ROMANS 3:21-24 BUT NOW THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD APART FROM THE LAW IS REVEALED

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

 Man's so called quest for God has gone down so many roads, The Jews have said you need to keep the Law. Most of the other false religions of the world say you have to do works or good deeds to get into Heaven, some say you keep coming back until you get it right and then you can attain a release from this world.

So what is it that allows a man to be acceptable in God's sight, what is it that can remove the penalty of the law, what is it that makes a person's entrance into Heaven a sure thing.

False religion says do and God says it is done

Verses 21 -26 are probably the most important words ever written

Donald Grey Barnhouse drew a heart over these verses in his Bible and said this passage was not only the heart of Romans, but the heart of the NT and the whole Bible.

 1.     The Righteousness from God apart from the Law  v21-23

V21 Now we come to the great BUT Now of God's Righteousness apart from law revealed

1^ST of all, this but now signals the start of a new train of thought and 2^nd it also show that in this current period of time that the righteousness of Christ has been revealed

Having shown the impossibility of gaining righteousness by human effort, Paul now turns to explain the righteousness that God himself has provided.

Philippians 3: 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

Being witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets:

Deut 18:18 `I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 `And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20 `But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 21 "And if you say in your heart, `How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' -- 22 "when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

V22  Through Faith......all who believe

Acts 10:43 "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins

Charles Spurgeon said faith is believing Christ is what he said he is, He will do what he said he promised he will do and then to expect this of Him.

v-22-23 No difference..all fall short of the glory- All  men of all races cannot meet the standard of complete perfection(glory of God)

1 Corinthians 11:7  For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.

This righteousness is available to all who believe

All have sinned- Paul is restating what he has already proved in Rom 1:18-3:20

Nowadays preachers who speak of the sinfulness of man are looked down on, because they are always speaking of how bad man is and how you are going to hell, they forget the fact that the whole reason this is done to show man a better way of living. It is living based on what God has done and can do with us if we let Him run our lives. Saying man is a sinner is not just to make him feel bad about himself, but to make him realize what he can be through God. The motive is a good one.

2.     The Justification by God   v24

Justification is a word from the law courts which  speaks of a man on trial before God

This word means not to make a person something he is not, but to treat him as if he was that. To reckon or account to him something he does not deserve. If an innocent man appears before a judge then to treat him as innocent is to acquit him

 Justification means that even though man is thoroughly guilty that God in his amazing mercy treats him, reckons him, accounts him as if he were innocent.

When Paul says that God justifies the ungodly he means that God treats the ungodly as if he were a good man. This is what shocked the Jews, they thought this was a sign of a wicked judge

That is why the Bible says in Mark 10:15 and Luke 18:17  "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

We must come to the Lord as a little child who comes to his mother brokenhearted and sorry for the wrong committed and asking for forgiveness, knowing as a mother who loves her child will receive that child in love and forgive him.

Before Christ there was judgement, now there is Justification

Numbers 21:7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. Numbers 21:8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." Numbers 21:9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

John 3:14-20

Freely .... this is the word gratis or without charge

Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

By his grace: the unmerited favor granted to undeserving sinners

It is not merely a free gift, but a free gift to those(us) who deserve exactly the opposite given to us while we are without hope and without God.

Redemption is a commercial term. It was used in the OT to speak of purchasing the freedom of a prisoner or slave for the purpose of setting them free. Jesus' death, blood sacrifice, and the wrath of God poured out on Him while he was on the cross is the price that was paid to set us free.

Leviticus 25:50 Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for him.