand what that sin has done, But we also can see what God has done to reconcile sinners to himself. Or if you want to use the words of the woman in 2 Samuel 14, that God has devised means that his banished be not expelled from him. God has devised means, and that means is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, at the very heart of the message of the gospel is this theme of justification. Or to answer the question which could be proceeded or posed from the content of our verse 26 of our text, how can God be just and still justify the ungodly? If sin is the problem that the world has and God is holy, so holy that he cannot look upon sin, then how can God still be just and yet justify the ungodly, still justify those that are dead in trespasses and sins? It's the message of the gospel and specifically that aspect of the gospel that deals with justification. You may have heard that doctrine explained, you may have heard it discussed, you may have heard that term used, justification, what does it mean? Well, I could quote from the shorter catechism again, but I actually prefer the larger catechism definition of what justification is, where the question in number 70 is asked, what is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners. We just established that the world, the problem with the world in which we live is sin. Here, justification deals with sinners. It's an act of God's free grace unto sinners in which he pardoneth all their sins and accepteth and accounteth their persons as righteous in his sight, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ by God imputed to them and received by faith alone. Look at the answer that they gave, part of the answer. Only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ. Here we see the perfect obedience and full satisfaction and perfect righteousness of Christ in contrast to our own imperfect attempts at keeping the law. We fail, we sin, we come short of the glory of God as we read from our passage this morning. The only one who has kept the law of God perfectly and has rendered full satisfaction to the Lord for sin is Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul mentions this difference between our attempts at righteousness and what Christ has actually accomplished. He mentions this in Romans chapter 10. It's only a few pages. Turn with me to Romans chapter 10. This will actually help explain some of the content that we're going to consider this morning. Romans chapter 10, Paul says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, there's a term that you're gonna hear a lot of this morning, God's righteousness. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. If the heart of the gospel is justification, then we can say that at the heart of justification, we find this theme of righteousness. Righteousness is the heart of justification, which is the heart of the gospel. Sin, righteousness, judgment, all these themes you have to take into consideration when you're considering the theme of justification. But at the beginning of the book, in dealing with the gospel, the Apostle Paul explains why righteousness is the heart of the gospel in Romans chapter 1. Verse 15, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. This is Paul's preface, his prelude. He's explaining why he's writing this book. It's to preach the gospel. It's to set forth the gospel. You often hear of men taking people down the Romans' road to lead them to Christ. It's because the book of Romans is the book, one of the books, But in many ways, the book that describes the aspects of the gospel in such a clear way that when you read through the book of Romans, you come away with a full understanding of the different aspects of the gospel. Paul says, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. What he has written in this book is him preaching the gospel to those that are at Rome. He goes on to say, that the word for, you can just take that and translate that because. Paul just gets done saying that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth because therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. What is the gospel? It's the power of God unto salvation. Why is the gospel the power of God unto salvation? Because in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. Then you can ask the third question from Romans 1, why was the righteousness of God revealed? And verse 18 of that chapter says, because the wrath of God is revealed. That's an easy outline to remember from Romans chapter one. The gospel is the power of God and the salvation. Why? Because in it the righteousness of God is revealed. Why? Because the wrath of God has been revealed. Men need righteousness because God is angry with them because of their sin. That's why we preach the gospel. That's the message of the gospel. And so I want to focus this morning on the heart of the heart of the gospel, which is the theme of righteousness. And I'd like to consider this most important aspect, this most important subject this morning, a free justification through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. The free justification through an imputed righteousness. And so first of all, we're gonna see in dealing with this subject of a free justification through an imputed righteousness, that from our passage beginning in verse 21 of Romans 3, we see that the