We're continuing our series on the doctrine of justification. We're going to be summing up this doctrine in the next, well, this week, next week, possibly one third week, depending on how we get through this material. And then we will return to our study of the book of Romans, beginning at chapter nine. This Lord's Day, I want to speak to you on the ground of justification. Our text is Romans 3, beginning at verse 21. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. Be witness 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 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God 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. to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Shall we look to the Lord our God in prayer? Father, we are thankful for Thy Word. We ask that You would bless Your Word this day. Father, may we be grounded in truth. We may be more established in our faith. We may be more secure in our understanding of redemption and assurance from Thy Word and by Thy Spirit. We thank You for the many blessings You have given to us. Father, now give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive that which Your Spirit and Word would teach us. We ask it in Christ's most precious and holy name. Amen. Just by way of introduction, I want you to keep in mind that as we look at the ground of justification, we really come back to look at the essence of God as a just God. Too often when we talk about God, people often think of God within what we call a liberal or neo-orthodox context. And they say things like, well, God's most central attribute is love. Well, clearly, one of God's attributes is love. But it is not the central attribute of God. The most central attribute to God is His holiness. And in fact, we know that God is a just God, a holy God, in all that He does, He does it right. That makes Him the true, just Creator and Redeemer and Sustainer of all things. We must understand God in light of His justice. In light of a God who cares about what He has commanded of us. How we respond to those commands. That that which He has promised, He fulfills toward us. And that which He promises, He never takes away. He never takes back from us. And so it is that understanding of God becomes essential in relationship to the law of God. For God has given to man commandments from the beginning. Yea, Adam in the garden had a commandment not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which we have noted over and over again, that we call original sin. For when Adam disobeyed the commandment of God, and he and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, They fell into condemnation because God, who is a just God, must judge them according to what He has commanded them. Our God is not a God, like unto many parents today, who when they say something to their children, never follow through with it. When He said to Adam and Eve, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they ate, the resulting condemnation was a just, righteous act of God upon them. And so it is with all that God has commanded of us, this just God demands obedience from us. And we who do not yield that obedience, yea, as a result of Adam's original transgression, our nature being bound to a sinful nature, cannot render such obedience. We are justly condemned by God. We stand as violators of God's law, and as a result, we need redemption. Because the justice of God Demands satisfaction. The problem is, man is incapable of rendering satisfaction to God. Because that which Adam did has been imputed to us. It is counted against us. Even though the Scripture says we did not sin in the likeness of His sin, yet God has passed all of that upon us in condemnation. Adam acted as our representative. Romans 5, when we went through it, you remember, you have the first Adam being the one at the Garden of Eden, the second Adam being Christ. The first Adam brings sin and condemnation, the Scripture says, upon all men. And thus, as David the prophet said, we come forth from our mother's womb speaking lies. That is the essence and the nature of this sin and condemnation that has befallen us. And rightfully so. Adam acting on our behalf, we under that condemnation stand in violation of a just God's law. And therefore, we need to be made right. What is the ground upon which we can be made right? The theology of Saint Paul that we examined two Lord's days ago, seems to contradict the teaching of the Old Testament about God's judgment in ways. And that he will not tolerate the unrighteous is clearly taught from the Old Testament. And yet the apostle refers to him as a God who justifies the ungodly. Does it not seem in itself kind of contradictory? If God is just, And He has given us a command by which we are to be obedient. And if we do not fulfill that command, yea, we cannot fulfill that command, and divine justice mandates that we be condemned, how is it that this just God will justify the ungodly? Do you remember what we read in Romans chapter 3, beginning at verse 21? But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. God's righteousness is apart from the law being revealed. The law clearly demonstrates God is a just God. And here in the law are the commandments given and the moral duty and responsibility of all men required. Yea, it is 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, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God will justify the ungodly, but He does not do it by ignoring His law. He demands that divine justice be met. That it be fulfilled. But yet, we are all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, being justified by God requires His free grace. free grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, of which He says, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith and instrument, to demonstrate His righteousness. That God will demonstrate His righteousness through Christ. Because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate, at this present time, His righteousness. Now, when He says He passed over, He did not forget. As a matter of fact, they toned for sin through the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats, and yet it could not remove the sin, for those were only copies and shadows. And what it means is He simply did not bring immediate judgment upon them. but He appointed one to become our mediator. The one through whom we should have righteousness given to us. That He might demonstrate it at this present time, Paul writes. That He might be the just. The one who demands justice and the justifier, that is, the one who justifies of the one who has faith in Jesus. Indeed, it seems flatly invariant with the Old Testament presentation of