I would ask you to remain standing together with me and turn your Bibles to our first scripture reading this morning, which is parallel to the sermon that is going to be delivered this morning from Romans chapter three. So Genesis chapter 15, verse one to six. Genesis chapter 15, one to six. Now remember this portion of, The book of Genesis shows you how Abraham was justified, how Abraham received the righteousness of God in his life. So keep that in mind as we read this portion of Genesis chapter 15. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. Fear not, Abraham, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, this man shall not be your heir, your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord. And he counted it to him as righteousness. Now turn your Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter 3. We'll be reading from verse 21 to 31. Romans 3, 21 to 31. 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 we 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. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By the law of works? No, by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, thank you for the provision of your word. Your word is the source of our wisdom and understanding, especially when it comes to the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God that has been given to us as a gift and that we received it by faith in Jesus Christ. And as we consider this foundational and important subject matter, the righteousness of God. From your Word this morning, we ask you to illumine our hearts and our minds, to understand the mystery of the gift of righteousness from God. Enable your people by your Holy Spirit. to rejoice in your gift, the gift of righteousness, but also to understand this gift apart from the keeping of the law. We pray all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated. How many of you are familiar with the word crescendo. I remember one time I was invited to preach in a Pentecostal church back home in Eritrea. And I sat next to a man who was known for speaking in tongues. And as the music and the singing got louder and louder, The man started speaking in tongues. And the only word that he was saying over and over again, maybe over 100 times, was crescendo, crescendo, crescendo, crescendo. And after the service, because I knew him, I asked him what crescendo meant. for him and to the people. Interpretation, you know? Paul said, interpret it. So he was saying, crescendo, crescendo, crescendo, and I, you know, as a good student of the scripture, and Paul asked him, what does crescendo mean? And the man, to my surprise, he said to me, crescendo means the power of the living God. I had no idea what language that man was speaking, but in English, Crescendo means the loudest point reached in a gradually increasing sound. That's what crescendo means. Crescendo means the climax point of something. That's the climax point. You know, when you say something, that's your crescendo. You have reached to the climax point. But you come to that point after a loud message or sound to your hearers. And what we have this morning before us from Romans chapter 3 is Paul's crescendo. after all the sounds and the voices and the message that he was bringing to us. Now Paul has arrived in the book of Romans to the crescendo of the gospel, the righteousness of God. How righteousness, the righteousness of God is obtained in the life of believers. in the life of any person. How is the righteousness of God obtained? How is the righteousness of God received? Now the people of God, remember, the righteousness of God is not achieved. The righteousness of God is received. No one can achieve the righteousness of God by his own works and deeds and efforts. The righteousness of God is received from God by faith. And what did Paul tell you so far concerning the spiritual condition of all men before this holy and perfect God? You remember in chapter 1, Paul told you all Gentiles are under the wrath of God. because of ungodliness, because of sin. All pagans, all unbelievers, it doesn't matter who they are, from where they come from, what their ethnicity is, it doesn't matter. All unbelievers, Paul said, are under the wrath of God, under the condemnation of God. And the Jews started rejoicing about that, feeling good about it, pointing their finger at the Gentiles who were condemned and were under the wrath of God. And in chapter 2, Paul, gently and kindly but firmly, he told all the religious people, all the Jews people, you also are under the wrath of God. No distinction! God shows no partiality when it comes to righteousness, when it comes to perfection. Gentiles and Jews alike, they all are equally under God's condemnation. No one is righteous, not even one. All have become, what? Worthless, Paul said. Both Gentiles and Jews, outside of Christ, all people are under the wrath of God. So that was what Paul was saying to us in several Sundays. During several Sundays in my preaching, Paul was establishing this universal corruption of all men apart from the grace of God, apart from the love of God. Now he comes to the crescendo, to his climax point in verse 21. But you see, this morning Paul is showing you the God of righteousness in action. The God whom you worship, the God in whom you believe. Paul