Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. We'll be reading 11 verses from there and then also from Romans 3. We'll first read Romans 2 verses 1 through 11 and then 3 verses 10 through 26. And after that, I'll read from the version that you have in front of you and then after that I'm going to also read just the verses 21 through 26 from the ESV as it's a little closer to the original and will help in the understanding of the sermon. So, Romans 2, beginning at verse 1. And just to say beforehand, you see the words justify and righteousness and just. All these words repeatedly. And in Greek, they all come from the same root word. They're all talking about the same essential thing. So just keep that at the back of your mind as we read. Romans 2, verse 1. You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath when His righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what He has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show. favoritism. And then to chapter 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There's no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away. They've together become worthless. There's no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. Rather, through the law, we become conscious of sin. And now our text, verses 21-26, but now a righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice because in His forbearance, He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time so as to be just and the One who justifies the man who has faith in Jesus. And then just to read the text again, verse 21, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the passage we have just read contains one of the most important messages you'll hear in your life. Or the most important message you'll hear in your life. If you believe this message, that all have sinned, that all are under God's wrath, and that God justifies only those who put their faith in Christ Jesus, then you will be saved. And then no matter what happens to you from this day forward, no matter what trials you go through, it won't matter in the end. For all will work out for your good. But if you don't believe these words, if you don't believe that you're a sinner, and that God's wrath is on you, and you don't put your trust in Jesus Christ, then from now on, no matter what happens to you, it will not end well. You have only wrath to look forward to. Am I exaggerating? Martin Luther wrote in his introduction to Romans, this letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth the Christian's while not only to memorize it word for word, but also to occupy himself with it daily as though it were the daily bread of the soul. It is impossible to read or to meditate on this letter too much or too well. Now, why did Luther see this as so important? Isn't this a message that we all know so well anyway? Well, the fact is, in Luther's day, many in the church did not understand this message. And many in the church had not understood this message for quite some time. And there were many who believed that at some level it was their own works that made them right with God. Or maybe their own participation in the sacraments, the Lord's Supper and Baptism and other sacraments that made them right with God. Or perhaps they even believed that it was something called an indulgence that they just had to buy that made them right with God. And they did not trust in Christ. And if they did not trust in Christ alone, they were not Christians. And brothers and sisters, I speak this as one who struggled with this for a long time. For years, I wrestled with how God for so long could leave this message hazy to so much of His church for so long. How He could not have made it so clear to everyone for all time. And yet, of course, the problem is not with God, it's with man. But the fact remains that for many Christians even today, they do not have the comfort that they are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. They think, and perhaps even some of us still think, even if we don't realize it, that our works somehow save us. But that's not the Gospel. The Gospel as Romans 3.21-26 teaches it is that God saves those and those only who put their faith in Jesus Christ and in the work He did for them on the cross. God saves those and those alone who put their faith in Jesus Christ and the work He did on the cross. I want to go through verses 21-26 in three parts. First, and essentially we'll be following the outline of guilt, grace, and gratitude. First, guilt, the problem with our relationship with God. Second, grace, how it is in these verses that we are saved. And third, how we must respond to this message. So first, the problem. The essential problem is very simple actually. It's that God is righteous, perfectly righteous, and we are not. God is so righteous that He cannot look at evil. without His wrath falling on it. Our text says, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And in the verse immediately preceding, he says, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. So the problem is that God is righteous. He must punish evil, and yet all people are wicked. Now, in order to give background to this text, I want you to flip back to Romans 1. And if you look at verses 16 and 17, Paul tells you exactly why he's writing this letter. He gives the thesis, so to speak, of the whole letter. He says, For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. That's the message of Romans. And then in verse 18, Paul goes on to say the problem. And from verse 18 all the way to our text, he is telling us why this message is so important. And it's important that we notice this and that we do take time to reflect on this because