God's eternal righteousness, as revealed in His actions as a legislator and a judge, a presentation which Paul himself assumes in Romans 1.18-3.20 as we look at God judging all men and condemning them for their unrighteousness. And we are told in Psalm 145.7 that God is righteous in all His ways. And according to Deuteronomy 32.4, that He is a God without iniquity. The law of right and wrong and conformity to which righteousness consists has its being and fulfillment in Him. His revealed law, the Scripture says, is holy. Just and good. Listen to how Paul states that in Romans chapter 7 and verse 12. Therefore, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good. Paul says the law of God is good. It is holy. It is right. Deuteronomy 4.8 says, And what great nation is there that such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? In Psalm 19, verses 7-9, he says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgment of the Lord are true and righteous all together. The law of God illustrates the very righteousness of our God. And Paul says the very thing that meant to bring life could not do so. The law. Well, if you obey it, you live. Is that not what Adam was told in the garden? Obey what I have commanded of you and you shall live. And yet, disobedience brings death. And the God of the Old Testament is a righteous God. He does not have iniquity. Nor does He tolerate iniquity. He demands justice for transgression. God's law mirrors His very character. For He loves the righteousness prescribed therein. Listen to the psalmist in Psalm 117. For the Lord is righteous. He loves Righteousness. His countenance beholds the upright. Psalm 33, 5. He, that is God, loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of goodness of the Lord. And at the same time, the Old Testament teaches us that God hates the unrighteousness forbidden by the law. Listen to Psalm 5, 4 through 6. For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man." Again, Isaiah 61.8, "'For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery for burnt offerings. I will direct their work and truth, and I will make with them an everlasting covenant." Again, Zechariah 8, 17, "'Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor, and do not love a false oath, for all these are the things I hate,' says the Lord." Do you see the picture of the God we have given to us, especially in the Old Testament? How it seems so interesting that on the one hand, He demands justice, and yet even Paul says, God will require of man to give an account. And yet at the same one, the God who demands justice is a God who will justify the ungodly. This really goes against the modern-day teaching of most evangelical and fundamental churches, who, in declaring that God is a God of love, you hear such things, and they are really quite contrary to the Scripture. And if a thinking individual would think about what is being said, would realize that, God hates the sin but loves the sinner, the Scripture never speaks that way. Because the sinner is identified with the sin. He who does iniquity is a violator of God's law. Because, I mean, if not, God would just have condemned the sin and all the people would go to heaven and that would be the end of it. But you see, you cannot separate the sin from the sinner. You cannot separate an unrighteous man from the acts of unrighteousness. That's why God says, I will judge. the wicked. I will condemn them who will not do what I have commanded of them." And because of that divine justice, and because God loves righteousness, He demands that if we are going to stand before Him, it must be based on rightness before Him. But how does a man be right? Does it not seem to be a dilemma? If we are under the original sin of Adam's transgression, and if we have our own actual sins of which we must account for, and if God is this holy and just God who demands divine retribution for what we have done, how does a man become reconciled with God? For as a judge, he declares his righteousness by visiting their iniquity and retributive judgment, idolatry, irreligion, immorality, and inhuman conduct throughout the world. Listen to Jeremiah 9.24, but let him who glories, glory in this, that He understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness on the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord." Psalm 9.5 says, You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The Old Testament continues to teach us God is a righteous judge and He shows His wrath and indignation every day. Psalm 711, and God is angry with the wicked every day. No evil doer goes unnoticed. Psalm 94, 7-0, yet they say the Lord does not see. Nor does the God of Jacob understand. Understand you senseless among the people? And you fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, shall he not hear? He who formed the eye, shall he not see? The Old Testament goes on to teach that all transgressions and transgressors receive They're just condemnation. Proverbs 24, 12. If you say, surely we did not know this, does not he who weighs the heart consider it? He who keeps your soul, does he not know it? And will he not render to each man according to his deeds? God, the Old Testament teaches, hates sin. It is impelled by the demands of his own nature to pour out wrath and fury on those who complacently espouse it. Isaiah 1.24, therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, I will rid myself of my adversaries and take vengeance on my enemies. Jeremiah 6.11 we read, therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord, I am the weary of holding in I will pour it out on the children outside, and on the assembly of young men together. For even the husbandman shall be taken with the wife, the age with him who is full of days." And Jeremiah 30 verses 23-24, Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth with a fury and a continuing whirlwind. It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not return until he has done it and until he has performed the intent of his heart. In the latter days, you will consider it." Ezekiel 5, 13. Again, "...thus my anger be spent, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged, and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in my zeal, when I have spent my fury upon them." In Deuteronomy 28, 6, And it shall be that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do good and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to nothing. And you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess." It is a glorious revelation of God's righteousness when He pours out His wrath and fury. on sinners, is it not? It is a reflection upon His righteousness. Especially, it would be a