“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” (Rm 3:27-28)

The word “boasting” comes from the battlefield. A soldier gets the confidence to advance in battle against his enemies by saying “We’re bigger and stronger than you. We have more men or better weapons than you”
 
It’s what we see Goliath doing before the Israelites. He boasted about his big body, power, armor and weapons. However, David trusted in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel.
 
So, boasting reveals what someone really relies on. If you boast about your appearance, you rely on it. If you boast about your wealth and knowledge, it means that you rely on them.
 
So, what you boast about is what gives you confidence. What you boast about is what fundamentally defines you. It is related to your identity—who you are.
 
However, in this verse, Paul said that boasting is excluded in faith. Why? Because faith makes us turn our eyes from ourselves to Jesus.
 
Faith is to understand that there is nothing we can do for our justification. And, if there’s nothing we actively do, there’s nothing we can boast about. In faith in Christ, we can’t boast about anything but Christ because He’s the only one who can justify us.
 
 We can see this by looking at Paul’s own experience.
 In Philippians chapter 3, Paul tells us who he was before he became a Christian. Paul said,
 
“If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.” (Php 3:4-6)
 
This was what Paul had confidence in. He had a lot of things to boast about. He boasted of his racial background, heritage, level of education, observance of the law, and so on.
 
However, Paul says in the following verse,  “I consider them garbage” (Php 3:8). Now, he had no confidence in them. He didn’t boast about them any longer.
 
So, what did he give them up for? He says,  “I consider everything a loss… that I may gain Christ” (Php 3:8)
 
Paul is saying that boasting is the opposite of knowing Christ. We can’t do both. If we truly accept the gift of God freely given through Christ’s suffering and death, we won’t be able to boast about anything but Christ.
 
Paul said in his letter to the Galatians, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gl 6:14)
 
This is actually more challenging to us. Paul is saying that we must completely give up our sense of identity and security. We may feel secure when we have a lot of money. However, money really doesn’t guarantee our future.
 
In faith, all our grounds for self-worth are excluded because we’re made new in Christ. We exclude boasting when we realize that even our best achievements have done nothing to justify us.
 
If we truly understand the gospel of God’s righteousness, we will never boast because we know that we have done nothing valuable to earn God’s righteousness and that His righteousness is freely given to us as a gift.
 
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, 
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)
 
Paul also wrote about boasting in 1 Corinthians. He said, 
“…No one may boast before him [God]. 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. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1Co 1:29-31)
 
Now, in Christ, there’s only one thing we can boast about: the one who saves us—Jesus Christ. In other words, in faith, we don’t rely on anything in the world—including ourselves and our good works—but only on Christ crucified.
 
Christians know that they are saved solely and wholly by Christ’s work, not their own. They take no credit for their salvation—their being reconciled with God. Their boasting is transferred from themselves to their Savior.
 
If we really know that we are saved by Christ’s work alone, we will have great confidence, but it is not self-confidence in our own works. Rather, it is the confidence in Christ on the cross. We don’t need anything from the world. We don’t have to put our hope in the world because we have Christ.
 
This transfer of our boasting from us to Christ changes us completely. In fact, a lot of problems in the world are caused by the wrong kind of boasting. Pride in race, social status, or achievement leads to prejudice and hostility. If our confidence comes from our race or ethnicity, it leads us to racism.
 
Boasting can also make us anxious. When anything we boast about is threatened, our fundamental security is threatened as well. We are easily shaken by the things we boast about. We see how Satan uses this to control people. If we boast about something, we are made vulnerable by it.
 
However, the gospel creates a completely new mindset in us. When we receive Jesus in our hearts, we’ll be deeply satisfied with the truth that we’re freely justified and that we’re fully accepted by God.
 
The gospel gives us the power to overcome all bad news surrounding us and even our past failures because the more we see our weaknesses, the more we see how amazing God’s grace and love are.
 
Moreover, the gospel sets us free from all kinds of anxieties. We know that God is for us. We know that God provides everything we need. Paul says, 
 
 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32)
 
When we have faith in Christ, we can place our worst fears and worries into God’s hands. We cast all our anxieties on God who takes care of us. We commit all our ways and future to God, believing that He will always guide us to a good place.
 