is saying God is in action in the gospel. In action fulfilling three amazing things for his people. The first one is he gives righteousness as a gift. And the second one is he displays justice through Christ his Son. And thirdly, he removes, he eliminates busting from those who believe in Christ Jesus for righteousness. He gives, he displays, he removes. You see God in action in Romans 3, 21-31. You see Him acting. You don't see man acting, you see man receiving. But you see the God of righteousness in action, accomplishing these three simple points, but amazing acts of love in the life of His people. So Paul said, the first one, is given righteousness as a gift. Paul said, but now, But now, you see, for his hearers, for the Jews, when Paul said, but now, it means now you need to listen carefully. Now you need to pay your attention here. Because a transition is taking place. Now let me ask you this. In verse 19 and 20, Paul told us this. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of God." You see, you have no hope of righteousness, hope of salvation in verse 19 and 20. In verse 19 and 20, Paul is showing you what the purpose of the law of God is. The purpose of the law of God is not to justify anyone. The purpose of the law of God is not to make you righteous in the sight of God. The purpose of the law of God is as a mirror to show you your sin. That's the purpose of the law. So according to 19 and 20, you are under condemnation. Because no one would keep the law of God perfectly. The mouth of all people is shut out by the mirror of the law. And you remember what I told you? When I talked about these verses, the law being the mirror, I told you, you know, a mirror shows you the dirt on your face. And I told you if you were able to talk to the mirror, and the mirror is able to talk to you, and if you say to the mirror, thank you for showing me the dirt on my face, can you remove it from my face? And the mirror would say to you, no, that's not my job, you need water and soap for that dirt. That's the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The law will never remove sin from your life. The law shows you sin. Now, let me ask you this. What if Paul stops here? In verse 20. What if God stops here? Shutting up all people under condemnation, no hope, before the mirror, the law of God, what would happen to you? If God would stop here, you see, the fact that we are here in the sanctuary this morning would be meaningless. But we are here because we have been justified. We are here because we received a gift of righteousness from God. Now Paul is saying, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. What does it mean? The righteousness of God has come to us, has been revealed to us apart from what? Apart from keeping the law of God. Without that demand from the law of God, keeping the law of God perfectly, the righteousness of God has been manifested, has been revealed to us. Galatians 4, 4 and 5, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent for His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. Jesus came to keep the law of God perfectly on our behalf. And by that to deliver us from the condemnation of the law of God. We were prisoners under the law of God. We couldn't keep the law of God perfectly. Jesus came, kept the law for us, and freed us from the condemnation of the law of God, and we became sons and daughters of God. You see, when Paul says, but now, he was making a reference to the fullness of time, to the revelation of Jesus Christ in the flesh. But when Christ came in the flesh, then God gave to His people the gift of righteousness. And it's called the righteousness of God. It's called the righteousness of God. When Paul says, the righteousness of God, what is he talking about? What is the righteousness of God? You know, it could mean two things. It could mean that God is righteous. God is perfect. You know, you would say, oh, Paul is talking about God's character. As perfect, as righteous God. Yes, that's true. God is righteous. But Paul here is not talking about God's character. As a righteous and holy God. In this context, you see, when Paul says the righteousness of God, he's talking about your status. Your right standing before God. Through Jesus Christ. By faith. How is a man and a woman have a right relationship with God? When is God says to you, you are no more guilty? You are righteous, when? When you have faith in Jesus Christ, his son. Then you have the righteousness of God in your life. And then God says to you, not guilty. righteous, as if you have never seen it before. The problem with the Jews was, some of them accused Paul for distorting the teaching of the scripture. Paul, do you mean that God has changed his mind? You know, with our fathers, justification was through keeping the law of God, and then Israel failed, and God said to himself, I think I was wrong with the first way of salvation, first way of justification, now I will change my mind, I will give them righteousness as a gift. Before, it was through the keeping of the law, but now, they failed, so I will do favor to them by giving them my righteousness as a gift. You see, when Paul said, apart from the law, is he throwing the law? Is he saying, now the law is useless? No, because Paul said, both the law and the