real bad reflection if God failed to do what was right in bringing judgment. Isaiah 5.16, But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment. He'll be lifted up when He judges. It shows He truly is a God of His Word. And when He spends forth His fury, His judgment upon a people for their wickedness, it shows that He is a God of truth. And a God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness. You see how God's holiness sets Him apart as a true God who does justice in everything that He does. He loves with a divine justice and He condemns with a divine justice. Isaiah 10.22, For though your people, O Israel, be as the sands of the sea, a remnant of them will return. The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. We don't often think that way, do we today? The judgment of the Lord. exalts His righteousness. It demonstrates He truly is a God to be reckoned with. That that which He commands, He mandates obedience thereunto, and failure to do so can only result in His judgment. He is an awesome God. But He is not a God without mercy, as we shall see. It seems unthinkable that a God who thus reveals just and inflexible wrath against all human ungodliness should justify the ungodly, does it not? Paul affirms not merely that God does it, but that He does it in a manner designed through His Son, Jesus Christ. You note our text that we read this morning, where he says, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance, God passed over the sins that previously were committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness. that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This position is emphatic, for it is the most crucial point of Christianity. Paul is saying that the Gospel which proclaims God's apparent violation of His justice is really a revelation of His justice. What Paul is saying on this view is that God now shows that He also saves sinners. Those who deserve condemnation, He redeems. So that He's not only a just God, but a justifier. as well. The main question with which St. Paul is concerned is how God can be recognized as Himself righteous and at the same time as one who declares righteous who believes in Christ. Thus the forensic sphere is established at this point. Paul has not, as is suggested, left the forensic sphere behind. Not at all. The sinner's relationship to God as a just lawgiver and a judge is still his subject. What Paul is saying in this passage of Scripture, Romans chapter 3, is that the gospel reveals a way in which sinners can be justified without affront to the divine justice, which, as shown in Romans chapter 1, 18 through chapter 3, 20, condemns all sin and sinners. Paul's thesis is that God justifies sinners on a just ground. Namely, that the claims of God's law upon them have been fully satisfied. Paul maintains that the law has not been altered, nor suspended, flouted, or abrogated for their justification. God does not ignore what He commanded. But rather, He demands fulfillment and satisfaction. And that fulfillment and satisfaction is through His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He gave to perfectly meet the demand of divine justice. Thus, Christ perfectly comes to do the will of the Father. He keeps His will and fulfills the commandments of God, for He is without sin. In Matthew 3.15, we are told, But Jesus answered and said unto him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. All righteousness must be fulfilled. In his obedience, it culminated in death as a substitution. Philippians 2.8 says, in being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even of the cross. Christ's obedience culminates in His death. He pays the penalty. He is the substitute by which God is capable through Him to declare just the unjust. Christ bore the penalty of the law in men's place. Galatians 3.13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. As it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. He became the curse. He is that substitute. Christ makes propitiation for sin. Romans 3.25, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness. On the ground of Christ's obedience, God does not impute sin, but imputes righteousness to sinners who believe. He does not reckon, if you will, their sin against Him. But rather, He reckons them right on the basis of Christ's work alone. You see, justification is not a work that takes place in the sinner. But it is a work that takes place outside of man. It is a work that takes place in the person of Christ, in the work that He does in redemption. Whereby, through His intermediary work as our High Priest, He, as the true sacrifice for sin, becomes mediator of a better covenant, not like the one with bulls and goats, which was copy and shadow of the Old Testament teaching, really referring to the real substance of Him who would come and remove sin, being Christ our Lord. It is He who has become the true ground It's the work He does apart from us. But in doing that work, we who have been renewed by the Spirit of God, God, through that mediatory work of Christ, declares us just through the instrument of faith that has been given to us by His Spirit. In Romans 4, verses 2-8 we read, For if Abraham was justified by words, he had something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. It was reckoned to him as righteousness. In other words, his righteousness was imputed because of the belief. Belief was not the ground, but it is the instrument. The ground is not faith. And that is too commonly mistaken today. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. By the way, God doesn't impute faith to us either, as some evangelicals would want us to believe. And thus somehow the faith becomes a part of our work. And thus it's a synergistic work. It is God giving us faith, but it demands us to exercise the faith. And therein you have modern day Arminian theology. It is an imputed righteousness. And faith is an instrument upon which we are able to believe what God has promised about redemption in His Son, Jesus Christ, according to His Word. He says, now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. He said, boy, if he got redemption through works, And it's not really God's grace that has brought redemption, but it is the merit of man. