1. "Almost all our relationships in life that we have are based on our performance. So many of our relationships in this life depend on our performance except for one. Our relationship with God. Our relationship with God does not depend on our performance."

2. "Paul has communicated, he's made it emphatically clear, neither Jew nor Gentile left on their own are righteous. They themselves will have to bear the weight of God's wrath for all eternity. But praise be to God that he did not leave us alone. He sent Christ Jesus on our behalf to the cross."

3. "For God to be a just God, he must punish sin. And in his own goodness, he put Christ forward as our substitute."

4. "We could do nothing, we had no hope, we were helpless dead in our trespasses and sins, and so God puts forward an offering, but it's his Son. Christ averts God's wrath."

5. "Christ takes our guilt and we receive his innocence. Christ's righteousness is imputed, which means accounted to us as our own, as if we had done it. Christ's perfect life, His perfect submission to the Father is accounted to us, is given to us, becomes our own righteousness."

6. "This holy God who needs nothing greatly loves us. And while we were yet sinners, he murdered his son for our sake. For the ones that would believe would be able to spend all eternity with him. What a gracious and kind God we serve."

7. "Justification isn't Jesus started the work and we finished the work by our good deeds. That is a lie from Satan himself. Justification is this: we could do nothing in and of ourselves. Christ accomplishes our salvation and then he gives us the faith to believe."

8. "The good news is that not only does Jesus free us from the guilt of our sin, he frees us from the power of our sin."

9. "We wake up each morning and we praise God that we are justified. And each night as we lay our head down on our pillows, we reflect on our day and we thank God that our performance that day does not affect his love for us."

10. "Because Christ is justified and purchased a people, we do not need to be ashamed or afraid in evangelism. All those for whom Christ died will be saved."

Observation Questions

1. According to Romans 3:21, how has the righteousness of God been manifested, and what bears witness to it?

2. In Romans 3:22-23, what does Paul say is true of "all" people, and what distinction does he make (or not make) among them?

3. According to verse 24, by what means are believers justified, and what is this justification described as?

4. What does verse 25 say God put forward, and how is it to be received?

5. In verse 25, what reason does Paul give for God's action, and what does he say God did regarding "former sins"?

6. According to verse 26, what two things does God demonstrate Himself to be "at the present time" toward those who have faith in Jesus?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Paul spend so much time in Romans 1:18–3:20 establishing that no one is righteous before introducing the "but now" of Romans 3:21? How does this context shape our understanding of justification?

2. What does the word "propitiation" (verse 25) mean, and why is it significant that God Himself provided this propitiation rather than requiring humans to provide it?

3. How does verse 26 resolve the apparent tension between God being perfectly just (requiring punishment for sin) and also being the one who justifies sinners? What does this reveal about the cross?

4. The sermon emphasized that Christ's righteousness is "imputed" to believers. Based on this passage, what is the difference between earning righteousness through law-keeping and receiving righteousness through faith?

5. How do the Old Testament references mentioned in the sermon (Genesis 3:15; Genesis 12; Isaiah 53:11) help us understand what Paul means when he says "the law and the prophets bear witness" to this righteousness apart from the law?

Application Questions

1. The sermon noted that nearly all our relationships are performance-based. In what specific area of your life do you most struggle to believe that God's acceptance of you is not based on your performance? What would change if you truly believed this?

2. Knowing that your past, present, and future sins are forgiven through Christ, how should this affect the way you respond when you fail or sin this week—both in your own heart and in how you approach God?

3. The sermon urged believers to wake each morning praising God for justification and to rest each night knowing that day's performance doesn't affect God's love. What practical habit or reminder could you put in place to help you remember this truth daily?

4. The preacher mentioned that some carry guilt and shame "like a dark shadow" despite being justified. Is there someone in your life—or perhaps yourself—who needs to hear and be reminded of the freedom found in justification? How might you encourage them (or yourself) this week?

5. How does understanding that "all for whom Christ died will be saved" give you boldness in evangelism? Is there a specific person or conversation you have been avoiding that you could approach with renewed confidence this week?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Genesis 15:1–6 — This passage shows how Abraham was counted righteous by faith, illustrating the principle Paul draws upon in Romans that righteousness comes through believing God's promise, not through works.