prophets, witnesses to it. And we'll come to that. But you see, Paul is saying, it was the same from the beginning. And he gives us two examples if you notice carefully in our text. The first one is Abraham. The first one is Abraham. How was Abraham justified in the sight of God? Before even the law was given, hundred years before Moses was born, Abraham was justified by what? Keeping the law? There was no law. Then, Abraham was justified by faith. Now the people of God remember who Abraham was. Was Abraham a perfect man? No. Abraham broke the marriage vow. You remember? He went to Hagar, had a child from Hagar. He was not faithful to Sarah. He was a sinner. He went down to Egypt. He lied about his wife. He told the Egyptians and the Pharaoh of Egypt, this is my sister, she's not my wife. And Pharaoh took Sarah from Abraham. That was the man who was justified by faith. Was he perfect? No. Did he keep the law of God? No, he broke the marriage vow. He lied. At least he broke two commandments. He was not perfect. And yet when God commanded him to obey Him, to go to the land where he didn't know, he believed in the promise of God. And God counted him as righteousness. Our father Abraham was justified by faith. not by keeping the law. And then David. Think about David in Psalm 32, 1 and 2. Listen to these words. Psalm 32, 1 and 2. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. This is David. David the adulterer, David the murderer. This is David who is saying, blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. You see, apart from the gift of righteousness from God, David will never, never utter these words from his mouth. A murderer, an adulterer. His sin was covered, as if he'd never seen it before. God counted him righteous. God even called him a man after my own heart. Brothers and sisters, you will never obtain that in your life apart from undeserving grace and mercy of God. All of us are sinful. All of us are sinful. No distinction. So Paul is not telling us that God changed his mind. Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, the way for justification was one. It was a gift. God treated this bozeman as though they have never seen it before. You see, Abraham and David are your perfect example. That righteousness is a gift from God. I'm sure this example would help all of you. Let's say you have a mortgage on you. You have this debt of mortgage. And every month the bank extracts money from your account. It's painful. It's painful for many people. Mortgage is a heavy burden, a heavy responsibility for anyone. But let's say one day you receive a letter from the bank. You open the letter, and the letter says, your mortgage has been paid fully by anonymous individual. No debt. You are debt free, and her is the deed for your house. You own the house. You are free. What would you do? Well, if it's me, I would tell everyone around me. Did you hear what happened to me? I'm free of debt. My mortgage is paid fully. But who would, who does that every day in his life about the gift of righteousness? We tend to act as if we are good people. I receive the righteousness of God as a gift because I'm not like the Nazis. I haven't killed anyone. I'm good. You see, the reason why we sometimes don't witness to people It's because we don't view the gift of righteousness the way Paul describes to us in Romans chapter 3. Mortgage paid fully. You're not guilty. You're righteous in my sight. Don't you want to tell about that to other people? There is a gift of righteousness in God. Through Christ Jesus you can be free of the debt of sin. The debt of mortgage, you see, can be paid within 15, 20, 30 years. The debt of sin, you can't pay it. Only Christ can pay it for you. The gift of righteousness. And secondly, he displays justice through Christ. Listen to verse 25 and 26. 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. Now Paul is saying, In His act of giving righteousness as a gift, God not only gave us righteousness as a gift, but He also put His Son, Jesus Christ, forward. You know, He displayed His Son to the whole world to see. that righteousness comes only from God. Think about that. Propitiation means for someone to take your place to satisfy the anger of someone over you, God. So Christ took your place in Calvary and died on your behalf and He satisfied the wrath of His Father. He became the propitiation of your sin. Atonement. He atoned your sin by His blood and by His death on the cross. Now let me ask you this. Why do you think God did that publicly? Why not God does that in heaven, privately, quietly? Why doesn't God come to us through His Spirit, through His Word, and say to each and every one of us, calling our names, I just want you to know that you have been forgiven, you have been justified, and I don't want to be public about this, I don't want to brag about the work of my Son on the cross, so we'll do it quietly. Why? Why do you think God did it publicly? Why do you think God the Father displayed His Son, Jesus Christ, who was perfect, to shame and despise of this world? Why? The reason is, you see, Paul said, because he passed the former sins. Which means, you see, when people see the righteousness of God as a gift to all believers, they would recognize that Abraham and David and Noah and all these patriarchs in the Old Testament, they were not saved by their own good works. God passed their sin because of grace, because of mercy. That was the reason, you see, why Jesus was crucified publicly. so that everyone in the world would know that righteousness comes from God as a gift. It is not achieved, but it is received. 