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also described the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Again, Romans 5, 19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's, that is Christ's, obedience many will be made righteous. Rather, the righteousness of God is bestowed upon them as a free gift. Philippians 3, 9, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, not from the merit. The law cannot bring life. Because I am a transgressor, it constantly brings death. It is a schoolmaster who would bring me to Christ. Why? Because when I look at the law, all I can do is condemn me and say, you need redemption. You're under condemnation. There's nothing you can do. You need to seek for rightness with God somewhere other than yourself, for there is nothing that you can do to merit the kingdom of God. For you do not have it in your very nature. You're already a violator, a sinner from birth, under the condemnation of a just God. Therefore, you cannot flee to God on any basis of any meritorious effort you would try to accomplish. But if you're going to come to God and be right, you must come unto the basis by which He hath made provision for you. And that is through His Son, Jesus Christ. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. That the righteousness which is from God is by faith. Romans 1.17, for in the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Again, Romans 3.21-22, 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 on all who believe, for there is no difference." 517, "...for if by one man's offense death reigns through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life by the one Jesus Christ." It's a gift from God. That's what grace means. It is an unmerited favor given to us by God. In Romans 9, 30, what shall we say then that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained to righteousness even the righteousness of faith? Even though they did not pursue, even though they were not a part of the national covenant of Israel, yet have they not obtained a right standing with God? Because God has brought them into relationship through faith. Romans 10, 3 to 10. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Who is the fulfillment of the law? It is Christ. Not man, but Christ alone. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law. The man who does those things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven. That is to bring Christ down from above or who will descend into the abyss. That is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Saved, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. That is to say, they receive the right to be treated, and the promise that they shall be treated no longer as sinners, but as righteous. by a divine judge. Thus, they become the righteousness of God in and through Him who knew no sin, but was representatively made sin, treated as a sinner, and punished in their stead. In 2 Corinthians 5.21, Paul says, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. That is Christ. This is the thought expressed in classical Protestant theology by the phrase, the imputation of Christ's righteousness. Namely, that believers are righteous. and have righteousness before God for no other reason that Christ their Head was right before God, and they are one with Him and sharers of His status and His acceptance as joint heirs with Christ Jesus and our Lord, not through anything they have done, but on the basis of what Christ hath done for them. God justifies them by passing on them, for Christ's sake, the verdict which Christ's obedience merited for them. Galatians 3.13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become that curse for us. God declares them to be right because He reckons them to be righteous, and He reckons righteousness to them, not because He accounts them to have kept His law personally, which would be a false judgment. but because he accounts them to be united to the one who kept it representatively. And that is true judgment. For Paul, union with Christ is the doctrine of imputed righteousness in its forensic aspect. Christ restores us legally to God. That's why we call him in theology our surety, because it carries that legal concept that he has made what was once wrong right through his own obedience, wherein we were disobedient. In Romans 5, 12-17, Paul writes, "...for there, just as the one man's sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all men, because all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who was a type of him who was to come." A type of Christ. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many die, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came to the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation. But the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by one man's offense death reigns through one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ." Thus you have here covenantal solidarity between Christ and His people. And this is the objective basis upon which sinners are reckoned Right and just with God alone. It is through Jesus Christ. He is the ground. Do you see why faith isn't the ground? Because the faith would fall back to something you would do. It is not God's grace and your faith. Faith is an instrument by which God gives, through His Spirit renewing you, the ability to believe what He has said about His Son Jesus Christ. That you may believe He is the One who died and through His death and upon that ground alone we may be declared right of God. A just God who demands from the very beginning, obedience. From one man's transgression, the whole of human posterity falls under that representation of Adam and is judged a sinner. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And if God had not supplied His Son, Jesus Christ, there would be no redemption. There would be no reconciliation. We would simply all be condemned, and rightfully so, by a just and a righteous God. But the good news that Jesus Christ came to fulfill the demand of divine justice on behalf of His people. He is the ground. Covenantal solidarity. We are in Him who represents us accounted right because of the work He has done Such is Paul's theological teaching concerning the true ground of justification. It's not meritorious effort. It's not an imputed faith. It is an imputed righteousness of Christ that makes man right with God. And there is only One who could do that work for us. And there is only One who could grant that rightness through Him and declare us to be justified is the one true just and right God who has created all things. I say to you, look to Christ for your salvation. Do not look for religious practices. Do not look to your own ability to try to do right. Man can be a humanitarian toward other men. We'll not make him right with God. Because the problem isn't a humanitarian thing. The problem is we are violators of God's law. It's a legal breach. And we need to be reconciled legally back right with God. And only Christ can do that for us. Look to Christ. For therein is the ground, the true ground of justification in Him alone. Shall we pray?