offer of God's imputed righteousness is something which is clear to see. It's not shrouded, it's not hidden. It's clear to see, and actually, it's clear to see in that section of God's inspired Word that we often consider to be types and shadows. The Old Testament Scripture, that's one of the arguments that Paul makes here. When he says that the gospel is clear to see, he actually says that the revelation of this gospel is set forth by two aspects of the old economy. We'll get to that in a second. But the thing I want you to see is that the offer of God's imputed righteousness is something that's clear to see. Look at our text in verse 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the law and the prophets. The word for manifested, I said it's clear to see the message of the gospel. The word for manifested is also translated appear in several places in the New Testament. 1 Peter 5, verse four, when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. It's obvious that it's dealing with the Lord's return and we're all gonna see him. It's very clear when he appears. The word is translated that way as well in 1 John 3, verse 2. It's used twice in that verse. And we read, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. We haven't seen what we're going to be. There's the negative of the word. We haven't yet seen it. It's not visible to us. It does not yet appear where we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. It helps give you an understanding of the Word. We can't see what we're going to be, because all we see is our shortcomings and our failures. We're still under the bondage of sin. We're all going to die. which reminds us that we're still under this bondage that the world itself is under. The whole creation's under it, groaning and travailing. We haven't seen what the Lord has prepared for us in our physical bodies, but we know that when we see Him, we'll be like Him. So that's how the word is used, and it's translated in our text, manifested. but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. So in reality, we can read verse 21 this way, but now God's righteousness apart from the law is clear to see. It's visible. There's a righteousness in the scriptures that God has set forth, which is clear for us to see. Now, what does it mean when we refer to that aspect of the verse that talks about being apart from the law? You may say, it's confusing. You say there's a righteousness that God has clearly shown, and yet here we're told that it's without the law. It's without the law. I thought righteousness had to be obedience to the law. Now I'm reading in this verse, there's a righteousness that appears that it's manifested without the law. What's Paul trying to say? Well, righteousness is always to be taken in the context of law, always. So that's not a way that you can consider this verse, without the law. Righteousness always deals with obedience. It always deals with keeping the law. So what's the passage mean? Well, I think the passage is actually very clear. If you go back and read one verse before this, you'll get the sense of what the apostle is saying. Now, at the beginning of this chapter, Paul is arguing, as he has been building this argument through the book of Romans, chapter one is very clear that the Gentiles are under sin. Chapter two, Paul argues that the Jews, because of their sin, are under the same wrath of the Lord because of their sin. Well, then the question is asked, well, what advantage then have the Jew? If you're telling me that the Jews are under the same wrath of God as the Gentiles are, and they're gonna suffer for their sin, then what advantage is it to be a Jew? I was actually going to preach from this passage a little bit different message. I think even a couple weeks ago I was talking to a couple of you folks and I was going to use this verse to preach a message entitled, A Word to the Unsaved Churchgoer. A Word to the Unsaved Churchgoer. and I was gonna draw connections between those that are in the Lord's house and are still unsaved and the Jews that were still unsaved. There's a connection because Paul here says much every way, there's a blessing for being a Jew, even those that are unsaved. Chiefly, the chief of those blessings is that unto them were committed the oracles of God. You wanna know what the blessing of being an unsaved Jew was? is that they still were being exposed to the word of God. And that's the same blessing that unsaved churchgoers can enjoy. And that gives us hope and confidence for those of you that are here and you're unsaved, that you have the opportunity to sit under the preaching of the word the same way that the Jews received the oracles of God. We pray for you. We pray that the Lord will show you your need for Christ, but there's no better place for an unsaved person to be than in the Lord's house. You are a privileged person. You young people that have been raised in Christian homes, you may, in your own mind, think you can't wait until you get old enough that you can walk out the door. Well, if you walk out the door, you're walking away from much of the privilege that you're enjoying before the Lord right now, which is that you have the opportunity to sit under the preaching of the word of God. You go to another nation where families know nothing of the gospel. Those kids, they don't know anything of the