The Righteousness of God

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That's cornerstonerbc.com. And I want us to consider the saving righteousness of God. The reason why I want us to consider this, as I said before, is because this is the main idea that the apostle has in these verses, the saving righteousness of God. And when I refer to the saving righteousness of God, what I mean is this righteousness that God gives to the sinner by faith, by which the sinner is forgiven and justified for their sins, and they can have eternal life.

receiving or having the saving righteousness of God is equal to be a genuine Christian. Every genuine Christian is a person who has received the saving righteousness of God is a person who God gave him by virtue of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ only and not by obedience to the law, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God. That is that which is required of us to enter into the presence of God. Now, as we come through the scriptures, we realize that the apostles and the prophets speak of two different types of righteousness of which we are meant to be aware if we want to understand this text. We have on one side the righteousness of God, of which the apostle speaks here in Romans chapter 3.

And then we have the righteousness of men, Sometimes Paul called this the righteousness of the law. We have the righteousness of God, and we have the righteousness of men. The righteousness of God, as I said, is that which God gives to a sinner by faith, so he or she is forgiven, they are justified, and they enter into the presence of the Lord eternal life. The righteousness of men is the attempt of men in order to be good in their own terms, in their own conditions, according to their own standard, thinking that they can be good in their own ways before God, trying sometimes to obey the commandments of the law, and trying to be accepted before God in their own strength and in their own ways. This is the righteousness of men.

The difference, of course, is categoric because with the righteousness of God, we have the outcome of forgiveness, justification and eternal life. We have a genuine Christian who has been forgiven and now has entrance into the presence of God into heaven. With the righteousness of men, we have a person that is deceived. thinking that they can be good in their own terms and conditions, and that by keeping the commandments of the law, somehow they are going to be accepted by God. The result of the righteousness of men is not eternal life, but it's eternal death.

Why? Because men cannot obtain the righteousness of God. And that is going to be the center of everything that I'm going to be saying in this sermon. The best example that we have of a person that is translated from the righteousness of men into the righteousness of God in the Scriptures is Paul himself. That is the experience, of course, of every single Christian, but the best example that we have in the Scriptures is Paul himself.

He was a Jew. He knew the Scriptures, he knew everything about the religion of God, and he thought and he was fully convinced, not only that he was following God, but that he was a good man and that he was a righteous man. He thought that he had the righteousness of God, but he was actually pursuing the righteousness of men. He had all the commandments, he had all the law, and he was following in a way that when you saw it from outside, you would say, this man is a righteous man. He did not have the righteousness of God.

He took a miracle, a divine intervention in which the Spirit of God came upon the Apostle Paul to open his eyes, spiritually speaking, because his physical eyes were closed. His spiritual eyes were open to see that everything that he was pursuing was the righteousness of men and not the righteousness of God. That the righteousness of God could only be given by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whom He was persecuting and trying to destroy, this Jesus that is the Messiah, that is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, only in His name there is salvation, and only faith in Christ can give the righteousness of God. translated from the righteousness of men into the righteousness of God. Paul knew this not only from first experience, but he also knew it because he had seen his brothers and sisters, the Israelites, that they were pursuing the righteousness of men by the keeping of the law.

And that's why when he comes and he's going to present the gospel, he has spent three chapters letting everyone know that apart from Christ, we are under sin, there's nothing that we can do, we are unrighteous, and the only hope that we have is not the keeping of the law, but the intervention of God. So after Paul has said that the righteousness of men will never give eternal life, he now says in verse 21, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested. Now the man has broken all the commandments, and now the humanity is in a great problem, and now the humanity has done everything against the Lord. There's one rescuer, and that is not you. That is God Himself that has sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that the righteousness of God can be available to men who have unrighteousness in them, and by having the righteousness of God, now the unrighteous man can not only be forgiven, but can also be a child of God and enjoy communion with the Lord, not only as a criminal that has been forgiven, but more importantly, as a son and daughter that has been brought into the family of God by the completed work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

This is the saving righteousness of God. And hence, the question that we formulate from this pulpit is very important. Do you have it? Do you have the saving righteousness of God? Have you received the saving righteousness of God?