one of the reasons so many people get the Gospel wrong is because they get the problem wrong. Because if you think that your problem is simply that you have to be righteous by the time you die, then all you need is to increase your righteousness, gradually get better and better, and maybe you'll make it. Or perhaps you think that the problem is simply that you didn't like God and all you have to do is love Him. And as long as you love Him, everything else doesn't matter. But again, that's not the problem as Paul tells us. The problem, as Paul tells us, is that God's wrath must punish every sin. God's wrath must fall on sin. And so Romans 1.18 says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. And then he goes on to say essentially that what God did is He created us. And He wrote His glory and His power in all creation and He made His goodness clear and He gave us so many good gifts. And all He said was to worship Him and to love Him and to love our neighbors and to live in such a way that showed gratitude for what He gave us. And of course, our problem wasn't that we didn't know Him. We did know Him. The text says they knew God. But we showed no gratitude. No gratitude whatsoever. Verse 21 says, although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. And so the text goes on and Paul lists a number of sins and I ask you to listen carefully and see if you fall in any one of these sins. He says, they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they knew God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. Did you find yourself in that list? Because if you did, then compare yourself to the righteousness of God. Exodus 34.7 says, God is a God who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. And Habakkuk 1 v. 13 says that God is of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong. And Paul's argument goes on into chapter 2, what we read, and he says, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. All those things in that list, the judgment of God rightly falls. And then in v. 6, he says, shall render to each one according to his works. And then in verse 9, there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. And now, think about that for a moment. It's pretty simple. He's simply saying that God will reward those who do good and He'll punish those who do evil. And I ask you, is that just? If you were creating the ideal world in exactly the way God should be, is that not how you would say He should be? Should not God reward good and punish evil? So what's the problem? God's doing what God is supposed to do. Well, the problem, of course, is that we're all evil. And so the problem isn't with God, it's with us. What are we going to do? Because we've all fit. We've all been part of that list of sins described. And that is what leads into our text. Paul says, None is righteous, no, not one. No one seeks for God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And I can recall times in my life when I wasn't so confident of the grace of Christ. And it's when you're not so confident of that that this potential wrath is very clear. And you know that you're getting closer and closer to the grave. Every moment. And you know that once you die, there is nothing left. There's no more time. And you want to be friends with God before you die. Because God is righteous and we are not. Now, would it be possible for God, according to His own holiness, if He simply did what He was supposed to do and judged the world rightly and sent all of us to face His wrath, would anyone be able to say, God, you haven't done right? Of course, the answer is no. And Paul says in Romans 3, verse 3, What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar. As it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. And then verse 5, he says, If our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, What shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way. By no means. For how then could God judge the world? God is the judge. If He does not judge, who will judge? God's judgment, His wrath, must fall on sin because He hates sin and He loves the good. And He must be one who punishes evil and blesses good. And this is why Martin Luther for so long in his life had such great sorrow because he saw this phrase, the righteousness of God. And it only spoke wrath to him. And he didn't know how he could get this righteousness and he found himself getting closer and closer to the grave knowing he could die at any time and not knowing this righteousness. And so Luther confessed that he came to hate. God's righteousness. He came to hate that phrase. So that's the background of our text. But then our text comes in in chapter 3, verse 21 with one of the most important and encouraging and relieving transitions in all of Scripture. All of a sudden we get, but now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. there's a way. There is still a way apart from the law that we can be saved. And Paul notes as an aside, and one that we can't go into too much here now, but that the law and the prophets have been pointing to this the whole time. And yet now, with Christ, it's here. So what is this righteousness of God? How is it that we can be right with this righteousness that must punish sin? Verse 22 defines it. He says, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. So this other way, this other righteousness, now it's not by the law anymore, it's by faith. And you say, well, that's pretty simple. That's pretty straightforward. Why could anyone have a problem with this? Why did the church not get this for so long? Well, the problem is that some people think that what faith does for us is that it enables us to do what we need