2 Corinthians 5.21, For our sake He made Him to be seen, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God, in Christ. we might become the righteousness of God. And thirdly, and lastly, removing boasting from believers. Listen to Paul in verse 27. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By the law of works? No, by the law of faith. You see, Paul is now telling you, when you receive righteousness as a gift from God, and when Christ is displayed on the cross publicly, so that the whole world would know that righteousness is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ, through the work of redemption on the cross, propitiation, Those two things, Paul is saying, those two things, the fact that righteousness is a gift from God, the fact that Christ atoned your sin on the cross, those two facts, Paul is saying, should make you a humble Christian. No Boston. No Boston. You know, I'll give you another example. Let's say your son turns 16 or 17. And you buy a new brand car for your son. He's teenage, 16, 17. He's at that age that he needs a car. So you buy a new brand new car to your son. You bring it to the house. Your son is happy. And you say to your son, hey, son, I want you to drive your new car to downtown, a small town, you know, downtown, and I will sit with you, and you drive. And you go, you know, to the car. Your son is excited, happy. He drives the car to downtown, and his friends are in downtown, and they see the new car. And they say to your son, wow, this is amazing. This is marvelous car. This is not used car. This is new car. And you hear your son saying to his friends, yeah, I worked so hard on this car. I invested a lot of money in this car. Now, you fathers, what would you do with your son? Don't say it. I know what some of you would do. Do you treat the gift of righteousness in that way sometimes? Do you boast about it? I'm righteous because I'm a good person. I'm righteous because I'm a pastor in the Church of Jesus Christ. I'm righteous because I'm an elder, I'm a deacon. I'm righteous because I serve, you know, service of hospitality in the church. Who would be righteous? Not me. Boston. But Paul is saying, no Boston. You see, the gift of righteousness excludes all elements of Boston from your Christian life. It makes you a humble and loving and serving believer. And if people come to you and ask you, why do you do all these things that you do for God and for his people? And your answer should be, well, you know, God gave me a gift of righteousness. Without me doing anything, a sinner, I received the righteousness of God, from God, as a gift. Now let me ask you this. Is your righteousness a gift from God? I know you are righteous in Christ Jesus, but I'm asking you, is your righteousness a gift from God? Do you recognize your righteousness, your own righteousness, your own right relationship with God? You've been accepted in the sight of God. Do you view that as a gift? Or you sometimes boast about it? Or inclined to boast about it? Do you have peace concerning your right standing before God? You know, sometimes people come to me as a pastor, and they say to me, I'm not really sure about my salvation. I'm not really sure about my righteousness in the sight of God. And one of the questions that I ask people based on the Scripture is, are you depending on your own good works for your righteousness? And most of the time they say, yeah, I have the temptation of that in my life. Sometimes I depend, I rely on my goodness. And I say to them, stop doing that. That's boasting. If you want to have peace with your relationship with God, avoid boasting. Love humility. and acknowledge God's righteousness as a free gift for you. Do you dislike boasting in your Christian life about your righteousness, about who you are in Christ? You see, boasting is something that we always need to fight against. Because everything that we have comes from God, the giver of righteousness, so that no one would boast in his sight. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious and heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of righteousness that we didn't deserve. like Abraham and David and other patriarchs in the Old Testament. Even in the New Testament, we are also sinful. And a word reminds us that there is no distinction between all of us. Apart from the grace of God, we are lost. Apart from the grace of God, we would have been perished forever. But thank you for the gift of righteousness, your righteousness. Christ, your Son, who is our wisdom and our peace and our righteousness. And help each and every one of us this afternoon to go home and reflect on the gift of righteousness that we have received from God. And help us to talk about it with other people, share the good news of the gift of righteousness from God in our own life with people who don't have that righteousness as a gift. Help us to proclaim this truth to all people without the righteousness of you, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.