Or are you there seated, or me here standing, pursuing the righteousness of men by trying to be good in your own standards and according to your own conditions? Are you, in other words, a self-righteous person that tries to determine that which is good according to your own standard, trying to give yourself glory and trying to receive the words and worship of men, not pursuing the worship of God or the praise of God? Do you have the saving righteousness of God? And simply what I want us to do is to give depth to the way that the apostle answers this question from the text that we have before us. Four verses that are going to help us answer that question of if we have the righteousness of God.

Three things that I want us to do from the text that we have before us. First, I want us to answer the question of how is the righteousness of God given? If you pay attention to verse 21, the apostle says, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested. He uses that word there or revealed apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to the righteousness of God. The apostle tells us that the way that the righteousness of God has been manifested, conveyed, communicated, given, which is the easier word that I'm going to use here, it is apart from the law.

You see that in verse 21? So I want us to ask ourselves that question and to answer it, more importantly, from the Scriptures. How is the righteousness of God given? The answer that the apostle give us apart from the law. Second, once we have considered the answer to that question of how is the righteousness of God given?

I want us to consider how do we receive? the righteousness of God from verse 22 and verse 23. And pay attention that I'm not saying how do we obtain the righteousness of God, but rather I'm saying how do we receive the righteousness of God that is explained to us and the way that is given in verse 21. Verse 22 tells us that the righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. That is the second question.

How do we receive the righteousness of God? And the answer there very clearly is through faith, all those who believe. Why? Because there's no distinction. We're all sinners.

We have all fallen short of the glory of God. And thirdly and finally, if the Lord allows us, gives us clarity and time, and we're still alive as we're preaching this sermon, then we're going to go into verse 24. And I want us to consider the benefit or the result of having received the righteousness of God. Verse 24 tells us, "...and are justified."

by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So we have the how is it manifested? And we know that is apart from the law, verse 21. How do we receive that? We receive that through faith, verse 22 and 23.

And then what is the outcome of it? That is that we are justified as a gift of grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And once again, the exercise of preaching the Word of God is not only to feed your mind, right? The purpose of proclaiming the Word of the Lord is not that you will become a theologian, even though I do want and I ask that we will become students of the Word of the Lord and that we will treasure the Word of the Lord in our hearts. But the purpose of transferring and communicating information is that that information will arrive in your heart.

and that you will become like Jesus Christ, and in this case, very importantly, that you will ask yourself this question. Do you have the saving righteousness of God. Are you a possessor of the saving righteousness of God? Do you even know what that means? And do you even know how that is received?

Do you? Can you be counted into the family of those who have been recipients of grace and can say, we have received the righteousness of the Lord. Let us start first with the first question. How is this righteousness of God manifested? And the word that I'm using here to make it more simple to your ears is how is this righteousness of God given?

Very clearly and explicitly, the apostle is going to make a choice there. Not so much to tell us what is that which reveals the righteousness of God, but actually tell us that which does not reveal. The righteousness of God, if you pay attention once again there to verse 21, we are told very clearly that this righteousness of God, this saving righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. In other words, what the apostle says is this, that the saving righteousness of God is given, is manifested in a way that does not take into account our part in separation of the law. And when we speak about the law, basically what we're speaking about the commandments that God has given His people for them to obey.

Now, if you pay very careful attention to that statement, that is antithetical and contrary to the way that we experience religion. Because a religion will tell you that in order for you to enter into the presence of God, or that in order for you to have communion with God, that in order for you to make it into heaven, that you are to be good. And when they tell you that you are to be good, basically, they are telling you that you are to obey the commandments, right? Because you are good by obeying commandments according to what they would say. So they would say that in order for you to receive the righteousness of God and to be in the presence of God, Keep the law.

But here we have the Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ that says that the righteousness of God is manifested, is revealed, is given, is communicated apart from the law. That the commandment and the keeping of the commandment does not play a role in the manifestation or in the giving of the righteousness of God. And while this may be something that we already know because we know that the righteousness of God is not given by the keeping of the law or good works, we know that it's by faith, right brethren? We know that it's by faith. This is very important for us to understand, not only so that we can distinguish the religion of men, from biblical Christianity, that is, that which God has appointed for it to be the means by which we relate to him.