gospel. They never hear the message of the gospel. So you may think you're in rebellion, and you are. You're rebelling against Christ. You will not have Christ to rule over you, and yet you're still privileged. that Lord's day after Lord's day, you have the opportunity to sit under the preaching of the word of God. That's how I was gonna take the passage. But in this chapter, that's how it starts. And then Paul says, they have every advantage because they sit under the preaching of the word, but they're still under sin. And he goes and lists verse after verse. till you get down really to verse 19, showing that everyone who rejects Christ, everyone who is still dead in sin, is in the same condemnation. Where we read in verse 19, now we know that what thing soever the law saith, is saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. All the world, all the world, Jew, Gentile, we're all under sin. And to sum it up, the apostle says in verse 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. I believe that the section of the verse that we're considering where you read, but now the righteousness of God without the law, that section without the law, is a reference to verse 20, where Paul says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified. What this verse is saying is that God has revealed a righteousness that can be put to your account apart from your attempts at being justified by keeping the law. And that's really what is the sum and substance of Romans chapter 10, the passage that we read a few minutes ago where Paul says, they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. That is being reflected in this section of Romans chapter 3. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. There's two righteousnesses that are being put forward. Paul is arguing very well under the influence of the Holy Ghost that there is no righteousness. in the attempt of our keeping the law. But God has revealed, he's made it very clear that there is a righteousness which he provides that is apart from your attempt at keeping the law. It's apart from your attempt at keeping the law. You no longer have to go about to establish your own righteousness. Later on, Paul would tell us very clearly that the law, what's the whole purpose of the law? It's to function as our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ. When we look at the law and the law that has been given to us by the Lord, it's never been for the attempt of trying to keep that law in order to please the Lord. We can't do it. We are fallen. We just spent a great deal amount of time in the introduction talking about the misery that we see because of our sin. All we see when we look at the law isn't a law that can be kept, it's a law that condemns us. But now the righteousness of God outside our attempts at keeping the law is made clear. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith, and we'll get to that in a moment. This is the message. This is why what I've referred to as imputed righteousness is such an important doctrine. Such an important doctrine. It deals with how sinners can be reconciled to God. But now God's righteousness apart from our attempts at keeping the law is clear to see. Why is it clear to see? Well, this verse tells us. Because the law and the prophets have shown us. It's interesting that the law and the prophets are singled out because every Jew would have known that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word would be established. So it wasn't just that Paul says, the scriptures told us. Here, we're dealing with a testimony. We're dealing with someone or some individuals that would testify in a legal sense. There's two witnesses that show us that this revelation of God's righteousness is clear to see, the law and the prophets. Now, the law we've already seen. The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It testifies of God's righteousness by showing us we can't manufacture our own righteousness. There's the testimony of the law. But what about the prophets? The prophets, the Old Testament prophets, I thought the Old Testament was unclear. I thought it was types and shadows. There are verses, there are passages in the Old Testament scriptures. We don't have time to deal with them all, but the prophets themselves testify over and over again of God's righteousness and that righteousness being provided for us in the gospel. It's the same gospel that's preached today as was preached in the Old Testament scriptures. Go to Jeremiah chapter 23, if some of you are familiar with this passage, you don't need to turn to it, I'm just going to refer to it. Jeremiah chapter 23, we're told in verses 5 and 6, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness." The Lord our righteousness. A different righteousness. A righteousness that differs from our attempts at keeping the law. Here we're said it's wrapped up in one individual. And we know from the previous verse, it's dealing with Christ. The one who would come that would take to himself human flesh and put himself under the law. And over and over again, you find the Lord very carefully, very clear, walking in such a fashion to ensure that that righteousness would be fulfilled. Even the baptism that he underwent under John. You remember, John says, you come to be baptized in me, I need to be baptized of you. What did Christ say? Suffer