Dr. Cecil A. Fayard - 2001 Sermons
Sunday, March 25, 2001   

INTRODUCTION: As we study this subject of righteousness provided, we need to go back to Romans 1:16-17 where God's Gospel reveals or unveils God's righteousness.

In our studies on Roman 1:l8-32 we have seen that men have no righteousness of their own. This proves the need of and necessity of God's providing righteousness for sinful man. In the scriptures mentioned above, we see, among other things, these important factors about men:

1. None righteous 3:10
   
2. None that understand 3:11
   
3. None that seek God 3:11
   
4. None good 3:12
   
5. Deceitful 3:13
   
6. Swift to shed blood 3:15
   
7. Destructive 3:16
   
8. No fear of God 3:18

We should not move on until we make mention of these important divisions of the book of Romans:

1. 1:1-3:20 the need of righteousness
   
2. 3:21-3:31 the exposition of righteousness
   
3. 4:1-16:27 the application of righteousness

1. VERSE 21, RIGHTEOUSNESS IS APART FROM ALL LAW
   1. As wee look back at the Romans 1:18-3:20, we see the dark and dismal truth of man's total depravity.
      
      1. Man's darkness and despair is unfathomable, and it is universal.
         
      2. As Romans 3:1 7 says: "As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one."

   2. Now look at the opening words of verse 21: "But not....." In the midst of despair comes a ray of hope, a light that comes streaming in.
      
      1. This light comes from above; it comes from heaven; it comes from God. "The righteousness of God..... is manifested."
         
      2. He came to rescue men from sin, men who are unworthy of being saved.

   3. 'Without law." The righteousness of God apart from the law.
      
      1. This means that this righteousness was not and cannot be earned by man's obedience to God's law for man cannot keep the law (3:23).
         
      2. Titus 3:5: "Not by works of righteousness..."

   4. "The law and the prophets" (John 5:39).

2. VERSES 22-23, RIGHTEOUSNESS BESTOWED AS A GIFT TO ALL WHO RECEIVE IT
   1. Verse 22, The theme of Romans 16 is here repeated: righteousness is granted to all who believe on Jesus Christ.
      
      1. The object of faith must be Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:21; John 3:16; Acts 4:12).
         
      2. It does not matter whether a person is rich or poor, educated or uneducated, young or old, male or female, Jew or Gentile.
         
         1. All need His righteousness.
            
         2. None can have this without faith in Jesus Christ the Savior.

   2. Verse 23, Salvation is for all who believe, without distinction since all, everybody in all the world, have sinned.
      
      1. This is, according to J. Frank Norris, the best definition of sin in all of the Bible.
         
      2. Verse 23 means:
         
         1. "I have missed the mark."
         2. "I have been weighed in the balances and I am found wanting."
            
         3. "I cannot meet the laws demand of perfection; I have missed the bull's eye."'

3. VERSE 24, RIGHTEOUSNESS PROVIDED FREELY BY GRACE
   1. "Being justified."
      
      1. This means to be declared righteous.
         
      2. Justification stands over against condemnation (Romans 8:1, 33, 34).
         
      3. Justification is a matter of imputation:
         
         1. Imputation means to reckon or charge.
            
         2. The sinner's guilt is charged or imputed to Christ.
            
         3. Christ's righteousness is imputed to the sinner (Isaiah 53:4-6).

   2. "Freely."
      
      1. "As a gift" is the meaning of freely.
         
      2. "Freely" without payment by the one who receives it, without any human merit.

   3. "By his grace."
      
      1. Grace- God's riches at Christ's expense.
         
      2. God's love directed toward the guilty as mercy is God's love directed toward those in misery.

   4. "Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
      
      1. "Redemption," deliverance by means of the payment of a ransom from guilt, misery, and punishment.
         
      2. This redemption was accomplished "in Christ Jesus." This refers to our Saviors voluntary suffering and death of Christ on the cross.

4. VERSES 25-26, RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED ON CALVARY
   1. Verse 25, These verses point us to the work of God the Father in eternity and the work of God the Son on the cross.
      
      1. "Whom God hath set forth to be..."
         
         1. Here we see the eternal divine council of the Godhead.
            
         2. In the divine eternal council of Christ Jesus was purposed to be the One through whom the way of salvation would be accomplished.
            
         3. (Ephesians 1:4, 7, 10 and 11).
            
      2. "To be a propitiation through faith in his blood..."
         
         1. A propitiatory sacrifice is a wrath removing sacrifice.
            
            1. This sacrifice indicates the blood sprinkled on the lid of the "mercy seat."
               
            2. Leviticus 16:2-3.
               
         2. To be saved, we must have faith in His blood, believing in what Christ has done for sinners.
            
            1. When the blood is applied, when atonement is rendered, God's wrath is removed.
               
            2. Christ Jesus is the propitiatory sacrifice.
               1. He voluntarily offered His blood, His life, Himself.
                  
               2. I Timothy 2:6, "Who gave himself a ransom......"
                  
               3. He bore our wrath, He took our place.
                  
      3. "To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God."
         
         1. God was not unjust or unfair when He, in His forbearance, "passed over" or "overlooked" for the time being the sins of the saints committed during the Old Testament dispensation.
            
         2. When Christ suffered and died on the cross, He did atone for the sins of all who had looked forward to the cross as well as all those who look back in faith.
            
         3. When Christ suffered, He did so for the sins of both old and New Testament dispensation (Isaiah 53:6).

   2. Verse 26, His righteousness has been declared. He is just and He justifies the person who has faith in Jesus.
      1. Those who believe have everlasting life (John 3:16).
      2. The wrath of God is gone when we believe.

5. VERSES 27-28, RIGHTEOUSNESS, GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, EXCLUDES BOASTING
   1. Verse 27, The right to brag is excluded for salvation is not by works, but by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). All the glory goes to God not to men.

   2. Verse 28, This is a great and wonderful conclusion. It is not what I do that saves me; it is what Christ has done for me. I am justified by faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Lord Jesus.

6. VERSES 29-30, RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR BELIEVING JEWS AND GENTILES
   1. Believing Jews and Gentiles can be saved because there is only one God.

   2. Anyone, Jew or Gentile, who will set aside religion and self-righteousness and trust Christ alone can be saved.

7. VERSE 31, RIGHTEOUSNESS RECEIVED BY FAITH ESTABLISHES THE LAW
   1. The exercise of faith in Christ does not nullify the law, it establishes it.

   2. God is righteous and requires that His people be righteous.
      
      1. For this demand to be met, we must trust Christ as our Savior. He fulfilled the law; He kept it perfectly.
         
      2. As we trust Christ, we are declared righteous in the sight of God.
         
      3. The purpose of the law is to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:23-26).