2. Isaiah 53:1–12 — The suffering servant passage prophesies how Christ would bear iniquities and make many righteous, directly supporting the sermon's point that the law and prophets bore witness to justification through Christ.

3. 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 — Paul explains the great exchange where Christ became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God, reinforcing the sermon's teaching on imputed righteousness.

4. Galatians 3:10–14 — This passage expands on how Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law, deepening understanding of substitutionary atonement emphasized in the sermon.

5. Ephesians 2:1–10 — Paul describes our condition as dead in sin and God's gracious gift of salvation through faith, echoing the sermon's emphasis that salvation is entirely a gift and not based on our performance.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Most Relationships in Life Are Based on Performance

II. God's Righteousness Is Revealed in the Cross (Romans 3:21-26)

III. God's Righteousness Is Received by Faith

IV. Living in Light of Justification

Detailed Sermon Outline

• God's wrath is poured out on unrighteousness (Romans 1)
• Gentiles have the law on their hearts but their consciences condemn them (Romans 2)
• Jews have the law but cannot uphold it

• Genesis 3:15 promised the serpent would be crushed
• Genesis 12 promised Abraham offspring more numerous than stars
• Isaiah 53:11 foretold the suffering servant bearing iniquities

• He who knew no sin became sin for us
• He became a curse for us
• God put Christ forward as propitiation by His blood (v. 25)

• For God to be just, He must punish sin
• Propitiation means an offering that averts God's wrath (Hebrews 9:22)

• Christ takes our guilt; we receive His innocence
• Christ's righteousness is imputed to us as our own
• He is the true and better sacrifice the Old Testament pointed toward

• In divine forbearance, He passed over former sins
• He looked past the sinfulness of Abraham, Rahab, Joshua, and David toward Christ
• He is both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus

I want you to think about this for a moment. Almost all our relationships in life that we have are based on our performance. So think about the college that you went to. The way in which you got into this college is that you performed well on the SAT or the ACT and had a good GPA. Think about the job in which you have now.

Your resume show what you have done in the past. And they looked at you and talked to you to see what you might be able to do in the future. If you're married, think about your spouse. On the day that you got married, you committed to certain vows saying, these are the things that I will do. These are the things I will uphold to.

You're going to perform these vows within your marriage, these commitments. Think about you with your children, your children's survival in so many ways depends on how you perform. Think about your mortgage or your landlord. Your living there depends so much on you being able to pay the bills. So many of our relationships in this life depend on our performance except for one.

Our relationship with God. Our relationship with God does not depend on our performance. Whose performance does it depend on? We find that today in our passage in Romans 3:21-26. So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to grab them and turn there.

Romans 3:21-26.

Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul writes, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and 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 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. So some brief backstory. If you go back, if you know anything about Romans, this is kind of Paul's missionary letter, raising funds. He's seeking to go to Rome, he's encouraging these Christians.

And in Romans 1:16 and 17, he essentially gives his thesis for the entire book. Talks about how he's not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God for those who are being saved. And then he says, for in it, in verse 17, the gospel, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Now Paul right there is quoting Habakkuk 2:4. He says, the righteous shall live by faith.

But what Paul does next is rather interesting. He goes from Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:20 to prove that there is none who are righteous. He's quoting Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 saying, There is no one who does right, there's no one righteous. He is emphatic, he's exhaustive. Neither Gentile nor Jew are righteous before a holy God.

You see it in Romans 1 that the wrath of God is being poured out on unrighteousness all throughout creation. In Romans chapter 2, he tells us that the Gentiles, though they do not have the law, have it written on their hearts and their own consciences condemn them. Are the Jews any better? Well, they do have the law. However, they cannot uphold the law.

And so at the end of Romans 3 and verse 19 and 20, he says that all creation Every mouth will be stopped and be held accountable to God because there is no one on this planet who can be righteous before God through works. Praise God that Romans doesn't end in Romans 3:20. He goes on in verse 21 and he says this, But now, what does he mean? But now the righteousness of God is being manifested apart from the law. So the first point I want you to see out of this text, there's two points today and the first one I want you to see is this, is God's righteousness is revealed in the cross.

The first point I want you to see today is God's righteousness is revealed in the cross. Paul says, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested, which means made clear. It's been revealed apart from the law, although the law and prophets bear witness to it. So this is not foreign to them. This is not new news.

