Thrust: Righteousness has a name: Jesus
Romans 3:21-23
Let’s read this very short passage together. If you
will, please read along with me. And when we complete our reading, keep your
finder there because I will come back to it very soon.
READ the passage:
This passage is claimed by many Biblical scholars to
be the single most important passage in the whole Bible. Donald Gray Barnhouse,
the great Presbyterian preacher of Tenth Presbyterian Church in
Now, someone might say that you have heard about all
you want to hear on this matter of righteousness being the sole possession of
Jesus Christ. But, to give you a bit of comfort in my interpretation, go back o
the passage. This time
Gardner Calvin Taylor, [claimed by some to be] the world’s
greatest preacher, tells the story of a great Italian tenor who sang for the
Metropolitan Opera in
I must preach on the faith or the
righteousness of Christ until you and I get it right because it is one of the
most freeing realities about the human relationship with Christ that I know.
Continue from here with what it means to be free in Christ knowing
that I live by his faith and not my own; that I do not have to perform, do not
have to meet the law myself, and I do not have to believe perfectly, etc.
Verse
21, “But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed,
and is attested by the law and the prophets,” This says that God is
the source of all righteousness.
The law
must be understood as a revelation of God’s righteousness, God’s character. The
law must be understood as God’s initiative to reach out to sinful humanity- it
is an act of grace.
The law,
with its do(s) and don’t(s), is intended to describe to us the character of
God. We heard about that last year during the series on the Ten Commandments.
You were told that when God says, “do not covet”, “do not murder”,
or “do not steal”, it is not merely restricting human life and activity.
Rather it is telling us that God is a giving and loving God who desires the
best for all. Not only does God not desire what you and I have, God
always desires the best for you and me. Not only is God not the author of
death, God is the God of life. Not only does God not take from you what you
have, God is constantly giving to you according to his good will. Loving,
giving, and desiring the best for others are just a few aspects of the
character of God.
The law
is given that we might recognize the life of God in which we are called to
participate. That is, the law is given that we might recognize the character of
God and choose to live as people who love, give, and desire the best for others
just as God does.
Paul has
already told us one purpose of the law: the law was given to reveal our sin.
Verse 20: “no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the
law; through the law we become conscious of sin.” The law was never
intended as a means of salvation. God gave the law to reveal the righteousness
of God, knowing full well that it would be rendered insufficient for salvation
by our sin nature. Romans 8:3 says the “law
was powerless in that it was weakened by the sinful nature.”
That
does not mean that the law was insufficient in any way, but that we humans are
insufficient in our capacity to live in perfect conformity to the law.
Our sin nature renders us incapable of living according to the character or
glory of God.
But now, the law, having proven that humans are incapable
of living according to God’s eternal glory, God has revealed that same
righteousness in a different way. This time righteousness was given a name: His
name is Jesus.
Do you
still have your finger at that place in the Bible (NT page 154; Romans 3:22)?
Good, turn to it, please. Read verse 22 to me.
Do you
see the little “k” right beside the word Christ? Now, find “k” at the bottom of
the page and see another translation. “…the righteousness of God through the
faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
Jesus Christ came, not to make us righteous but to
satisfy God’s demands for righteousness on our behalf and to be our
righteousness. You might say that God came to live according to God’s own
character for the likes of you and me.
Let’s hypothesize for a moment. Given that we
humans are tainted by sin; that we are imperfect, that we are not all good all
the time, what would happen to the righteousness of God if it were to become
our possession? What would happen to the righteousness of God if it were
transferred from sinless and perfect Jesus Christ to us? Two things would
happen, both of which would render us helpless before the throne of God.
First, lets consider what happened when God’s
character or glory was revealed to humanity in the form of law. Did we not
break the law? Yes, at one point or another over time, we have all broken the
law. We have sinned against God by failing to love, to give, and to
desire the best for others according to the righteousness of God. We have broken the law on at least
one point. James says, “whoever
keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of
breaking all of it.”
It
doesn’t matter whether you are a preacher or an elder or that one person in
this world who is closest to the mind and heart of God – “all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. And if you don’t think you
have, you are wasting your time here. If you believe that you have not sinned
against God and deserve eternal separation from God, you better leave quickly
before us imperfect folk influence you.
The law
of God was given and our sin natures proved exactly what God knew before he
gave it: that the law would prove our sin natures incapable of salvation,
incapable of conforming perfectly to the law, character or righteousness of God.
Our sin-tainted natures perverted the law of God. The law proved our sin
natures, that part of us that neither understands nor seeks God, to be
incapable of the glory of God. That is what happened when God first revealed
his glory to humanity as law.
Now lets consider the “righteousness apart from the law”
that Paul speaks of. If the popular translation of verse 22 is accurate, “This righteousness from God comes through faith
in Jesus Christ to all who believe,” then we have some serious
questions to answer. If, upon
our being claimed by God in Christ, upon our belief on Christ as Lord and
Savior, we receive as our own possession the righteousness of God through
belief in Christ, then we have some serious questions to answer.
