It’s Palm Sunday – the perfect day to rehearse the blessings that have been provided by Jesus Christ. What was on the minds of the crowds of people who thronged the road He was traveling this day? One thing. "Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest’" (Matthew 21:9). "Hosanna" means "save we pray." It was a cry for salvation. What they were praying for happened to be the exact reason why He was approaching Jerusalem. He was coming to die for their salvation. They probably had in mind a political salvation more than an eternal salvation.

"Hosanna;" "save now." This is probably what Terri Schiavo is crying out for now after two days without food – physical salvation. O that her prayers might be answered.

Five days later, after the religious leaders hung Jesus on the cross, they mocked Him with these words: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him" (Matt. 27:42). They probably had no concept of the significance of what they were saying. They were trying to suggest that the fact that He couldn’t come down off of the cross demonstrated that His previous miracles were bogus. The fact that He could not or would not save them from the oppressive rule of Rome indicated His weakness. But the truth of the matter was that He could not come down off of the cross because He was saving others. He was their substitute – dying for them. Thus, to come down off the cross and save Himself would seal the fate of the chief priests themselves to hell. He stayed on the cross for them – the very ones taunting Him. Today we see the effect of His death on the cross – salvation for all.

We have finished the first section of Romans, which emphasized the great need that everyone has for the gospel. Every single solitary person on the face of the earth is a mess, is in sin, is under the judgment and wrath of God. They may not feel like it or look like it, but the data is clear – there is none righteous, no not even one. Why emphasize how bad people are? That is the proper introduction to the beauty of the gospel, because the gospel is the good news that God has provided the solution to man’s awful sin problem.

This new section introduces God’s program of saving people. Now begins the good news, the unbelievable news that something GOOD can come to people who are in such horrible sin as the first three chapters describes.

If the first section could be entitled, "SIN," or "The GOSPEL is the announcement of ‘BAD’ NEWS," then this section should be entitled, "SALVATION," or "The announcement of God’s incredible provision." And the focus of this section is on the GIFT.

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,

1. God has revealed His righteousness. Bishop Moorehead says that God’s righteousness is "the sum total of all that God commands, demands, approves, and Himself provides." God provides as a gift all that God is in character. He supplies to humans all that the standard of the Law demanded.

And it is "to all and on all who believe." The very righteousness of God has appeared, is available, on earth, in Bowie, today. Paul is not talking here about a "less sinful life" that is better than before. This is not turning over a new leaf. This is God’s very righteousness. This is being as right with God as Jesus Christ is. Is that a shock?

Notice the transition, "but now." Up to now we have had nothing but the sin of the best and the worst, all deserving the wrath of God. Up to now we have seen that there is no one righteous, no not one. "But now." Isn’t that an amazing change?

This means that if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, if you have come to Him by faith, you have the righteousness of God. Does God accept you? Is He satisfied with you? Have you ever had any questions about that? Not feeling accepted, not feeling like you are part of the family. Because of Christ, you have God’s Righteousness. Here is I Corinthians 1:30 in the NIV: "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 Christ has become our righteousness. Ephesians 1:6 says, "He has made us accepted in the Beloved." I like that word "accepted."

It doesn’t matter how you feel; it doesn’t matter how bad your day has been, or what kind of shape your hair is in, God says that you are accepted in His presence because you have His righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

2. The Old Testament gave witness to this gift (21). Salvation has always been by Grace through Faith. Chapter four will tell us that Abraham and David were saved by Grace through Faith. God’s new message of a righteousness from Him by Grace, is not new. The gift of Grace in the Old Testament came through the Tabernacle, and the sacrifices and the priesthood. They pictured the truth, they demonstrated God’s Grace in shadow form, because people back there were saved the same way, by faith.

There are actually two expressions of God’s Righteousness – God’s Character. His righteousness was revealed in the Law, because each command was an expression of His character. But as we learned two verses ago, the purpose of that expression of God’s Righteousness in the Law was to show His people how far short they fell.

The 10 commandments said that God required righteousness from us. But Grace says that God gives righteousness to us. Immediately after giving the Law God started the construction of the tabernacle. What was the purpose of the Tabernacle? God said, "I will dwell here; I want to dwell in the middle of my people." Thus the tabernacle housed the Shekinah Glory of the ineffable God, and people of the nation of Israel could APPROACH Him! That was Grace.

But now apart from the Law a righteousness of God has been revealed. This is the righteousness based on the death of Christ on the cross. Now, because of Christ’s death, God will forgive all your sin, past, present and future, and give you His Righteousness.

3. The Gift of Righteousness comes by means of "Justification." God’s solution is called "Justification." The word means to "impute" or "transfer" to someone else’s account. It’s the transfer of Christ’s Righteousness to your account, and the transfer of your sins to His account. The picture is of your sin debt, which if it is like mine has exceeded the national debt of the United States. Have you seen those signs that are continually going up, reading out the national debt. That was my moral bank account before Christ. But when Christ entered my life, he brought in His righteousness, which erased my debt and placed a billion dollars of positive righteousness on my account.