Yes, the law and the prophets, they were bearing witness throughout time. You see the promise in Genesis 3:15 that God would crush the serpent through Adam and Eve's heir. You see the promise in Genesis chapter 12 that God would secure a people for Abraham, his offspring, that would be more than the stars in the sky. You see the promise in Isaiah 53:11 that through God's suffering servant, His righteous one, He would bear their iniquities and many would be accounted righteous. The law and the prophets all over time, we see that they're proclaiming something that is to come.

They are but a shadow of a greater reality. He's pointing to Jesus. Paul finishes and he says, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Paul has communicated, he's made it emphatically clear, neither Jew nor Gentile left on their own are righteous. They themselves will have to bear the weight of God's wrath for all eternity.

But praise be to God that he did not leave us alone. He sent Christ Jesus on our behalf to the the cross. So in the cross we see God's righteousness revealed. What do we see in the cross? Well first and foremost we see that Jesus becomes a substitute.

That Jesus Christ becomes a substitute. We see this later in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Paul writes that God made him who knew no sin to become sin so that in him we might be the righteousness of God. He says it later in Galatians 3:13 that Jesus Christ became a curse for us, that Jesus was put forward, we see it in verse 25, that God put Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood, that Jesus became our substitute. For God to be a just God, he must punish sin.

For God to be just, he must punish sin, and in his own goodness, he put Christ forward as our substitute. Hebrews 9:22 says, There is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. So Christ becomes our substitute. And also, God pours out his wrath. If you look at the cross, you see it's a picture of God's wrath.

It says in verse 25 that God put forward as a propitiation, which simply means to avert, that propitiation means to make an offering that averts, that moves, that changes God's wrath toward a different object. It averts God's wrath. So I want you to think about this, that we could do nothing, we had no hope, we were helpless dead in our trespasses and sins, and so God puts forward an offering, but it's his Son. Christ averts God's wrath. The gospel is a wonderful truth and a transformational reality of God seeking a people for himself.

He does all the work in and of himself. You see this quote by Richard Sibbes, he says this, God knows we have nothing of ourselves, therefore in the covenant of grace, he requires no more than he gives, but he gives what he requires and accepts what he gives. So Christ became sin, God pours out his wrath, and then there's this great exchange. Christ takes our guilt and we receive his innocence. Christ's righteousness is imputed, which means accounted to us as our own, as if we had done it.

So Christ's perfect life, His perfect submission to the Father is accounted to us, is given to us, becomes our own righteousness. It's this great exchange. And it really is a beautiful picture of Christ being the true and better sacrifice that those Old Testament sacrifices were pointing forward to something greater. The blood of sheeps and goats, as Hebrews tells us, could not take away sin. It's pointing to something greater, which is Jesus, the greater sacrifice who sufficiently takes away the wrath of God for our sake.

He is truly the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Not only would he see Christ become our substitute, that God's wrath was poured out, that Christ gives us his righteousness, but also God's righteousness and his name is vindicated. Look what he says here in verse 26. He says this, it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And even before that, he says, In his divine forbearance, he passed over former sins.

So in the Old Testament, you have this law and you have this promise that God is going to redeem a people for himself. But there are some elements in which Israel was supposed to fulfill and they could not do it. So you look at the Old Testament, it's like, how will God save these people who cannot save themselves, who continually get in their own way? Well, God and his divine forbearance, passed over former sins. So when God looked at Abraham, when God looked at Rahab, when God looked at Joshua, when God looked at David, he saw their sinfulness.

He saw that they were unworthy, but he was looking to Christ Jesus. So he justifies and vindicates his name. So by bearing with these people, he finally punishes their sin on Christ Jesus. He vindicates his name. He punishes sin.

His promise to Abraham is fulfilled. Why would he do this? For his glory. But also in Romans 5, Paul tells us that God shows his love for us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This holy God who needs nothing greatly loves us.

And while we were yet sinners, he murdered his son for our sake. For the ones that would believe would be able to spend all eternity with him. What a gracious and kind God we serve. What a wonderful God we serve. And I would ask those who were here that are non-Christians, you're not a believer, have you ever thought about your standing with God?