to be so now to fulfill all righteousness. What does that mean? What does that mean? He didn't have sin. Why did he have to fulfill righteousness? Because he's Jehovah's Zinchenu. He's the Lord our righteousness. There's a righteousness that is being merited that is put to our account that we haven't earned. It's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Here he is said to be that righteousness. It's speaking of Christ in his person. He is Jehovah's Akennu. The interesting thing, this passage is found in a very similar fashion later in the book, in Jeremiah chapter 33. So it's easy to remember, Jeremiah chapter 23, and then Jeremiah chapter 33. It's found, I say, in a very similar fashion, but there are a few words that are a little bit different. And in Jeremiah chapter 33, verses 15 and 16, we read, in those days and at that time, I will cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. Same righteous branch, branch of righteousness, same reference to Christ. And he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. And in those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord, our righteousness. This is the name wherewith she shall be called. And we just read in Jeremiah chapter 23 that that title, Jehovah Sikhenu, is applied to the Son of God. And we can understand how that reference is applied to Christ because he is Jehovah. I'm not gonna take the time to go through the scriptures. Hopefully I'm not any Jehovah's Witnesses here this morning. But if I do, you can meet me at the door and I'll show you from the scriptures very clearly where Christ is Jehovah. I say this term Jehovah Sikhenu, the Lord our righteousness, we understand that that title, that that reference could be made of the Lord, but to be made of God's people, that I have the privilege and the honor to be referred to as Jehovah Sikhenu, how can that be? It's because God views his people with the righteousness of Christ. the one who came into the world to fulfill all righteousness. Of him, it can be said, he's Jehovah's Zakenu, but of me, it can be said, I'm Jehovah's Zakenu because his righteousness is put to my account. That's why, and you can, it isn't just Jeremiah. You can go to other references, other references in the prophets where you see the gospel being set forth. You can go to the Psalms, the whole Old Testament. As a matter of fact, in Romans chapter four, the very next chapter, and we don't have time to deal with it, but this is one of the arguments that Paul makes, is that this imputed righteousness, this justification by faith, is seen in the accounts of two of the most well-known men in all the Old Testament, Abraham and David. Abraham and David, David mentioning in the Psalms about The joy that those individuals know who don't have their sins imputed to them. Rejoicing in the gospel. Abraham rejoicing because when he believed the Lord, it was imputed to him for righteousness. Read through it yourself. We'll refer to a few of the verses in a few moments from Romans 4. But like I said, this whole section of the Word of God from Romans 3 to Romans 5 is really an entire argument. It's hard. It's like going down an interstate. You have so many exits that you can take, but you know you're not gonna get to the end if you take every exit. And there are so many things that open up in these chapters that really are too much for us to deal with in one message. But the thing I want you to see is that the clear revelation of this righteousness that God provides, it isn't a New Testament doctrine. I think you'll find as you go through the Scripture, it is the only hope of both Old Testament saints and New Testament saints. The only hope that we have, whether we live in the days of Abel or whether we live in our day today, is that the righteousness that God provides is put to our account, is to be found in union with the one who is said to be Jehovah Sikhenu. That's God's righteousness. We'll develop that in a moment. But the first thing I wanted you to see is that the offer of God's imputed righteousness is clear to see. Old and New Testament. supported by the law and the prophets. But then the second thing is that the acceptance of the offer of God's imputed righteousness must be by faith alone. It's one thing to say that we can see that God has a righteousness that is outside our attempts at keeping the law. But what good does that do me? If it simply exists, You can see the money in your bank account, but if you never draw upon that money, it doesn't do you any good. There is a promise that is given. It's clearly seen from the Old Testament scriptures that there is a righteousness which God provides. But what good does that do you? You have to go beyond. The clear revelation that that promise exists. And you have to accept the promise. You have to accept the offer of God's imputed righteousness. And we see from this passage that it's by faith alone. The first thing we see, obviously, is that it's received by faith alone. Look at verse 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." The faith of Jesus Christ, what does that mean? What does that mean? It doesn't make sense to me if I read the faith of Jesus Christ. When we use the genitive, we often refer to it as being possessive. Is this Christ's faith? I used to listen to a theologian on the radio He was reformed, he was right on a lot of