As a result of that transaction, I would be declared RICH. I might not feel any different, or act any different, or know how to deal with my riches, but I would be declared "a billionaire." Why? Simply because of what has happened to my account. It does not mean that I am a different person. The hope is that since I am now declared rich, I will learn to live wisely on the basis of what I have.

Justification speaks to that transfer of funds to my moral bank account. Because God, on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ has transferred a billion dollars to my spiritual account, I am now declared righteous. Do you see how I can be declared righteous when I am not necessarily any different than I was before. God’s desire is that I will become different (i.e. righteous) because of what is now in my bank account, but justification is a process of re-writing my account, and placing something there that has never been there before, something that I could never earn, and something that doesn’t belong to me.

The fact that I now have a large bank account filled with God’s righteousness doesn’t mean that I am automatically righteous in everything I do. I could live in ignorance of all God has done for me, and never use all the resources I have. I may ignore His encouragement to go on these Spiritual shopping sprees, and live in weakness and discouragement. But because I have been "justified" and my spiritual bank account totally revolutionized, thousands of positive things can occur in my life. Because of Christ, each believer has incredible possibilities.

This is the GOOD NEWS! That simply needs broadcasting. Did you hear the amazing story of Ashley Smith this past week? It was 2 a.m. Saturday morning a week ago when Brian Nichols stuck a gun in her side as she was getting out of her car and tied her up. Nichols had overpowered a courthouse deputy escorting him to his rape trial Friday and took the deputy's gun, shot her in the face, then entered the courtroom where his trial was being held and killed the presiding judge and court reporter. He also killed a deputy who tried to stop him outside the courthouse and a federal agent during his flight.

As the night wore on in her apartment, Ashley started telling Nichols about her life and sharing her testimony. She talked about her daughter and found out that he had a son who had been born the night before. He said to her that he felt that "he was already dead," but she encouraged him to consider the fact that he was still alive a "miracle." She read the Bible to him. "You're here in my apartment for some reason," she told him, suggesting that he might be destined to be caught in order to be a testimony and spread the word of God to fellow prisoners.

When morning came, Nichols seemed "overwhelmed" when Smith made him pancakes. They watched television news reports about the slaying and the manhunt. "I cannot believe that's me on there," Nichols said. She also apparently read to him from the Purpose Driven Life which starts with "this is not about you; this is about God." He later told her that she "was his angel, sent from God, that she was his sister and that he was her brother in Christ."

What was it that changed the heart of this murderer? The law? The newspaper? The TV? The law was an absolutely crucial part, as we will notice in verse 31, but it wasn’t the law that changed him. It was the good news. It was the fact that God had a purpose for his life that went beyond doing what he wanted to do, his sin.

Think about the fact that if you are ever tied up and about to be killed, what people need to hear is the good news. And even if you are not tied up and about to be killed, what people need to hear about is this incredible fact that God’s Righteousness has been revealed and is available to everyone who believes in Christ Jesus. Do you give this news out?

25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

A. Christ became the "propitiation." This long word, "propitiation," means to "satisfy." Jesus Christ is the One who "satisfies" the wrath of God; He "propitiates" the father, because His willing death on the cross was a sufficient sacrifice to pay the debt of our sin.

Christ was "set forth" as a propitiation. The verb "set forth" is in the middle voice, which means that one does it oneself or for oneself, or with a great personal interest in the action. Think of the activity of God setting forth His Son, His only begotten Son to become the sacrifice necessary to free humans from the penalty of their sin.

That word struck me as I thought, "who would ever intentionally give up his son?" Your son says something about your future; your son says something about fellowship in life. You look forward to life with your son – another male who likes the competitive rough and tumble parts of life the way you do. God set forth His Son as the propitiation for our sin. He sent Him out to be messed up by the very people He had created, because His death would satisfy God’s justice.

Suppose I had the choice of sending my son out to die in a coal car. Would I ever choose to do that? There is no way I would ever see that as beneficial – to anything. That’s why God didn’t give me a choice. And that’s part of the problem. Now that I didn’t have a choice, and the choice was made for me, my response tends to be "why?" "Isn’t there a better way of doing it – for a child of God?" "Why now? Couldn’t you have left him here for another year to serve You?"

Hundreds of other parents are asking the same questions – those who have lost sons and daughters in Iraq, or in accidents, or as victims of crime. Think of that little nine year old girl, Jessica Lunsford, who was taken and killed by the known sex offender, John Couey, this past week. "Why did the previous judge allow him to live, or allow him to get out of jail?" would be my question. I’m sorry; but if I had to choose, I would rather have a 9 year old girl alive and well today than a twice convicted sex offender.