to do to be right with God. It enables us to be better so that by the time we die, then we can slip through. But of course, that doesn't do away with the sins you've already committed. It's too late for that. The wrath of God must fall on the sins you have committed already. And some people think that faith is the righteousness that God requires. So they think, well, maybe if I put my faith in Christ, now I'm friendly towards God, I believe in Him, now He'll save me. But again, our problem wasn't just that we didn't love God or have faith in Him. Our problem is that we already have sin that must be punished. What's going to happen with that? You can't take that away. And as you notice in our text, neither of those ideas are what is going on at all. Look at verse 24. There it says that those who are justified are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And two things jump out immediately about this. The first one is that it's a gift. You cannot earn it. Not even by faith. You cannot earn it. And Paul goes on to demonstrate that very clearly in Romans 4. And the second thing that you notice is that it's through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So it's not actually faith that justifies us. It's the redemption that's in Christ Jesus that justifies us. And as many have put it, faith is the instrument. If you think of eating a meal, you need food to be alive. And let's just say as you use this fork, To bring the food to your mouth, thinking that faith saves you is like thinking that the fork is what keeps you alive, but it's not. The fork's just what brings the food to your hand. And you need to bring the food to your mouth. But it's the food that nourishes you. And the food is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And then verse 25 explains how precisely this works. And it is this verse that is part of the reason that I read a different version to you because some versions take the word propitiation out of the text. And there are various reasons why people do that. But it's undeniable that the word means propitiation. And it's really important that we understand that word propitiation because it's at the heart, at the crux of our salvation. Because remember, what we need to be saved from is God's wrath. And God must punish sin He has to. This propitiation answers the question of how God can be faithful and punish sin and yet save us. So, I hope I will make it clear what it means and the significance because this is what we must understand. Propitiation means the turning away of God's wrath. God's wrath has to fall. Christ becomes the propitiation and the wrath falls on Christ instead. It's on the cross, brothers and sisters, that you were saved. It's not your faith. It's not you being here in church. It's not your love for God. It's not even the things that you do through the power of the Holy Spirit. Those things can't deal with your sin. Your sin's there. You've committed it. your salvation is the wrath of God falling upon Jesus Christ, the Son of God, instead of you. And so we all sit here nicely in church and enjoy a foretaste of salvation. It's only because the Son of God, the One who was perfect, who was righteous, the only One who didn't deserve the wrath of God, hung on the cross and cried out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? And because that wrath fell on Him, we're saved. Verse 25 gives the answer to Christ's question. Why did God forsake Him? This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. So the problem had been that God wasn't punishing sin. That God was speaking constantly in the Old Testament of forgiveness, but He was also speaking of justice and how are we going to take forgiveness and justice and bring them together? How can God forgive and still be just? The cross shows God's righteousness. And then in verse 26, it becomes absolutely clear. The cross showed God righteousness and showed how He could be just and the justifier of the one who puts faith in Jesus. Romans 4, verse 5 said He justifies the ungodly. God must punish sin. And yet, in His mercy, He promises to forgive sin. So He punishes Christ for our sin. Christ, the propitiation, So that we can be forgiven. And thus He justifies the ungodly. Brothers and sisters, this is what happened on Calvary. And then the apostles went forward preaching to all nations, as we heard this morning, that the only way of salvation is if we put our trust in Christ alone on that cross. That cross alone is our Savior. And yet, if we do put faith in that cross, it's all done already. And when Luther saw this truth, that we are justified by faith in Christ Jesus alone, and that that is how God's righteousness becomes ours, that the phrase didn't take the same meaning anymore. No longer did the righteousness of God speak of wrath falling on Luther or on us. Now the righteousness speaks of God's willingness to send His own Son for us so that we might have life. Now, I want to spend the remaining time by thinking through what this means for us. How does this affect where we are? And to begin with, I want to say that if you do not believe, as I said earlier, if you do not believe this message, these words do not have hope for you. You must believe in Jesus Christ. Don't be confused by the language of verses 23 and 24, which say, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Keep reading. It goes on to say, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. you must believe in Jesus Christ to be saved. And this is hard for us because we really don't often believe that we are that bad. We really often haven't got that first point. Yeah, we believe it in our minds, but do we really believe it? When we watch movies, we