his doctrine, but he was kind of wacky on some things. This is one of the things he was wacky on when he came to this verse. He actually took it exactly as it is read in the authorized version, and he actually said that this faith that's referred to here is Christ's faith, and that that is imputed to us. Besides being heretical, that doesn't flow with the argument that Paul's making. You say, how do you know that? Well, look at the very end of the verse, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. There's a reference to those that believe. And so what use of the genitive is this? Is this possessive? No. I don't see Dr. Allison's here, but I think he told me, as I recall, like 20-some uses of the genitive, 22 uses of the genitive in Greek, something like that, 22, 23. I'm not much of a Greek scholar, but I do remember that. It makes it very confusing if you just translate this into what the genitive usually reads. You have to understand there are different uses of the genitive, and one of the uses of the genitive is the objective genitive. And that's how we should read this passage, about faith, not the faith of Christ and that it's Christ's faith, but it's faith that rests in the Lord Jesus Christ. So if we read it that way. And I actually like the way Lenski translated this verse, and I'll just read for you how he interpreted this verse. Moreover now, apart from the law, God's righteousness has been made manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Yea, God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ for all those believing. That's what that phrase means, the faith of Jesus Christ. It's talking about those of us that rest in Christ, those of us that are believing in Christ. It's the objective genitive. Don't think for a minute somehow it's referring to Christ's faith. It doesn't even make sense according to the passage. Paul is arguing there's a righteousness that God has provided for you. And the argument that he's raising here is that you have to accept that offer. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. It's a faith righteousness. It's a righteousness that comes to you the moment you believe. That's why you find the apostles, when they go out to preach, what are they doing? They're imploring, they're beseeching men to come to Christ. Why? It's the only way that they can have God's righteousness. It's the only way that they can be accepted before God, is when God's righteousness is put to their account. They're going about to establish their own righteousness. All they're doing is breaking God's law. You never can manufacture a righteousness by your own attempts at keeping the law. Paul says, but now the righteousness of God's clearly seen. It's even witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. You say, well, everyone believes that, right? Faith in Christ? No, everyone doesn't believe that. It's actually the main issue that was fought in the days of the Reformation. It's actually the main issue that Protestants should still make. The main difference between us and the Church of Rome. Speak with a little bit of authority here because I was saved out of the Church of Rome. I know what I was taught. I know what the church still teaches. The church teaches exactly what they taught in the days of the Reformation. They can't deny. Actually, when you understand Roman Catholic theology, you understand they can't undo what the councils have determined and decided because they believe in what they call the unanimous consent of the fathers. Once the fathers have agreed upon a certain doctrine, the whole foundation of the system gets ripped out from under it if they undo what the fathers have said. The reason why I say that is because after the Reformation, which wasn't just a political movement, it was an awakening of Europe, it was a reviving of God's people, a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost. On the heels of the awakening that the Lord brought, the Church of Rome responded. to the teachings of the reformers when it came to preaching a free justification through an imputed righteousness. And the council that they formed, it's known as the Council of Trent, it actually went for 18 years. I could think of... Better things that they could have done over those 18 years for sure, especially when I read a few of these canons that they wrote on the heels of the Council of Trent. But they wrote certain anathemas, certain statements that had to do with the preaching of the gospel that the reformers were engaged in. Souls were coming to Christ. Lives were being transformed. The gospel was going out with power. They responded to that movement of God with certain statements. certain canons, and there's a number of them. You can just go to Google. That's what I did. Google the Council of Trent canons and they'll all come up for you. The Canon 11 of the Council of Trent. If anyone saith that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission of sins to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost and is inherent in them, or even that grace whereby we are justified is only the favor of God, let him be anathema. Let him go to hell. I think I want to say in the next canon, Canon 12, if anyone saith that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified, let it be anathema. So I have the anathema of the Church of Rome