In other words, true religion from false religion. False religion will tell you that everything is about good, about being good, and that you can do righteous things, and that you can earn your way into heaven and into the presence of the Lord. Distinguishing that from biblical Christianity, but also very importantly, for a practical life. Because even though you profess with your mouth, and I do the same, that salvation and that our favor before the Lord, it is purely by grace, according to the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith alone. Many times, brother and sister, we find ourselves trying to gain favor of the Lord by the keeping of the commandments and trying just to fix problems.

in our own strength, and thinking that the way that we gain favor before the Lord, and that we're accepted, and that our prayers, that our efforts are accepted, is just if we continue to do, do, do, do, do, do, instead of rest and trust in Christ, and do as the result of that. It is how you think of the flesh, brother. Self-righteousness is something that abides from within. That's why it is necessary that the Christian will preach themselves the gospel every day to remember that this Christian life is not about ourselves, but it's about Christ Jesus who has completed the work and who has done all things. So the righteousness of God is given apart from the law or the keeping of the law.

If a person is going to say, what are the commandments? You shall not lie, you shall not kill, you shall not steal. And if the person says, well, if I don't lie, if I don't kill, if I don't steal, then that means that I have the righteousness of God and now I can enter into the presence of the Lord. No! The apostle says that the righteousness of God is manifested and given apart from the keeping of the law.

But why? Why did the Lord do so that the law is not the means by which we gain the righteousness of God? Why? Why is it that the law is not enough for us to receive the righteousness of the Lord? The Apostle is going to give us, not only in this text, but in the Book of Romans and in his writings, many different reasons why the law is not the means by which the righteousness of God is given.

And I want us to explore those reasons, I might give you three or four, depending on how we go with the time. I want to give you these reasons of why the law is not the means by which the righteousness of God is given. So that not only you will understand doctrinally from the Scriptures, the glories of the gospel of Christ that is purely by grace, But more importantly, that on that day that also will come in the future, when you're tempted to believe that your works and your righteousness is somehow worthy to receive favor from God, your eyes will be pointed to Christ Jesus and the completed work and not to our own works and to our own deeds. That you will remember that if we do good, it's not because we gain favor, but if we do good, it's because God has saved us. And by faith and gratitude and thankfulness to our Lord, the outcome and fruit of that is the good work, and not the good work that means by which we come close to the Lord.

I'm going to give you three or four reasons, as I said, but before I go into that, there's an observation that I want to make, and that observation is going to be found in Romans 7, if you come with me to Romans 7, verse 12. This is the only observation that I want to make before I say anything. Because the reasons that I'm going to give you may put the law as if the law is bad. And if the law was the reason why we cannot receive the righteousness of God. It is in a sense, but I want to just join my voice to the voice of the Apostle in saying these things about the law.

Pay attention to Romans chapter 7 verse 12. So the law is holy. and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. This is what the apostle concludes about the law. While I am going to say here very strongly that the righteousness of God cannot be received by the law, in no way I'm saying that the responsible of that is the law, or that the law is not holy, or that the law is not spiritual, or that the law is not good.

That will be contrary to what the scripture says, even if you go to verse 14 in chapter 7, the apostle will tell us that the nature of the law is not earthly, but it's spiritual. Pay attention to verse 14, verse 14, for we know that the law is spiritual. In other words, it comes from above. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, and the law is a gift that God has given His people, is the revelation of His character. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, so under sin."

So first observation, brother and dear sister, by no means with what I'm going to say later on, I'm saying that the law is not good. I'm saying that the commandments are not good. I'm saying that the commandments are not holy or that they are not spiritual. I am not saying that. What I'm saying is that God has appointed a way for his righteousness to be given to people, and the way that this righteousness is given is apart from the law.

That is the first thing. Second observation that is going to help us to keep a balance between the law and the gospel, and I hope that this is beneficial. The lawgiver is greater than the law. While the law is holy, while the law is good, while the law is spiritual, and the law reveals the character of God, God is much greater than the commandments that He has given us. When the commandment says, you shall not lie, we know that God is truth, but there's so much more to the character of God that cannot be contained on the revelation that God gives us in His commandments.

So when you put together all the commandments that God had given us, These commandments are holy and good and righteous, but by no means they are greater than the commandment giver. And that should put into perspective the place that Christ has and the commandments because Christ is the commandment and the law giver because He is God Himself. Having those two, holding them truth in our hearts are going to help us to read the Scriptures with freedom and approach the Gospel as the Spirit of God and as the Apostle intended. Let us return to our text and I'm going to have to go faster than this, otherwise time is not going to be sufficient. So why?