Think of Brian Nichols who killed 4 people in one day. Police were sure that when they found him it would become a shoot-out, and they would have to kill him before they could take him. But he came out of Ashley’s apartment waving a white flag, in a totally different mood. Why has God allowed Brian to live while not protecting the other four?

None of this thinking is strange to God. Because He "set forth by Himself, with great personal interest" His Only Son as THE sacrifice for the sins of sex offenders, and Brian Nichols-type-people, and you and me. His Son was the only One who could have ever satisfied His justice.

B. Christ became the demonstration of God’s righteousness. His death freed God from the charge that He had been forgiving sins with insufficient payment. God forgave sins in the Old Testament when they were "paid for" by the death of a sheep. Was the blood of that sheep an appropriate substitute for someone’s sins? Was it enough to propitiate the justice of God? Could it take your place and die for you? The answer is "no." Heb 10:4 "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins."

So how could a just God forgive those sins in the Old Testament when they were never paid for? The law was doing its work, convicting people of their sin, and driving them to the tabernacle with a sacrifice in tow. And God was promising, "I will forgive your sin when I see the blood." But that blood could never cover the cost of the sin, and purify the heart before God. It looked like God was lax in dealing justly with sin, and had somehow been showing mercy at the expense of His righteousness. Paul says that He "winked at" the sins of human ignorance back then (Acts 17:30). What was going on? How can a Righteous God, in righteousness, "wink" at sin?

Everything snapped into focus when Jesus died. He was the sacrifice for those sins in the Old Testament, as well as all other sin. Thus the Father could forgive sins on the basis of the death of an animal because He knew that His own Son would one day pay the full price for that sin. In effect He was forgiving sins on credit. He was saying when He saw the blood of an animal and the repentant heart of the person bringing the animal, "I’ll charge that one. I will put that one on my plastic card." All down through Israel’s history, God was racking up the charge card, increasing the bill, so to speak with every person He forgave on the basis of an animal substitute.

Then one day the time came to pay off the charges. The bill was enormous, the price was infinite, and the cost was the life of His only begotten Son. Thus the animals involved with the Old Testament sacrifices were pictures of what Christ could and would do. And God accepted a picture as legitimate payment for a sin debt, knowing that the full payment was coming on the cross. Then when Christ died on Calvary, it was as much for the sins of those in the Old Testament as it was for those of His people in His day, as it was for us today. His death paid for all the sin of all the sinners committed from Adam and Eve eating the apple until time ends and eternity begins. That’s why John the Baptist said, "behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world."

Here’s a picture of what happened in the Old Testament. You are at our house for dinner. My wife has put a nice linen tablecloth on our oak dining room table. I, as my custom is, spill something on the table cloth. I say to you, "don’t worry about that, I do it all the time." But it bothers you, and as we talk you keep looking down at that spreading spill. So I take one of our nice linen napkins and place it over the spill. Now you can’t see the spill, and our fellowship is restored because you forget about it. I can put the napkin over the spill and ignore it because I know that the next day my wife is going to throw the table cloth into the washer and completely wash out that stain.

The napkin that went overtop of the spill is the blood of those animals in the Old Testament. In fact the blood of those animals is called an "atonement:" "I will make atonement for your sins," God said back then. The word "atonement" is the word, "cover." Thus, even though the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin; God allowed their blood to "cover" the sin, with the realization that on the hill of Golgotha, that sin would be totally washed away by the death of His Son. Marvelous, isn’t it? God forgiving sin on credit!

All of that comes out in verse 25. The death of Christ on the cross suddenly clarified how God could righteously do what He was doing with sin in the Old Testament. It says that God "passed over the sins that were previously committed," because of His "forbearance."

How should we respond to such amazing information? With thankfulness. Sometimes we hear truths repeated so often that they get old and lose their brilliance. They are like a sunset. What does it take to put together a sunset? What does it take to make a sun? And an atmosphere with clouds, and dust and all the other things to make the right tint and mix of light? A sunset is a miracle! But we get used to it. And used to the miracle of life, and a wife or husband and a child, and the amazing righteousness of God. Don’t let your amazement get lost, and live in thanksgiving.

27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

A. "By faith" eliminates the possibility of earning it. Boasting arises because you have accomplished some part of your salvation. But the moment you set out to "earn" a gift it ceases to be a gift (21). God’s righteousness is supplied "apart-from-the-law," which means that one cannot earn it by one’s efforts. The truth of the matter is that the Law can never help someone get better, since all it can do is increase and emphasize his guilt. It is through faith, and it is ONLY through faith in Jesus Christ, for everyone who believes.