if I believe what Paul is arguing in Romans chapter three, that I am no longer supposed to go about to establish my own righteousness, but God has revealed a righteousness which he provides, even the righteousness that God gives by faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. The differences are still there. That's what the Church of Rome continues to teach. Now, they'll say that you're saved by God's grace. They'll use terms that sound good. They say, oh, we believe in salvation by grace just like you do. But what do they mean by grace? When they talk about salvation by grace, they're talking about sacramental grace. It's grace that's given to you upon completion of the sacraments. When you do and perform the sacraments, God gives you grace, and that's the grace whereby you're saved. That's nonsense, that's works. That's not the righteousness that God has established in his word. That's not the righteousness of the gospel. How do you know? Because the righteousness that God provides is by faith in Jesus Christ. It says it right there. It says it in Romans chapter 10. I'm not supposed to go about to establish my own righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to all that believe. Praise the Lord, we don't have to go about to establish our own righteousness. Praise the Lord, that if you're in Christ today, your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. It cannot be improved upon, because it's the righteousness of Jehovah Zikinu. It's the righteousness of the Son of God who came into this world to fulfill all righteousness. It's perfect righteousness, it's perfect obedience. The Lord says, if you want that obedience, you come and put your trust in Jesus Christ. That's what this passage is saying. It isn't just that it's clearly seen in the scriptures, you have to accept this righteousness. It's by faith in Jesus Christ. That's why we preach the gospel. That's why we desire that the Lord will call more men to preach the gospel. We're gonna get to that tonight from Ephesians chapter four. and hopefully have a little bit of insight as to how to properly pray and act in relation to the men that the Lord has called to the ministry. That's why we pray for men to be called to preach the gospel. It's the only way that sinners can be righteous before God, by faith in Jesus Christ. So there's the acceptance of the offer it's received by faith alone. It also requires no special pedigree, praise the Lord. Look in verse 22. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We tend to focus on verse 23, because it's a well-known verse. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. would say with Oliver B. Green, all A-L-L, referring to everybody, everyone that's in the world, we've all sinned, but we forget the all that's in the verse before. which says, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. The gospel isn't just for the Jew. The gospel isn't just for the one who gives a certain outward appearance. The gospel is for all. The all that are found in verse 23, all have sinned, all need to hear the gospel. There's no special pedigree. I don't have to fret that I'm not gonna be accepted before God because I'm not a Jew. I don't have to fret. that I'm not from a certain part of the world. Because I look out over the world and I see all have sinned. So then I can apply that to verse 22, the gospel goes out to all. All those that believe will be accepted, will be brought in. The offer of the gospel goes to them. So it requires no special pedigree. It's given by the free grace of God alone. It's given by the free grace of God alone. Verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, it's true. It's procured by faith. We receive it by faith. But the fact that we have been brought to that place where we come and embrace Christ as He is offered in the gospel is an indication that the grace of God is already at work. Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith. And that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. The faith that we receive, the faith that we exercise when we're dealing with the gospel, the faith that we find and that we exercise to rest upon Christ alone for salvation, even that is the gift. It's given to us by the Lord. Now at the time, you may not know that. At the time you may not know all these doctrines, you may be just sitting in a meeting, you hear the proclamation of the gospel, you see your need for Christ and you come and believe. That's what you're supposed to do. That's what every sinner needs to do. It isn't until later that you see and you realize how this all works in what we refer to as the order of salutis, the order of salvation. You realize then it was the grace of God that even brought me to that place to embrace Christ in the gospel. And Paul makes it very clear just in a little bit different language in this passage. We always go to Ephesians chapter two. Maybe you can tuck this away as well. Every time you think about salvation by grace through faith, this is another being justified. And here we're dealing with the heart of the gospel and the word that is always connected to faith, right? Justified by faith, justification by faith alone. But here we're justified freely by his grace through the redemption. that's in Christ, not just by faith. It's just not that it doesn't require any special privilege, but