Then, we won’t boast about anything in the world, but rather boast in God because our hope is in God alone. So as Christians, we need to think about what we’re boasting of the most. If we’re boasting about something other than Christ, we should check to see if we have true faith in Jesus.
  
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.” (Jr 9:23-24)

"God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” (Rm 3:25-28)

Faith
God's righteousness is to be justified freely. It’s to be forgiven without paying for our sins. This is possible because Jesus became a sacrifice of atonement and shed His blood to pay for our sins.
 
The Bible says that this righteousness can only be received by faith. That’s the only condition God requires of us. Faith is the only way to receive God’s righteousness which is freely given to us.
 
Tim Keller—one of best contemporary Christian authors and pastors—defines faith like this.
 “Faith is simply the attitude of coming to God with empty hands.”
 
It does a good job of explaining an important factor of faith—faith is to acknowledge that we don’t have any merit to receive God’s grace. It’s to say that there's nothing we can do to earn God’s righteousness.
 
The reason God made His perfect righteousness by paying an enormous price and just gave it freely to us was that He knew that human beings couldn’t pay the debt they owed.
 
Psalm 49:7-8 says, 
“No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them. The ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough” (Ps 49:7-8)
 
Knowing that we couldn’t redeem our own lives, God decided to pay the costly ransom Himself. He didn’t require us to do or pay anything to earn it.
 
However, even though Jesus died for all people on earth, not everyone is saved. God’s righteousness is freely given to all humanity, but there are people who don’t receive it. What makes them different? Faith is the difference because only those who have faith in Jesus can receive God’s righteousness.
 
This is a very important, but simple truth we all know as Christians. However, Christians need to be more humble when think of faith because even though faith itself doesn’t include any work, it’s possible to think of faith as work—what we do.
 
Although faith inspires us to do good works for God and produces good fruits in our lives—which is how we can check the veracity of our faith—the basis of faith is to come to God with empty hands. It’s to acknowledge that we can’t save ourselves, only God can.
 
It’s crucial for Christians to have this stance because it’s easy to find the basis of our salvation in ourselves. We can say, “I’m saved because I have faith in Jesus!,” which is right, but there’s a danger in diminishing what Jesus did for us. It makes us concentrate on our own actions.
 
So, it’s better to say, “I’m saved, because Jesus shed His blood to save me when I couldn’t do anything, and He freely gave His salvation to me through faith.”
 
This is crucial because if we come to think that our faith is the cause of our salvation, we can stop looking at Christ and start looking at our faith itself. In other words, we can turn our faith into a work.
 
So, we should keep in mind that faith is only the instrument by which we receive our salvation, not the cause of it. If we keep this stance, we can always humbly come to God with open hands, professing that only Jesus can save us, not trying to find the foundation of our salvation in ourselves, but in Him.
  
Then, in what we must have faith? Paul is even more specific about this. It is faith in what Christ did on the cross, rather than a general acknowledgement of him as a great man.
 
In Romans 3:25, Paul says that righteousness comes “through the shedding of His blood to be received by faith” (Rom 3:25). He also said that real, saving faith is in  “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1Co 2:2).
 
True faith that leads us to God’s righteousness and salvation is to believe specifically what Jesus did to save us on the cross.
 
 We may believe that God’s alive. We may acknowledge His creation. We may believe that God works for good in the world. Even though this kind of faith can be a good start, we can’t receive God’s salvation through such faith.
 
Real, saving faith must include what Jesus did on the cross to save all people from their sins—His suffering, His shedding of blood, His death, and His resurrection. It’s to profess what Jesus did on the cross is true and accept it in our hearts.
 
If we have that kind of faith, Jesus’ sacrifice starts to work in us. His blood cleanses our sins. What He did two thousand years ago takes effect in us. Our sins are washed away, and God’s righteousness is infused into our lives.
 
When we go before God with empty hands, professing that there’s nothing we can do in regard to our salvation, only then will God’s grace start to change our lives.
 
The great preacher Martyn Lloyd Jones once said: 
 “The man who has faith is the man who is no longer looking at himself, and no longer looking to himself. He no longer looks at anything he once was. He does not look at what he is now. He does not look at what he hopes to be … He looks entirely to the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work, and he rests on that alone.”
 