tend to identify with the good guys. We watch a movie like Lord of the Rings and we have no problem with all this wrath falling on the evil orcs and all the other evil beings that have been created in this world. We have no problem with it because they're evil. Well, brothers and sisters, we are in the same role in the plot of the real world. We are the evil ones. And so we must believe. We must believe. And I ask you now, if you have not believed, come and believe. He promises rest. He promises forgiveness. And as we heard again this morning, all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. You must believe to be saved. But if you do believe, you will be saved. Do not be among those of whom Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 16.22 when he says, if anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Escape the curse by believing in the Gospel. of Jesus Christ. But now, what about those people who do believe? Because there are many who believe, as I mentioned earlier, many who would call themselves Christians who believe in Christ, but cannot seem to get that it's a gift. That the gift is the redemption. That it's the propitiation. And sadly, there are many Christians who are just confused about this. and even here in America, many, many Christians who do believe but are constantly under a burden of guilt. So let me try and make it as clear as I can. Nothing you do, nothing you do or try to do apart from faith in Christ can save you. You are accepted by God based on Christ and what He has done in Christ alone by faith. And if you insist that you must make a difference, if you insist that your works must mean something, listen to Galatians 5, verse 4. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. And the fact that Paul wrote those words to a church tells us that he knew that even Christians might be tempted to believe that their works still played a role. Do not put your trust in anything you can do, but put it in Christ alone. And finally, if you are among those who have put your trust in Christ alone, what does this mean? Well, first of all, praise God. Praise God. If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? Those who believe. It is God who justifies. Who is it who condemns? Christ Jesus is the One who died. More than that, was raised. Who's at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us. Praise God. Worship Him in thanksgiving. But not just that. Paul says in Romans 12, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. In other words, just because you're saved through faith in Christ doesn't mean that you should stop doing good works. You should. That's what you were saved for. But don't think, don't ever think that those works are necessary for you to be right with God. Do them as those who are right with God. Do them as those for whom nothing can separate you from His love. Nothing. It's all done. The trial is over. And the lash was going to fall on you. And Christ stepped in the way. And the lash fell on Him instead. But the lash is already struck. It's not going to strike again. You have been saved if you've put your faith in Christ by the propitiation in His blood. When you're on your deathbed, Which maybe a long time from now may not be. You're not going to be encouraged if you think on the actions that you've done that somehow that will make you right with God. Because as many things as you can point to that might be good, there will always be those you can also think of and that you will think of that were not good. And you will know in your heart that God is a perfect judge. He's not a human judge. I once had to take the polygraph and I found out what it means when someone can see straight through you. You can't hide anything. And I thought, this is what it must be on the day of judgment. Don't think of that. But think of Christ. And think that He's already paid the price. He's already done the propitiation, the wrath fell on Him, you are saved. And because of what He did, put your faith in Him and know that as quickly as death comes, you will be with Him in glory. So what shall we say about this salvation? What shall we say then as Paul puts it? We've been brought from the lowest state. We've been brought from the position where we thought there was no way out. And we've been raised to God's right hand where there are pleasures forevermore. But don't forget the cost. Don't forget that your salvation is not what you did, but it's the salvation of a cross. And think of the drops of blood, or the drops that were like blood that He sweat. Think of the cries He made that we've heard about in so many sermons. Think about the Son of God facing wrath. Why? Out of love for you so that you would have nothing to fear. Anymore. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Because He loved us. We can't comprehend the love of God in these verses. But we can believe the Gospel. we can live in light of the Gospel as sons and daughters, princes and princesses of the Most High God. It's astounding. And yet, think! Think of the wonder. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we praise You that You looked upon us sinners. now when we deserve perfect wrath and though you could have been perfectly righteous and judged us you sent your son in love you poured your wrath on him that we might be saved we praise you that he is the propitiation we praise you that by your spirit you give us faith we pray Lord that we would never try to be justified by our own works. We pray that we would rest in Your perfect righteousness. We pray that we would have the joy of Your salvation. We thank You, Father. We thank You for the work of Christ Jesus. It's in His name that we pray. Amen.