The
first question is this: “if it is true that we take on the righteousness of
Christ, why do you and I still sin?” Why are we not perfect as he is
perfect? Is not the righteousness of
Jesus Christ perfect? Hebrews
4:15, “we have [a high priest] who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are—yet was without sin.” Jesus’
righteousness rendered him sinless, would it not do the same to you and me?
So, you might ask, “Is not the righteousness of Christ sufficient for us to live in
perfect conformity to the law of God?” Jesus
says in Matthew 5:17 that he fulfilled the law and the Prophets. Of course, Jesus’ righteousness is
sufficient for Jesus alone has lived human life in perfect conformity to the
law of God. There is nothing wrong with Jesus’ character or righteousness. Jesus’
righteousness is sufficient for the salvation of the world. Then, I must ask
again, “If we receive the
righteousness of Jesus upon belief in him, why do we still sin?” We still sin because we do not take
on the righteousness of Christ.
Believing
in Jesus Christ neither renders me righteous, nor actually conveys to me the
righteousness of Christ. My belief in Jesus no more conveys to me the
righteousness of Jesus than my believing in George Washington conveys to me the
qualities of a great patriot and leader. No more than my believing in Joseph
Stalin and Carl Marx makes me a communist. No more than my believing in Adolph
Hitler makes me a Nazi. We still sin because we remain sinful humans utterly
dependent upon Christ and his righteousness.
There is
another very serious question that needs to be answered and it is this: “If,
upon belief in Jesus, I take on his righteousness, then what further need do I
have for Jesus in my life?” The answer is, “None. We would have no need
for Jesus if, after believing on him, we receive his righteousness as our own.”
I mean, practically speaking on a day to day of life basis, what further need
would we have of Jesus Christ if we have the very character of the Son of God
as our own character? The answer has to be a resounding, “None” And that
brings us to a truth that we must go into, if only in a very shallow way, right
now.
Some who
claim Christ as Lord become complacent. They begin to believe that since they
are saved they can live any way they desire. But, in light of the truth that
scripture often speaks of salvation in terms of the “already” and the “not
yet”, we ought not become complacent.
Allow me
to explain. In Luke 7:50, Jesus forgave the sins of the prostitute who anointed
him saying, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” In this passage
salvation is described as an “already” occurrence: “Your faith has saved you.”
Yet, in Matthew
10:22, Jesus tells the disciples, “All men will hate you because of me, but he
who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
An obvious statement of yet to come: “will be saved”.
Several
places in scripture speak of salvation in terms of an on-going process. That
is, scripture speaks of our salvation as an unfinished product, a product that
is certain, yet one that is unfinished. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the
message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved it is the power of God.” “Being saved” implies
process, an on-going activity.
There is
a sense in which we are saved, a sense in which we are in process, and a sense
in which we are awaiting its completion. As believers on Jesus Christ, you are
saved, you are being saved, and you are going to be saved.
The already
and the not yet of salvation depends entirely upon what you do with
righteousness. If, indeed you believe you possess a righteousness of your own,
you have no need for Jesus Christ in the here and now and you can be sure that
your salvation is on slippery ground. In other words you have become
self-righteous.
Am I saying that a person can lose
his/her salvation? Absolutely not! What I am says is that every believer needs
the continuing presence of Jesus Christ in his/her life. I am saying that the
person who assumes a self-righteous posture and seeks to live independent of
the life and work of Jesus Christ will be allowed to live apart from Jesus
Christ. I am saying that it is Jesus who saves you and it is Jesus who will
keep you saved until your salvation is finalized before the throne of God.
I
believe this is what Paul referred to when he said in Philippians 2, “workout
your salvation with fear ad trembling, for it is God who works in you to will
and act according to his good purpose.” The only way to be certain of your
salvation is to work it out by leaning on, depending upon and trusting in Jesus
Christ for his grace every day of your life. And part of that means recognizing
that Christ’s righteousness remains Christ’s righteousness and that we benefit
from his righteousness through belief on him and on his life and works.
Colossians 1:30, “It is because of
him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that
is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” Jesus is our righteousness. What are you depending on, not only for
eternal life, but also for day-by-day life in the here and now?
“Righteousness has a name: his name is Jesus.”
[1] Charles G. Adams, Cleophus J. La Rue, editor, Power in the Pulpit: How America’s Most
effective Black Preachers Prepare Their Sermons, page 18 – Obtained from
http://books.google.com/books?id=apjJGa26LzwC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=
sermon+repeat+%22until+you+get+it%22&source=web&ots=oJ4prR6poz&sig=WBE_RvFr8MsAyqZUt5hRHS7npaU&hl=en#PPA17,M1