Romans 3:21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
There are some passages in the Scriptures that just stand out because they are dripping of a special kind of spiritual honey. This is one of those passages. This is one passage that those who are weighed down with their sin should turn to, whether converted or not. The honey of this passage is so sweet in that the focus is not on my righteousness, but the righteousness of God. This passage is not about how much sinners should suffer for their sin, but it sets forth how Christ has fully satisfied the wrath of God for the sins of sinners. This passage does not put a huge burden on me to do and do some more, but it sets out the glory of God in doing all that needs to be done. This passage does not tell me that I must do one thing in order to be saved from my own strength, but instead it tells me of a God who saves by grace apart from what I have done, am doing, or will do.
It has been said that one of the greatest questions that can be asked by a sinner is how can a man be just before God. This passage, then, is one of the greatest answers to that question. On the one hand it tells us that all have sinned (I would argue that the past tense refers to our sin in Adam and so sinful nature) and that we continue to sin by falling short of the glory of God. The perfect law has been broken and the perfect Judge demands a perfect satisfaction for breaking that law. When the sinner feels the weight of that upon his or her conscience, it is simply unbearable as the sinner knows that s/he cannot satisfy God for one sin much less for all the sins committed. Oh how sinners should be brought to know that this is what it means to be guilty before the living God. How sinners should be taught to pray for God to show them their guilt before Him.
The verses before the passage (same chapter) above are very somber in that they tell us that no one is righteous and that no one seeks God. But glory be to God that out of His mercy and grace rather than our righteousness and goodness He seeks to save man. Indeed no one is righteous if you are talking about human beings, but in the verses above the righteousness of God is declared four times. It is a terrible fact that there is no one righteous when we are speaking of the human race, but it is a glorious fact that God is perfectly righteous. This perfectly righteous God sent His Son who came and took a body to go to the cross and be a propitiation (removal of wrath) for the sins of sinners. In that suffering for the sins of sinners the wrath of God was perfectly satisfied and so His righteousness was manifested and glorified in the cross and at the cross. The righteousness of God was displayed and it declares to all sinful men that there is a perfectly righteous God and He will not declare sinners just because of themselves but only because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This righteous God declares sinners just by grace alone. To the sinner it is nothing but grace and more glorious grace, but to the Lord Jesus Christ it was suffering the wrath of God for those who had nothing in them worth dying for. But oh the good news in that is that Christ died in order to manifest the righteousness of God rather than anything good about me. Christ died to satisfy the wrath of the Father in order that God could be both just and the one that justifies sinners. What a glorious sweetness there is in the passage of Scripture for hungry souls and sinners who are not looking for anything in themselves worthy to be saved. What they see is the glory of grace and a God who demonstrates His righteousness in Christ. What they see is that they have nothing in themselves to boast of but they have the Lord Jesus and His cross to boast of. For poor sinners there is hope set before them in this text. God does not save those who become good enough or work hard enough. God does not save because people are smart or good looking or any other physical or spiritual reason found in sinners. God saves to the glory of His own name. When God beholds a saved sinner, He sees Himself and His glory shining in the salvation of that person. All praise is His, but for the poor sinner it is all grace. How sweet that grace is.
God Loves... Himself 
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