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rm 3:21-24)

Redemption, Grace and Faith
“All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith…” (Rom 3:24-25)
 
These verses are very important in understanding what God’s righteousness is. Here are some important words related to God’s righteousness—grace, redemption and faith. I want to focus on two of these words today.
 
1) Redemption
The first word I want to talk about is redemption. This word explains specifically how God can freely justify sinners. God justifies sinners only  “through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24)
 
The dictionary defines redemption as the action of gaining or regaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt. In Christianity, redemption refers to the action of saving from sin, error, or evil. This word is important in understanding what Jesus did for us on the cross and the good news He brought through it.
 
Paul says in Ephesians 1:7, “In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Eph 1:7)
 
Paul said that we, who were slaves to sin and death and judgment and could never pay the debt that we owed, were freed from that debt through Jesus' sacrifice.
 
Here, we’re familiar with the word ‘redemption,’ but when Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians, it wasn’t a word that was often used in the church. In fact, this word was more commonly used in a certain market. Can you guess which market that was? The word 'redemption' was used in the slave market and it meant the price customers paid to buy a slave.
 
Paul used this word to explain Jesus’ work. He said, 
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” (Gl 3:13)
 
The Bible tells us that Christ redeemed us. It means that Christ paid the price for our sin.  Ephesians 1:7 says that it's 'His blood.' Through the blood Jesus shed on the cross, He paid for our lives and freed us, who had lived as slaves of sin and death.

“And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9)
 
What did Jesus do to save us from our sins? He became a curse for us by being hung on a pole. Moreover, He shed His precious blood to redeem us from the slavery of sin.
 
To purchase us, He paid His life. He willingly became a sacrifice of atonement. As Hebrews 9:12 says, “He [Jesus] entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” (Heb 9:12)
  
 Jesus, the holy Son of God, came into the world, was insulted and humiliated, shed His blood and died on the cross. It doesn’t make sense at all because we’re not worthy of it. It seems like Jesus paid too much for our sins. However, Jesus willingly paid it. He did what didn’t make any sense to us. And we know the reason. Paul says, 
 
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rm 5:7-8)
 
Paul says that Jesus died for us, sinners, because He loved us. Love always transcends logic. Jesus didn’t spare His life because He loves us so much. That’s the meaning of Jesus' redemption.
 
2) Grace
God’s righteousness refers to God’s righteous act that freely justifies sinners without them paying a price. That’s the surprising part of the gospel.
 
God freely gives us His righteousness. God doesn’t require sinners to do anything because He willingly paid for our sin on our behalf. And the word that best shows God’s righteousness is  ‘grace.’
 
Paul said, “All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:24)
 
Grace is probably one of the most often used words in the church. The biblical meaning of grace is defined as “the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not necessarily because of anything we have done to earn it” or  “an attribute of God that is most manifest in the salvation of sinners.”
 
One of the key components of grace is that we don’t deserve it. Grace is what God gives to those who don’t deserve it at all.
 
Ephesians 2:8 says, 
“it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8)
 
Paul defines grace as a gift from God because we didn’t do anything to earn it. Grace is what God gives us freely.
 
However, we must remember that while we receive it freely, God sacrificed to give it to us. As I said in the last sermon, it’s free on our side, but God paid a huge price to give us this gift.  “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement” (Rom 3:25)
 
These two words—redemption and grace—are important in understanding what God’s righteousness is. To give us God’s righteousness and to free us from our sin and death, Jesus paid the ransom for our sin with His blood. In doing so, Jesus bought us and rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of God.
 
It was God’s gracious plan for us. Since He knew that we couldn’t pay for our sins, He decided to pay the cost to give us His righteousness for free. From this, we know “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Eph 3:18) for us. 

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rm 3:21-24)

His intention was clear. It was to show both Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians that they were all under the power of sin and God's wrath without exception. Jews and Gentiles, religious and unreligious, are all under the power of sin.
 
Paul said,
“We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Rm 3:9-12)
 
Paul has been leading us to this point since 1:18. And the conclusion is: everyone is under sin. No one is righteous. Before we were saved by Christ, we were citizens of sin. We belonged to it.
 
This does not mean that one person is as sinful as the next person. It means that our condition is the same. We are all lost no matter how big or small we perceive our sins to be, and there is no degree of lostness.
 