Why is the righteousness of God manifested or revealed apart from the law? I'm going to give you three, perhaps four, but let me just name four. I will decide if it's four depending on the time. But I'm going to give you four reasons why the law is not the means by which the righteousness is given. The first one, it is related to the intention of God.

I'm going to give them to you first. You have them in your mind, and then we see them in the scriptures, okay? The first one is in relation to the intention of God. I'm going to submit to you that it was never the intention of God, that His righteousness will be received or obtained, I'm changing the word there, obtained by the keeping or obedience to the commandments. It was never the intention of God, and when I say never, I mean never.

It was never the intention of God that His righteousness, the righteousness of God, will be obtained by the keeping of the law. My second reason comes from it, and that is the inability of humans. Humans are unable, not able, to make it clear in English there, humans are not able to obtain the righteousness of God through the keeping of the law or the obedience, even if those commandments come from God. Humans are not able to obtain the righteousness of God just by virtue of being a human. Third, and I'm just going to reduce it down to three because now I realize that this is going to be very long.

It is because faith has always been a priority over the law. The third one is that faith has always been a priority over the law. Even when we sit in our personal lives, obedience is meant to be the result of faith. And faith without works is death. So genuine obedience to the law always require that will exist genuine faith in the person.

So faith is of higher priority than the commandment. Let us start with the first one. The reason why the law is not the means by which the righteousness of God is given is because God never intended that the righteousness of God will be given by the keeping of the law. Why? Because of a very simple couple of things.

Return to the text, please, in Romans chapter 3. In our English language and even in Spanish, we have just two words there that speak about the righteousness of God. You see, it says, but now the righteousness, which word do you have there? The righteousness of God. The righteousness of God.

The righteousness that we're speaking about here is not an abstract righteousness that abides outside of God, but rather the righteousness that we're speaking about is the righteousness that comes from God. Paul in Philippians chapter 3 will speak, and I'm going to show you the text in Philippians chapter 3, that this is the righteousness that comes out of God, or from God. So we're speaking of a type of righteousness that is not creature-like, but belongs to the Creator and belongs to God Himself. We're speaking of a type of righteousness that is divine in nature. God never intended that this righteousness that is divine in nature will be obtained by human effort because saying that a human can obtain divine righteousness means that a creature can become God in and of themselves.

And that is completely impossible. This righteousness of God is divine. It is contrary to the righteousness of men. Now come with me to Philippians chapter 3, so then you will see how the apostle is going to speak about these two types of righteousness and is speaking about the righteousness of God that is a righteousness that is divine. Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians chapter 3, if I find it here in the Bible, Philippians. Philippians chapter 3, pay attention to this, brethren, because this is very important. This righteousness of God, of which I'm asking you if you have it, is a righteousness that is not human or creature, but is the righteousness of God Himself. It says in Philippians chapter 3, verse 8, Indeed, the Apostle Paul says, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that I might gain Christ, and be found in Him."

Pay attention. Verse 9, "...not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, But that which comes through faith in Christ Jesus, and then he tells us what type of righteousness it is. The righteousness from God that depends on faith. God intended that he was going to have a relationship with this group of people that is his church.

And the type of relationship that he was going to have with these people was of such depth and of such communion that these people were not only going to be upright creatures that were going to be in God's creation, and that they were going to be following his commandments like the angels. The angels are upright creatures. They are upright. that given righteousness, there's no sin in the angels, some of them, they don't have any sin, they have certain righteousness that is given, but that is not the type of fellowship that he wanted to have with his church. He wanted to have a type of communion and fellowship with his people that this required that they will be righteous and holy as he is, so that he or they will enter into his presence and have this deep communion with him.

It is impossible for any creature in and of themselves to obtain this level of righteousness. So this righteousness can only be given and not obtained. So how is God going to give this righteousness? By sending His glorious beautiful Son, Jesus Christ, who is the righteousness of God, to be like one of us, He will come down from heaven. The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel apart from the law, and it's in Jesus Christ that by faith we are united to Him.

