God’s Righteousness—Rom 3:22

Reading 3:19-26


1. God’s Righteousness Rom 3:22 “…even the righteousness of God…”

a. The Biggest need I have as a human being is to be righteous in God’s eyes, and I cannot achieve that state by anything I do, any work I perform, or any formula I might repeat.

b. I must have righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Mat 5:20), or I will never see Heaven

c. I must have righteousness, or I will perish

d. I can’t produce righteousness, I can’t buy it, and I can’t fake it, because the righteous Judge of the universe can’t be fooled by falsehood. What am I going to do?

e. Someone must have creates righteousness for me—and that Someone is my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, The Son of God and The Son of Man

2. Righteousness Made By Hand

a. How has Jesus Christ created righteousness for me?

b. First, He came as a man, as the Seed of the Woman

(1) “…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” Jn 1:14

(2) (Phil 2:6-8) "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."


c. He had no sin, knew no sin, and did no sin

(Heb 4:15) "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."

(2 Cor 5:21) "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

(1 Pet 2:22) ""Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"

d. He obeyed the Law—(Mat 5:17) ""Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill."

e. He withstood, in the battles he fought with Satan, the same temptations that Adam and Eve succumbed to. (1 John 2:16) "For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world."

(1) The Lust of the Flesh (Mat 4:3-10) "… "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."

(2) The Lust of the eyes… “ 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

(3) The Pride of Life “… 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down…”


f. The Works of My Savior were perfect, fully complete—(John 17:4) ""I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do."

g. He was totally approved by the Father. Mat 17:5 "While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!""

h. But God is saying that of His Beloved Son—How can I share in that approval?

i. This is the love that has been lavished on the Son by the Father throughout all eternity

John 17:5 ""And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."

John 17:-25 ""… You loved Me before the foundation of the world"

(1) How can I share in this? How can I, a sinner and a rebel, a scoundrel and a scallywag, the man whose sin demands just punishment from God, How can I share in this glory, this love, this righteousness?

(2) I could not buy a share in this for all the riches the universe has ever produced.

(3) I could not earn this righteousness by any degree of self-abasement or self-sacrifice.

(4) No religious action of mine can move me one inch in the direction of where I must be

(5) Could my tears forever flow, could my my zeal no respite know, these for sin would on not atone, thou must save, and Thou alone.

(6) My credit is no good in eternal things

(7) I have no gift to bring that can even begin to influence the Owner of this precious treasure

(8) What great act does God require of any who would gain these eternal riches?

(9) How can I be righteous? What do you want Lord? What must I do to be saved?

Acts 16:31 “…"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.""

j. This great, eternal treasure, without which I cannot live in God’s Presence, is available to me and to you, and to “all who are afar off…” Acts 2:39, through faith alone.

3. Faith—A Much Misused Word “… the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ…”

a. Faith is not the cause of our salvation, it is the WAY of our salvation “…through faith…”

(1) Faith is not something that we use to buy something we could not otherwise afford

(2) Faith is the medium, the pathway, the road, through which the salvation of God flows

b. Definition of faith “…through faith…”

(1) What true, saving Faith is NOT

(a) Saving faith is not acknowledging a set of facts

(b) Saving faith is NOT certain knowledge of the Truth—(Luke 4:33-34) "Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34 saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are; the Holy One of God!""


(c) Saving faith is NOT “believing in God” (James 2:19) "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe; and tremble!"

(d) Saving Faith is not believing in lies and heresy—no matter how sincerely believed

(e) Saving faith is NOT Doctrinally correct but dead faith.

c. Is there then, a “faith” that does not save? YES!

(1) It is what Paul calls “believing in vain.” (1 Cor 15:2) "by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain." Gal 4:11 "I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain."

(2) What is the nature of non-saving faith?

(a) Faith in the wrong Object

(b) Faith that does not come from the “heart,.” The innermost part of our being
(c) Faith that does not change a life

(3) What are some examples of non-saving faith found in the Bible?

(a) The people in 1 John 2:18-23

(b) Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8

(c) The False teachers in Jude and 2 Peter

(d) Hymanaeus and Philetus—(2 Tim 2:16-17) "But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. 17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,"

(e) Demas (2 Tim 4:10) "for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica; Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia."

(f) The heretics and attackers warned against in Acts 20:28-32



d. What Saving Faith Is: (Rom 10:9) "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

(a) It faith that rises from the depths of your soul—(Rom 10:9) "… believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

(b) It is faith sufficient to cause you to confess the Lordship of Christ—

(c) It is Eph 2:10 faith, the kind that changes lives

(2) Saving Faith is more than mere acknowledgment of facts—the believer puts their entire faith and trust in Christ.

(3) Saving Faith is a sure thing, not a maybe thing. “Hope,” one of the elements of saving faith, is always a sure thing.



(4) When we have True Faith, we are convinced of the reality of what we believe in—(Heb 11:1) “…1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (NASB)

4. The Way of righteousness is through faith in Christ Alone—(Rom 3:22) "… through faith in Jesus Christ…”

a. True Faith is In the right Object of faith,

(1) It is centered therefore, in Christ Jesus—

(2) But the Object of our faith must be in the real Jesus

(a) God and Man

(b) Eternal

(c) Lord and Savior

b. The Fashionable heresy—It is taken to be quite fashionable and quite well-mannered and sociable to say that Christ Jesus is not really the only way to heaven

(1) But there are no other ways
(1 Tim 2:5) "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,"

(John 14:6) "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

(Acts 4:12) ""Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.""

(2) There are no other ways

(a) There is no salvation in Buddha

(b) There is no salvation in Mohammed

(c) There is no salvation in the cults

(d) There is no salvation in so-called Christian liberalism, because they have no Bible, no Savior, and no Salvation—their religion is dead

(e) There is no salvation in legalism

(f) There is no salvation in psychology or therapy

(g) There is no salvation in support groups

(h) There is no salvation in politics

(i) There is no salvation in Drugs, alcohol, and partying

(j) There is no salvation in your work or your hobbies.

(k) There is no salvation in church membership

(l) There is no salvation in baptism

(m) There is no salvation in a heartless, dead, faith.

(3) But there is salvation, and that salvation is in Jesus alone!

c. Salvation—“…unto all and upon all them that believe…”

(1) The word is a present participle, what is called an accusative verb, which just means they it is are the object of the action—“unto all the ones believing…”

(2) This is True Saving Faith.

(a) It is “right now” faith—present

(b) It is continuous faith—present participle

(c) The faith that fizzled in the finals was flawed from the first

(3) The way of salvation is open to all—it is unto all – That is, the gospel is open to all, to all who hear it… Isa 45:22 , Mat 28:19-20, Rev 5:9

(4) The way of salvation is effective only for believers “…and upon all them that believe…” Christ came for “whosoever will” believe, not for the “whosoever won’ts”--John 3:16 , Heb 9:28