Have you ever considered that you have a debt to pay to this God? How many of you ever considered how you might pay that debt? Well, friend, I would just encourage you, look to Jesus. There is no way in and of yourself you can pay that debt. I would pray even in this moment, you'd begin to in your heart, just cry out to Jesus to say, I see my sinfulness, I see my brokenness, and I'm gonna place my faith in Jesus that he has paid for my sin.

So how do we receive this righteousness that Christ purchased? By faith. My second and final point that I want us to see is this. God's righteousness is received by faith. Not only is God's righteousness revealed in the cross, God's righteousness is received by faith.

That's what Paul says in verse 25 again. He put Christ forward to be received by faith. And we need to be very clear about this. Justification isn't Jesus started the work and we finished the work by our good deeds. That is a lie from Satan himself.

Justification is this, is that we could do nothing in and of ourselves. Christ accomplishes our salvation and then he gives us the faith to believe. He gives us a heart to see our sinfulness and to repent of that and to place our faith in Christ. The whole process of salvation is based on Jesus as a gift. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that you've been saved by grace through faith and this is not your own doing but it is the gift of God.

Of God. It's a wonderful gift that God gives us that we can finally see our sinfulness. We finally are able to recognize that we are broken and helpless, but we're finally able to trust and believe that Jesus paid the price for us on his merits. So once we have this faith, what happens? It triggers these wonderful gospel blessings.

Our sins are forgiven, our past, our present, our future sins, all of them are absolutely forgiven. So our standing before God is legally changed so that when he sees us, he no longer sees Paul sees our sinfulness, but he sees that we are a son and a daughter and nothing can alter that standing. Not only do we receive forgiveness, we receive this gift of sanctification, meaning we will be made holy. The good news is that not only does Jesus free us from the guilt of our sin, he frees us from the power of our sin. That's why Paul could write in Romans six, should we go on sinning that grace may abound by no means.

How can one who died to sin continue to live in it? Not only that, will we be sanctified? We will persevere. Meaning that all those who for whom Christ died for, they will be saved. That all of Christ's sheep will make it to the end.

They will persevere. And also, we will be glorified one day. They will be raised and these lowly bodies will be transformed in an instant. And we with the redeemed will be able to shout, Worthy is the Lamb who by his blood purchased a people for God from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Justification is this wonderful gift that transforms every part of this life and the next.

So what do we do with this wonderful gift? What do we as believers who've placed our trust in Jesus, what do we do with it? We begin to live in light of it. We begin to live in light of it knowing that everything about who we are is radically changed. That the God of the universe, he loves us, he sees us, as a son or daughter, that he's working all things out for our good and his glory.

That we wake up each morning and we praise God that we are justified. And each night as we lay our head down on our pillows, we reflect on our day and we thank God that our performance that day does not affect his love for us. We praise God for his kindness. We also should pray for others. Sadly, there are many in our congregation who because of their own decisions, own actions, or somebody else's actions toward them, they carry this guilt and shame like a dark shadow.

We should pray and plead that they would begin to realize that this truth of justification would take root in their heart and they would begin to live with this joy of freedom that God is not ashamed to be their God because of what Christ has done. We should pray for one another that this reality which shape every area of our life. We also should pray for unity. There are many things, many competing affections and passions in this life which would love to steal our church's unity. If we're going to be unified, let's be unified in this gospel truth.

And lastly, let's evangelize boldly. Because Christ is justified and purchased a people, we do not need to be ashamed or afraid in evangelism. All those for whom Christ died will be saved. So as I started talking about all these relationships that we have in our life are based on performance except one. And the irony is, is that when you have a right understanding as a Christian of your status before God, it gives us the right perspective and it shapes all of our other relationships.

And so my prayer this week is that you would take some time and read Romans 3 and reflect on this wonderful doctrine that Christ has purchased your salvation and let that truth transform every area of your life. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this precious gift of justification. That we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but you made us alive together with Christ.

We thank you that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. He's the propitiation for our sins. And we thank you. We thank you for all these wonderful gospel promises that justification entails. And I pray for our congregation, Father.

I pray for each member. I pray for myself, for my own family, that we would live and not only know these things, but live them, believe them wholeheartedly, that we are justified before you. So Lord, we love you and we thank you for your kindness towards us. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. At this time, I'd like to invite you to stand as we sing our closing hymn.

He will hold me fast.