And now we don't have the righteousness of the law, but we have the righteousness of the Son of God. because the righteousness of the law would have never given us the type of communion that we have with God. It was a greater type of righteousness, and this is the righteousness of Christ. He did not become righteous by coming to this world and obeying the law. He was already righteous because He was the Son of God.

Him coming in the way of a man proved that not even the commandments or the likeness of our flesh could go against the righteousness of God that is found in Christ Jesus. So the Father that so loved us sent his Son to come to this world to die upon the cross like one of us. He took upon himself our unrighteousness, so that by faith we will be united to him, and we will receive the righteousness, not the righteousness of the commandment, but a much greater righteousness, the righteousness of God. And he who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf, that we should become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, perhaps, or 21, that we may become the righteousness of God, brethren. the Christian has received Christ.

And in receiving Christ, brethren, we're not only forgiven, but we have the status of righteous and holy to enter into the presence of God. And this is something that God intended from the very beginning. Why? Because it is impossible for men, second reason, to obtain the righteousness of God. Come with me to Genesis Chapter 2, please.

Genesis Chapter 2, we have the best version of a human, right? The best version of a human is not you. I'm sorry about that. The best version of a human is Adam in the garden. So come to Genesis Chapter 2.

Genesis Chapter 2. Second reason, humans or creatures are unable to obtain the divine righteousness of God. They cannot. And this is not only a matter of our nature, it is a matter of our condition. Pay attention to Genesis 2, verse 14.

It's not 14, let me see, 16. Pay attention to verse 16 in Genesis chapter 2, verse 16. And the Lord, it says in verse 16, And the Lord God, which word do you have there, brethren? And the Lord? Command, gave a command, gave a law, and the Lord commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

There you have a commandment, right brethren? There you have a law, there you have a statute that is given to Adam. Adam is the best version of humans. Adam is the best version of ourselves. There's no sin, there's no sinful nature in him.

There's nothing that is in us that is in them, because that which is in us is sinful. When he received this commandment, there was no sin in him. But humans cannot obtain the divine righteousness of God through the commandment. God had intended that His people were going to be united to Him in a greater way than a simple commandment. He needed to send His Son to die for people that were sinners.

Here we have Adam that is unable in and of themselves to keep the commandment that God had given. Under circumstances now, he's tempted to fall into disobedience. He disobeyed and of course, he breaks the law and sin enters into the world. God had already intended that he who abides in the highest place of all glory will manifest his love for his people by coming down to the lowest place of unrighteousness. And in order for it to happen, those who are created upright Adam and Eve have to sin or the evil has to enter so that they will go to the depths of unrighteousness, so that the humiliation of God and the love of God will be manifested in the greatest way possible.

Because it is not as loving to rescue Adam who is upright and there is no sin, as it is to save you who are a sinner. There's a greater manifestation of the love of God in saving that person that is unlovable than the person that is made upright and has no sin. This is the whole point of the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 5 verse 8 in a very famous verse that we know. Let us come to Romans chapter 5. You know this.

But God demonstrates His love. Remember that verse? But please come there and let us just read the preceding verses, because this is the whole point of the Apostle. The greatest manifestation of love of God for sinners is when they are sinners, not when they are righteous, not when they deserve it. So in a sense, evil was a necessity of redemption.

For God to demonstrate His greatest redemptive love, evil was necessary so that He will from the highest places of glory come down to rescue that which is the lowest in terms of righteousness. Romans chapter 5 verse 7. I'm sorry that I'm speaking so high. I'm just very enthusiastic about this text. Verse 7.

Verse 7. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person. Brethren, you have to read this. With the heart, not with the eyes. Pay attention to this.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person. Right? I will die for my wife. I will die for my kids. I consider them to be worthy of me giving my life for them.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, wonder even to die. But, you remember the but of 21? But, but God is not like that. God is not like the one who dies for the righteous or the one who deserves it. He says, but God demonstrates or shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, brethren.

This is the glories of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the righteousness of God that is necessary for me to have a Father who is in heaven, to have a Lord that is my Lord Jesus Christ, to have the Spirit of God dwelling in me, for me to have this communion with Him, there's nothing that I could do to obtain it, brethren. Because this is the righteousness of God and this is given, it is manifested apart from the law. It is manifested apart from the commandment because even the best version of me in Adam could not keep not only the commandment, but even by keeping the commandments, I would have not escalated to the place of heaven that only Jesus Christ can arrive. Because the first Adam does not compare to the second Adam, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The first Adam, the Adam in the garden, does not compare with the heavenly man, Jesus Christ.