"Freely" in verse 24, in the Greek means "as a gift," "gratis," "without any consideration from the recipient" (Harrison, 50). You can’t be good enough to receive it and you won’t be ruled out because you are too bad. It’s not like scholarships to Harvard, which are available to the upper .000001% of the academic population. It’s not that it is only available to those who work hard at it, and commit their lives to finding it. It’s for sinners since every single person who ever lived (apart from Christ) falls into that camp. It’s for the dumb, the stupid, the idiots who have wasted their lives, for those who have never had a religious thought in their lives, who like the thief on the cross, suddenly wake up, in a condition where they can’t do anything about their situation, nailed to a cross, with death only a few hours away, who turn to the suffering One beside them and say, "would You remember me today when you enter your kingdom?" The man may have never had a religious thought in his life, may have never darkened the door of a church, may have never given a penny to anyone, or accomplished anything in his life except piles of moral garbage, may have never done anything of value to help anyone, and not only does he go to heaven, but he accompanies Jesus Christ when He dies and enters paradise! Doesn’t that make an unbelievable statement! Can you imagine Abraham, as in Luke 16 with the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and Moses, and David, and Joshua waiting in expectation in paradise, for the arrival of the One they knew had come to earth to bear their sin as the Lamb of God, waiting for the arrival of this perfect Lamb at the entrance to Paradise. And suddenly, there He is, having won their forgiveness. They all burst into tears, and applause, and bow before Him, so excited to see Him. Then after 24 hours of rejoicing over the glorious work of the Son, they get their voices back, and ask, "so who is this man who is accompanying you on your journey into paradise?" His answer? "This is a man I picked up today on the cross, a ruined sinner, in great need, who turned to Me in the last few minutes of his life. How could I let him go?" And everyone there will understand, because that is exactly what He did for them too. Can you imagine the testimony we will one day hear from that thief on the cross? A life of sin and filth, and suddenly, just before death, realizing the truth of who Christ is and turning to Him, and being eternally surprised at the result.

B. "By faith" establishes the Law (31). Coming to Christ by faith establishes the validity and purpose of the Law. The Law was never given to SAVE people, it wasn’t given to encourage people that they could make themselves righteous. It was given to show that people were sinners. It was the Law which prepared them for approaching God, for enjoying His presence by repeatedly doing one thing – pointing out their sin. It’s not that people need to sin in order to approach God, but that people need to understand their sin, and their sinfulness in order to approach God. Once they understand their sin, once the Law does its good work and reveals how sadly they miss God’s standard, then the gospel is good news.

What forces us to see our need of Christ is the Law. What preaches to every human being, "you can’t, you can’t, you will never make it on your efforts," is the Law. Apart from the awareness of our sin, we would never have any hope of approaching God. So many people in the world have never been clobbered by the Law. They have never experienced the blessing of the Law reducing them to nothingness. And they continue to go through life thinking that their efforts are productive, and that even though they are not succeeding fully, they are making it and that they are OK for the future because their good stuff will in the end outweigh the bad. Apart from the Law saying, "it’s that hate that you have for your father, and that lust you have for the girl in your office, and the fact that you are determined do it your way, that is sending you to hell," we would have no need of the gospel.

In the Old Testament the Law was designed to drive people to the tabernacle where they could, by offering a lamb in faith, receive forgiveness for the sins the Law revealed. Thus the "faith" establishes the Law. When you believe on Jesus Christ, you are at the same time saying, "you know what? The Law works; it has surely worked in my life and has directed me to God and God’s solution for my sin."

What a marvelous thing that God has made available His Righteousness for all. What a privilege to be able to pass out this gift of His Grace? You are passing it along to others, aren’t you? I mean, there is nothing as exciting as seeing someone come to Christ and receive the gift of forgiveness of sins, and salvation and being made a child of God and receiving the Holy Spirit. All from the simple announcement of the GOSPEL. And you have the privilege of passing that along. Who passed it on to you? Are you thankful for that person? Don’t you want to be more like her? Or him?

This is the message that needs to be told. Are you telling it? It can be told in hundreds of forms, but the best form is your own personal experience – your testimony. Apparently that’s where Ashley Smith began last Saturday when facing her killer, Brian Nichols. And your testimony ought to include (1) the past – what you were like. What you found life in the prison house of sin to be like; (2) the event – how did you find Christ? What part did the Law play? What did you know? What did you do? What did you say? How do you know that anything happened? (3) the change – what your life has become. How has Christ changed you. You could talk about psychological things (love joy peace), you could talk about actions (righteousness instead of sin), you could talk about what it is like to experience the very presence of God, you could talk about how God has answered prayer and changed your relationships, your abilities, your outlook on life, etc.

What a gift! When people said on Palm Sunday, "Hosanna," "Save now," they were asking for the right thing, but I wonder if they ever understood the spectacular way God intended to answer their requests. He answered not only their cries, but those of every sinner in history.

03/20/05 – BBC am