it's given by the free grace of God alone. Even after we have come to Christ and embraced Christ in the gospel, there's still no place for boasting. You realize the only reason why you were enabled by the Spirit of God to embrace Christ as he's offered in the preaching of the gospel is because of God's grace. It's also offered to those who trust in Christ's atoning work. It isn't just Christ's obedience that comes into play when we're dealing with justification. But in verse 24, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. It's a big word, propitiation. Heard some people years ago, I was talking to a guy talking about versions, and that versions need to update these big words because no one knows what it means. Well, maybe they need to sit under preaching where the preacher can tell you what it means rather than mess with the translation. Just because you don't know what propitiation means doesn't mean I have to change the passage. Learn what propitiation means. Maybe a big word, but you can do it. It means removal of wrath. The wrath is removed, the anger is removed. I don't need to change the word, it's a great word. I love the word, propitiation. The wrath of God was poured out upon Jesus Christ when he was making an atonement for your sins. All of the wrath of God was poured out upon Jesus Christ. To quote the old hymn writer, payment God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine. God is not gonna demand payment for sin that has already been paid for. It's paid for, it's done, it's done away with. Another passage in Colossians talks about the handwriting of ordinances that's blotted out, that was against us. He's taking it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. You ever spill ink? Spill ink on something, if it's writing, you're never gonna see that again. Why? Because it's got completely blotted out. The stain just overtakes everything. Can't see it anymore. Paul says that's what happened to our sin. Christ did away with our sin, He blotted it out. The handwriting of ordinances that was against us. Here it's referred to as propitiation. The anger, the wrath, the just anger. The anger and the wrath of God that we deserve because of our sin. And we see it, we know it, every day we know it. Even having come to Christ. and rejoicing in the work of Christ for me, I still see it. I'm reminded every day that my sins needed to be dealt with. Here we're told that Christ is the propitiation. He not only merited a perfect righteousness, but he took all the wrath of God that was due upon me for my sin. God is appeased. He's no longer angered. There's no wrath left. That same hymn, how can wrath on me take place if sheltered in thy righteousness and sprinkled with thy blood? There's no more wrath, it's gone. That's why I say this free justification, it isn't just offered to those who have a righteousness, but it's also offered to those who trust in Christ's atoning work. And then it answers the most important question. We dealt with it a little bit in the introduction. In verse 26, to declare, I say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. How is it, we mentioned this earlier, how is it that God can be just and yet justify those that are in Christ? How is it that God who has to be just, the fact that he is God means that he's just, he's always just. How is it that he can justify me? I've broken his law. I've broken his law. Not only have I not kept it, which he commands, which speaks of obedience, but I've broken it, which requires punishment for sin. How can God accept me? It's through the work of Jesus Christ. That's why we preach the gospel. There's no other way. If there was another way, Christ would not have come into the world to undergo all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and hanging upon the cross, suffering on behalf of his people. He wouldn't have done it. He wouldn't have put himself under the law. He had to put himself under the law. He had to take Abraham's seed, the nature, a true human nature, and undergo all of those things for us because there was no other way. The only other option for doing away with sin is that you and I go to hell for all eternity. Those are the two options. There isn't a third option of trying your best to go about to establish your own righteousness. The only righteousness that God accepts is Jehovah's Akanu. The Lord, our righteousness. And these two great facts that cry out for our condemnation, a breaking of the law and a not keeping of the law. They continue to cry out in the ears of God. They're satisfied because Christ obeyed the law for us, which merits life. You say, how do you know that? Go through the Old Testament, see how many times life is promised upon condition of perfect obedience. The Lord says, keep this law and live. Keep this law. You have hope of eternal life this morning? It's because your trust is in Christ. It's because God views you as if you've kept the law perfectly. So I can go to those verses where the Lord says, keep this law and live, and I can say, God views me as Jehovah's Akenu. I've kept the law in Christ. And therefore, we can rejoice in the fact that life is ours because we've kept His law. So not only does it answer that, because otherwise, if we don't keep His law, we have no right to life. We have no claim upon life. You want to live forever? You have no