The first one received life. The second one is a life-giving spirit. The first one was the dust, and to dust returns. The second one comes from heaven. Jesus Christ is superior and greater.

That's why He came down, to give us the righteousness of God, brethren. The law is great, it is great and it's beautiful, but Christ Jesus is greater than the commandment. Christ Jesus is greater than the law. If I'm going to obey the commandment just because of the written commandment, my eyes are focused on the wrong place. My eyes should be focused on the commandment giver, in the rescuer, in the one who came to die so that I will have the power by faith to obey.

The commandment, because God never intended that the righteousness of God will be given or obtained by humans. Why? Because we cannot obtain the righteousness of God through obedience. And thirdly, it is because faith was always a priority, brethren. when God gave the commandment to Adam, what God expected is not that when the temptation arrived that they will remember the commandment, but actually what He expected is that they will believe that what God said was true.

And that no matter who came and told them that it was different, that every time that someone will come and tell them, Oh, God told you that you should not eat of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. I'm speaking too fast. Oh, God told you that you should not eat of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. Instead of doing it, brethren, it was expected that they will believe that what God said was true, that they will have faith in the words of the Lord. And as the result of that faith, they will say, no, I'm not going to eat of it.

It might be very nice to the eyes. It might be really pleasing for wisdom, but I'm not going to eat of it. Why? Because what God said, my God said, is truth. And I believe what he said.

And then obedience to that commandment would have been the result of faith. Faith always has priority over the law. This is the point that Paul makes in Romans chapter 4. Come please to Romans chapter 4. The apostle is going to explore this idea of the priority of faith over the law when he's given us the example of Abraham.

You remember perhaps this, right? If you come with me to Romans chapter 4, verse 11, Verse 11, Romans chapter 4, verse 11, it says, Romans 4, 11, He received the sign of circumcision, that is Abraham, right? You remember that he received circumcision? He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. You know what that means, brethren, right?

It means that he believed first, Genesis chapter 15, verse 6, remember that? Genesis 15, 6, he believed and his faith was accounted to him as righteousness. The righteousness of God is given to him by faith. The keeping of the law comes later on, circumcision which... represents the law and the commandment is given as a sign of the faith that he already had.

Why? Because faith is always a priority. Then he continues and he goes in verse 12. and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footstep of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. So he says, just as Abraham received circumcision as a seal from their faith, so us, for us thou which is more important is Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and obedience is the result of that faith in Christ Jesus.

It was always apart from the law, not because the law is not good, not because the law is unholy, but because the law had a completely different purpose. And you know what was the purpose of the law? to tell you you're a sinner, you are unrighteous. The law says you shall not lie, you lie, I've lied. The law says you shall not covet, we have coveted.

The law was there to tell us that we need a Savior, and that Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only that, brethren, Now that I have little time here, the law was also prophesying that the Messiah was going to be the Son of the Lord. You know how you go to Matthew chapter 5 and then you say, the Lord Jesus Christ says that He has not come to destroy the law, but He has come to fulfill the law. Many times people only pay attention to the fulfilling of the law only in the obedience of the commandments, Which is true, but they ignore a very important aspect of the doctrine of Matthew, which is the prophetic aspect of the law. The law was not only requiring, but the law was also pointing to Christ Jesus.

So then when He comes on Mount Olives, and then He's just giving this Sermon of the Mount, He's proclaiming that He's the lawgiver greater than Moses, that the commandments of God now have a person and that person is Jesus Christ. And you did not understand the commandment that told you, you shall not kill. I'm telling you that if you have hate in your heart, you have already murdered someone. The lawgiver comes to reveal and to expound. There on that mount was not only a teacher, was someone greater than the law and that is the Lord Jesus Christ and of this Christ, all the Old Testament bears witness to him, that he's going to come, and that the righteousness of God is going to be found in the person of Jesus Christ.

That is what Paul means when he says, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, even though the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The Old Testament was saying, there is someone that is going to come and is going to make you righteous, and that is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us return to our text in chapter 3. And let me speak very briefly, please, brethren, of the means by which we receive. And that's why I did not say the means by which we obtain the righteousness of God, right?