When we look at the contents of Romans chapters 1 to 3, the word 'despair' can easily come to mind. How can we avoid God's wrath against our sin? No one is righteous before God. Everyone is under sin. In other words, everyone in the world is subject to sin and God’s wrath. And, we see the terrible results of sin in the world.
 
Sin is not an abstract problem, but an existential one. We see sin destroy our lives and the relationships we have, and turn the world into chaos. This makes us face deep despair. However, despair is not necessarily a bad thing.
 
Just as light is brighter on a very dark night, the darker our despair due to sin is, the more God's grace is revealed. Only when we have been in this deep despair and recognize that we can't overcome it on our own can we realize the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice and rely on Him.
 
God’s Righteousness
All right. Paul then talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ that sets us free from the chains of sin.
 
“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rm 3:21-24)
 
Romans 3:21 starts with the word “But.” “But” is a word that reverses the statement that came before it. Some biblical scholars say that this word is the greatest antonym in the Bible because something wonderful came that couldn’t be even imagined before.
 
Paul also used the word “now.”. We usually use the word 'now' to express our determination to move toward a new life, abandoning the things of the past. The word 'now' is a word that divides the past from the present and the future.
 
Then, what is the past that is being referred to here? That’s what Romans 1:18 to 3:20 talks about. Human beings are described as sinners. The Gentiles knew God but didn’t glorify Him and refused to accept Him in their hearts. So, they committed all kinds of sins against Him. Even though Jews received God’s word, they didn’t obey it, but used it to judge others.
 
Therefore, all humanity, both Gentiles and Jews, were sinners against God, and they were heading to eternal death because of their sin. However, Paul used the words "but" and "now" to emphasize the pivotal moment in which something new that changed everything appeared. It was the righteousness of God revealed through Jesus.
 
The gospel, which means good news, reveals the righteousness of God. Outside of the gospel, we must develop our own righteousness, offer it to God, and say, “Accept me.”
 
However, the gospel says that God has made perfect righteousness, and He freely offers it to us even though He paid an unimaginable price for it. It is through this righteousness that we are accepted. This is the uniqueness of the Christian gospel. We’re saved not because we deserve it, but because we accepted the gospel.
 
So, “now,” “apart from the law,” the righteousness of God has been made known. What Paul’s talking about here is that the righteousness of God is essentially different from the law because this righteousness is not something that can be obtained through observing the law.
 
Paul also said, “The law and the Prophets testify” the righteousness of God. The phrase “the law and the Prophets” was often used to describe all the Scriptures in the Old Testament. It means that the righteousness of God is promised in the Old Testament in hidden form.
 
This hidden righteousness of God was now revealed with the appearance of one person:  Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
 
Paul said in Romans 1:17, “In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.” Paul already explained that  “the gospel is Jesus Christ our Lord” in previous verses. So, we can easily infer that the righteousness of God which is different from the law but promised in the Old Testament is now revealed through Jesus Christ.
 
Then, what is the righteousness of God? 
 “All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:24)
 
God’s righteousness can be defined as freely justifying unrighteous people. God’s righteousness is to call “sinners” “righteous.”
 In Romans 4:5, Paul described God as “God who justifies the ungodly.”
 
This expression is very surprising in light of the Old Testament because in the Old Testament, God says,
“I will not acquit the guilty.” (Ex 23:7)
 
Deuteronomy 25:1 says, 
“When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty.” (Dt 25:1)
 
And Proverbs 17:15 says, “Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent - the Lord detests them both.” (Pr 17:15)
 
So, it is against the righteous nature of God to call the wicked righteous without any cost. A judge who says that an unrighteous person is righteous without paying anything can’t be a righteous judge.
 
However, in the book of Romans, God calls sinners righteous and justifies the ungodly without them paying a price. How can that happen? We know the answer. That’s because Jesus, the Son of God, paid the price for our sins with His death on the cross. That’s how God can justify sinners without them paying. On our side, we pay nothing. But, on God’s side, He paid the most precious price to give us righteousness.
 
The reason God is truly righteous is that He abandoned His throne in heaven, came into the world in the form of His creation, and died on the cross on our behalf to call us righteous. So, we can say that the cross is God's most righteous way to justify sinners.
 
God’s righteousness can only be obtained through the death of Jesus. And, He willingly laid down His life because He loved us so much. The thing left to us now is how we can respond to this indescribable grace of God in our lives.