claim before God to live forever if you haven't kept His law. Life is upon condition of perfect obedience. Not only do we have that in the gospel, that Christ kept the law for me, but then he removed all the negative, which was my violation of the law, which calls out for my condemnation. He made an atonement. The two aspects of justification, the two aspects, deals with not only the removal of sin, but a righteousness that's put to my account. It's the righteousness of Christ. If you've come to Christ by faith this morning, you are as accepted before God as you can ever be. And it may be hard for you to understand this if you don't know the Lord, but you take a sinner like David, right? David was a good man. He loved the Lord. He fell into sin. And in a brief time, he committed adultery, murdered the husband of the woman that he committed adultery with, and tried to cover the whole thing up. And when the whole thing was blown open, when Nathan came to him and said, Thou art the man, and David confessed, I have sinned, what was the word to David? The Lord has also put away thy sin. Why? Because David's trust was in Christ. Even the sins that were committed with that hard heart, that we would consider great sins, right? That affect other people, murder, adultery, lying, corruption, abuse of power. I mean, that would make the headlines. You think that people would want to nail our president on those things. They probably have already accused him of a lot of those things. But here's David, the top man in the land, guilty of all those things. And yet the Lord says, the Lord has also put away thy sin. Why? Because he was in Christ. And your sin is just as vile in the sight of God as David's. And yet you and I can have the confidence that God doesn't accept us based upon our merits. He doesn't deal with us upon whether or not I keep the law of God perfectly. It's been kept for me. And all my sins and my iniquities, David says it in that way, as far as the East is from the West. So far has thou removed my transgressions from me. Sin, righteousness, both dealt with in the gospel. That's why we preach the gospel. So it isn't just this offer of God's imputed righteousness and the acceptance of God's imputed righteousness by faith alone, but then the effect of accepting God's offer of imputed righteousness is a free justification from sin and its power. Verse 28, at the end of the passage, therefore, in light of all the things that we've considered, Paul says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Don't go about to establish your own rights. Don't try to be as good a person as you can be, knowing full well that you're not what God demands. You may look at it and say, oh, I'm better than this person, or I'm better than that person. I didn't do this, or I didn't do that, so God's not gonna deal with me as harshly. Well, I'll leave the Lord to deal with you for the things that you think aren't as harsh as other people. Because I do believe that there are certain sins that warrant more harsher punishment. But just because you're not as bad, quote unquote, by the world's standards, doesn't mean God's not gonna punish you for your sin. The only way that you can be assured that not only are your sins washed away, but you have a perfect righteousness put to your account, is if you come and put your trust in the work of Jesus Christ. That's why we preach the gospel. Tonight we're going to consider a few things from Ephesians chapter 4 about those that do preach the gospel and how it's connected to Christ's ongoing work. And maybe this message combined with that message will give you a better appreciation as to how we're to pray that the Lord would continue to raise up men to preach the gospel. It's the only hope that sinners have, whether you're dealing with us as a nation, dealing with us as a state, or sinners far abroad, mission work, it's the same message. It continues to go forth. It's the message of the gospel. There's a righteousness that's provided in the gospel, which is seen in the merits of Jesus Christ. So I trust that some of these thoughts concerning God's righteousness and imputed righteousness, it's put to our account, may be a blessing to your souls and that we would not soon forget the truths of the gospel. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Our Father, we are thankful for the opportunity to consider the gospel, thankful for the opportunity of Remembering once again that the only hope of acceptance we have is Jehovah's sakenu, the Lord, our righteousness. So Father, take these thoughts as we have considered them today and bless them to our souls. Remember, Lord, those that are still unconverted, that are in rebellion to Christ. They will not have this man to rule over them. Lord, soften their hearts. Show them their need for Christ. what great benefits and privileges there are to those that are in Christ. We long to see them joined to Christ. We long to see them repent of their sins and come trust in Christ in faith and repentance. Lord, do the work, soften the hearts, show them their need for the Savior. And Father, we will be sure to give thee the glory. Lord, we look to thee. Go with us throughout the day. May the Lord's day be a blessing to us. Bring us back to thy house once again, ready to receive the engrafted word. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.