Because we are unable to obtain the righteousness of God. But rather, these are the means by which we receive the righteousness of God. And the means by which we receive the righteousness of God, brethren, you tell me, is? Verse 22, the righteousness of God through? Faith.

Faith is the means by which we receive the righteousness of God. But why faith? Why faith? Why not just simply acknowledging Christ? Or why not just simply something even easier, just reading a portion of the Scriptures?

Why is faith? the means by which we receive the righteousness of God. Was God just arbitrary? I think is the word that you may have in English, translating this from the Spanish into your language. Was God just arbitrary, just simply by putting a requirement there and then just simply saying he's going to be by faith?

Why by faith? Of course, there is a reason. And I'm going to try to give you two or three in the last 10 minutes that I have. Let me just give you the first one. The reason why it is by faith is because when a person professes faith in Jesus Christ, this is already a demonstration that God's Spirit is working in that person.

Let me say this once again. When a person has faith, this is already a demonstration that the Spirit of God is drawing that person to Jesus Christ, and that God is actually working in that person, and this person responds in repentance and faith. If you come very quickly with me to Ephesians chapter two, then we will see there the very famous verse in which we are told that salvation is a gift. You remember that, Ephesians chapter two, verse eight through nine. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8.

Pay attention to verse 8. It says, For by grace you have been saved. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. For by grace you have been saved. And then it says through faith, right?

So we have salvation, and the means of this salvation is the grace of God, and then is also faith. But then the Apostle is going to tell us, and this is not your own doing. And many times we attach this statement to salvation, but the Apostle is attaching this statement, this is your own doing, to the whole thing. We are saved by grace through faith, and this is the gift of God. Our salvation in its entirety is the work of the Lord, and it's a free gift that comes from God, given to a sinner that cannot obtain it and cannot pursue it or cannot earn it.

And that is what makes the gospel so beautiful and gracious, because it's not that we were sick in pursuit of a doctor to heal us. We were dead and we were dead and we The Lord Jesus Christ came to give us life and to rescue us from the unrighteousness and the pit of the death in which we were. The Apostle John will say in 1 John 5, verse 1, that those who believe in the name of the Son are those who have been born of God. Faith is a gift from the Lord, and this gift from the Lord when a person believes and is drawn closer to God is already a demonstration that the Spirit of God is working. Second reason why it is by faith.

Pay attention to this because the first one perhaps is not so new to you. This second one may be perhaps. Pay attention to this. Faith, genuine saving faith, it is the greatest declaration of truth that a human can make. Faith, once again, is the greatest declaration of truth that a human can make.

Come with me to Romans chapter 10, the famous verse there in Romans chapter 10, I think it's verse 9. Romans chapter 10, verse 9 and 10. Romans chapter 10, verse 9 and 10. Faith is the greatest declaration of truth that a human can make. And when I say truth, it is the truth of God.

When a person has faith, genuine faith, this person is declaring this truth, that God has convicted me of my sin, that I'm a sinner, and that is true. But God is also providing the ways by which I can be saved and forgiven, and that is truth. And I believe what God says, that I'm a sinner and that only Christ Jesus can save me from my sins. When a person has genuine faith, he's confirming, he's declaring this truth, with their heart and with their mouth, confessing, as the scripture says, that that which God says of them through the conviction of the Spirit is truth. So that's why it is the greatest manifestation of truth.

The person who has saving faith, it is confirming and it's confessing the words of the Lord. Verse 9 of chapter 10. Because, verse 9, if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord, and pay attention to where the believing abides, and believe in your heart, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Why? For with the heart one believes and is justified.

With which part of my body do I believe and am I justified, brethren? With the heart, for with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. It is a declaration that comes from the depths of the person that says, I am a sinner, and the only one who can save me is the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is a glorious gift because it brings into alignment the sinner that is deviating from the ways of God, and the Lord that has now had an encounter with the sinner, and the sinner, by virtue of the Spirit of God and the revelation of Christ in them, now then confesses, I am a sinner, and then you're the only one who can save me. Lord, save me.

I believe in you. And that declaration of faith that is a gift that comes from above is the means by which that person is not only forgiven, but that person is also justified, which is the benefit that we receive. Let us go to our text in verse 24. And I finish with this. It is by faith.

