“A Righteousness from God” Romans 3:21-31

A man had fallen over a cliff and was desperately clinging to an out-hanging branch. If he looked down, he could see the long fall to his certain death on jagged rocks. If he looked up, all he could see was that the side of the cliff was sleek with no hopes of finding a fingerhold or anything to help him climb up to safety. Not knowing what else to do, he began to call out with all his might for help. Though it was a lonely place, rarely frequented by other travelers, yelling for help seemed the only possibility of salvation.

As the man clung for life to the branch, he began to lose hope. Not knowing anywhere else to turn, he called out, “God, help me! Save me!”

Immediately, a loud voice came to him: “Let go.” The man stopped yelling for help, and listened.

Again, the voice came: “Let go; I will catch you.”

As the man struggled with what do you, he gathered up enough strength to yell out, one last time, “Is there anybody else up there?”

I don’t know why it is, but we seem too frequently to only seek God’s help when we have exhausted all other options and find He is the only option left. But that’s also the point many times. When all else fails, God is there to rescue us. He’s not a failsafe; He’s an assurance and a hope. Everything else can fall by the wayside, but God is a Rock, a constant. He is someone we can and must turn to for assurance and salvation. And, eventually, we discover this truth and realize we don’t have to wait until we’re at our wit’s end. We can call upon Him at all times.

This passage today reminds us of God’s plans and purposes and how He provides for us even before we know we need Him.

Background

Over the past few weeks, we’ve looked at the immoral, the moral and the religious. We’ve learned from the passages that each falls short of God’s expectations, and that His judgment awaits us all. Last week, we learned that no one is righteous, that we all turn away from God.

But in the midst of this despair, Paul reminds us that, with God, there is and always has been a plan for salvation through Jsus Christ.

Central Truth: Christ had to die for us to fulfill God’s plan of atonement by faith in Him.

The righteousness from God:

1. Comes through faith in Jesus Christ (21-24)

Paul has referred to the law numerous times in the end of Romans 2 and the first part of Chapter 3. The futility of the law is that we have a tendency to look to the law to save us, when the whole purpose of the law has been to point us to our need for saving faith. And that’s what Paul points out in this passage. Since the law doesn’t save, there has to be an alternative if we are to find salvation.

God’s plan is that our righteousness will come not from jumping through hoops of rules and regulations, but that our salvation will come through trusting Him to save us. Paul says the purpose of all that came before Calvary and the empty tomb pointed us to that weekend.

“The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Looking at the passage immediately before this, we are reminded of how evil and wicked we all are apart from God. Our words and our actions expose our evil hearts, since Jesus reminds us that our words flow from our heart. Paul writes that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all fall short. We all are sinners. There is no one who can stand before God and His judgment and demand entry into His presence.

It’s the next verse that is filled with hope, because though we may all be sinners and all fall short, we can all be justified freely because Christ died for us. That’s the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross covered our sins, and His resurrection is the promise that we have eternal life in Him. And this is provided to all who believe and accept that Christ died for our sins according to God’s pre-ordained plan. The righteousness of God comes to all who believe. He never turns a person of faith away. He does not force His will upon us; neither does He reject the earnest plea for salvation through Christ.

That’s why Jesus had to die for us.

1. Demonstrates God’s justice (25-26)

One thing we need to always remember is that God is a Just God. He hates sin and requires that a price be paid for sin. For the unrepentant heart, the price of sin is eternal separation from God. For those who turn to God for salvation, the price is the blood that was shed at Calvary. “God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood.” For those who place our faith in Christ Jesus and His atoning work, we find our redemption. The hymn is true: “Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.”

The reason Jesus had to die for us is to pay the price of sin in our lives. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is a demonstration not just of God’s demand for justice, but also His patience and mercy. God has not punished the sins of those who came before Christ because He was waiting for the time to be right. When the time was right, Christ died for us, and the sins of the past, the present and the future are atoned for in Christ.

Because Christ died for us, we are justified in God’s eyes, and we are forgiven of the sins that separated us from Him.

And that’s why Christ had to die for us.

1. Justifies us by faith apart from the Law (27-31)

I hear people say (usually grumpy old people, which excludes most of us here) that kids today are given everything. They don’t have to earn anything. Specifically, awards and things. Years ago, if you competed in a sport, the winners got a trophy, second and third place got ribbons and everyone else got told to try harder next time. Today, if you show up on a team, you get a participation award. Now, to some degree, I agree that competition needs to be de-emphasized when a preschooler is learning a sport, but once the fundamentals are learned and it’s time to really keep score, it should matter.

But we like to believe we’ve all achieved something, even if it means I showed up and competed. I may have come in last, but someone has to, right? We like to boast.

But Paul cuts that short in the beginning of these verses. Since we are saved by faith, we have no cause to boast. Boasting arises from what I have done, not what someone has done for me. Sometimes our pride is misplaced. Rather than being proud, we should be grateful. And that’s the case here.

There is no longer a claim to boast—“See how religious I am”—since it has been made clear that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Redemption comes not from doing certain things but from placing our faith in Christ.

Paul then points out that God is the God of all people and that the faith that saves is given to all people. The faith that is extended to the lost Jew is also extended to the lost Gentile, that all who believe shall receive salvation through Christ Jesus the Lord.

It’s interesting how Paul ends the passage. Rather than nullifying the law, Paul writes that salvation by faith upholds the law. How? By remembering what he wrote in v. 21—the law and the prophets testify to the righteousness that comes from God, a righteousness that is received by faith through the Christ who willingly picked up His cross and carried it to Calvary. There, He willingly laid down His life for us, only to pick it up again, and so we serve a risen Savior.

And that’s why Christ had to die for us.

Conclusion

We see the hopelessness of our condition when we rely on our own efforts to get in good with God. There is no hope without Christ. There is no righteousness without Christ. There is no salvation apart from Christ. God in His mercy determined from before the beginning of time that redemption would come only through His Son, and Jesus, not considering His past glory as something to be clung to, willingly yielded Himself to the Father’s will. He willingly and loving came to our world, where He grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with man (Luke 2:52). He taught us God’s ways and how we can be in relationship with the Father through Him. And He died so that you and I and anyone else who has faith can be saved.

And that’s why Christ died for us.