Why by faith? Because faith precedes the law. And because faith precedes the law, then faith is available to all. Because it says in verse 23, for all have seen and have fallen short of the glory of God." The Jews believed that righteousness of God was given by the keeping of the law.

The apostle is coming and saying, no, it is by faith, because all of you are sinners. Gentiles and Jew are sinners, and faith precedes the giving of the law. Faith precedes the obedience of Adam. That which was required of humanity is that they will believe in the words of the Lord, and that they will obey a result of it. Faith precedes law.

Or the promise, in other words, as the Apostle Paul will elaborate in Romans chapter 4, the promise precedes the law because it was always by faith. And the result of that faith, my dear brother and sister, is the glorious statement that we have in verse 24. And that is that we are justified. You see there in verse 24, 3, 24. And are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

This righteousness of God is given to us by faith alone in Christ Jesus, not by the law. Because no human being can obtain or earn the righteousness of God by the keeping of the law, even if this human is upright and even if the law is righteous and is good. Because God intended that this divine righteousness will be given to us in the person of Jesus Christ by faith And the grace and the benefit that we receive out of this faith is that we are justified. And this justification is not only, brethren, that we are forgiven. Yes, we are forgiven.

But the glorious thing about this is the imputation or the giving of that righteousness of Christ. It is that God's righteousness of Christ is given to us. The reason why a person makes it into heaven is not because we are sinless and because we're forgiven. That is part of it. But the reason why a person makes it into heaven and has communion with the Lord is because we have the righteousness of Christ that makes us acceptable in the presence of God, and we can have this communion with God that no other creature has.

Not even the angels that are in the presence of God have the depth of communion and relationship with God that we have in Christ Jesus. Why? Because the sinner who has been forgiven and is now a Christian now has the righteousness that is not their own, but the righteousness of the son. So when the father sees a Christian, they see the righteous son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the glorious heart of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hence the question. Do you have it? Have you repented of your sins in the way that you come and you confess with your heart, you believe in your heart that Christ Jesus is Lord? Do you have this righteousness of God that is only given in Christ Jesus? Have you been forgiven of your sins, or you're still in a pursuit of a better version of yourself by following your own terms and your own conditions?

Are you in a pursuit of the flesh, trying to be good and righteous according to your own moral standard, or have you renounced to self and now turned to Christ? Because the righteousness of God, brother, sister, dear friend, can only be found at the feet of Jesus Christ. He is God and He is man, and He can descend to come and to be like one of us, so that He could rescue us and bring us into the presence of God the Father. He who has seen Christ has seen the Father. He who is with Christ is with the Father, because this is the humility of the triune God, that being in glory, apart from everything that is being created, He sent His only begotten Son to enter into this creation, to take the body of a man, of a personal, like us, in the limitations of who we are, to remain living like a man for the rest of eternity, so that his people could be with him, brethren.

This is a great blessing. That is the blessing of being a Christian. And hence the question, do you have that righteousness? Because that can only be received by faith. And if you are here present and you can hear my voice and the things that we've said, and then you know in your heart, in your mind, you really know that that which you have been pursuing is the righteousness of men.

That which you have been pursuing is trying to be good and according to your own works and according to your own standards, then today, Today is the day of your salvation. Do not give it more time. Do not waste more time. You may not have tonight, you may not have tomorrow. Today is the day of your salvation.

Repent of your sins and come to Christ. He says, come to me. There's no money that is to be paid. There's no commandment that you're supposed to keep, because I have kept them all. I have died for you upon the cross.

Come to me and you shall be saved. Repent of your sins, turn to the Lord, and you shall find the righteousness of God, cannot be obtained by your efforts, works, or deeds. It can only be given from above, purely by faith, so that all the glory will be not for us, but for Jesus Christ. And in Him receiving all the glory, we rejoice, because when we see Him, we see our Savior, the lover of our souls, and He takes all the praise and all the glory. And that's why we come every Sunday to church, brethren.

That's why we have brothers and sisters. That's why we are to love one another. That's why we're to help to help one another. That's why we're to support one another because of him and not because of religion. My Jesus Christ receive all the glory.

I might the Lord save if there's anyone here that is not in him, that the Lord may save and bring them to his feet. And it's in Jesus name that I say those things. Amen. Let us let us pray.