I mentioned there about Sue Parker.
She's having an operation on Tuesday for her wrist. It's a carpal tunnel syndrome.
That's what she's having an operation for. So keep her in your prayers,
and keep Patricia in your prayers, too. She had her operation Thursday,
and everything went well, and she's just recovering. So keep
her in your prayers. All right, let's look at Romans
chapter one. Why do I, why do you, need the righteousness of God.
Well, it's pretty self-explanatory. If you read the next verses,
look at verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men who hold
the truth in unrighteousness. Now, let's talk a little bit
about the wrath of God again. You know, it's not a very popular
subject. You know, preachers today and false Christianity,
they say, well, we just want to preach the positive. We don't
want to preach the negative. There's a big problem there.
The Bible shows both. It shows the negative when it
comes to sinful, fallen people like we are. in our very nature. That's the negative. What we
deserve and what we've earned. They all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And then it preaches the positive
that's only to be found in and by the glorious person and the
finished work of Christ. And so in order to be out from
under the wrath of God, Now you understand what is the wrath
of God? Here's the way I define the wrath of God. And if you'll
check this out with scripture, I'm sure you'll find that I'm
telling you the truth here. That the wrath of God is God's
justice executed against all sinners to whom sin is imputed,
to whom sin is charged. Now that's the wrath of God.
And that justice, now the extent and the degree of that justice
can only be seen in the person and work of Christ on that cross.
What did he have to go through? Well, he had to die. And his
death was the equivalent of, you might say it this way, of
an eternal death. But then he finished it. I had
a fellow call me this past week, or yeah, this past week. One,
you know, there's a group of people who say that when Christ
when he died on the cross and then he went into the tomb, that
during those three days, he actually went to hell, all right? And I don't believe the Bible
teaches that. They get that mainly from the Apostles' Creed. You've
heard the Apostles' Creed, how he descended into hell and all
of that. And I'm not gonna talk about
the doctrine of hell today or whatever people believe about
that. There's a lot of mythology about
it. But you understand that when Christ was on that cross, before
he gave up the ghost and died, he lived obedient, he died, and
then he was buried, and then he arose again the third day.
Well, when he was on that cross, before he gave up the ghost,
what did he say? He said, it is finished. There was nothing else left to
do. He had fulfilled all righteousness. And he didn't have to go and
spend three days in hell to finish it up, you know. He would have
said, it's not finished yet, because I got to go to hell or
whatever. So he didn't do that. He said it's finished, all right?
But the wrath of God is the, you know, a lot of people when
they talk about the wrath of God, or the justice of God, they
talk about the wrath of God against sin. But the wrath of God is
upon sinners, not just their sin. Sin's not some kind of a
thing out there that God's gonna punish. He punishes sinners. The Bible says God hates all
workers of iniquity, and that hatred there is his just wrath
against our sin, where sin is imputed. And so what we have
to do is we have to figure out, well, how in the world can we
stand before God and not be judged to be workers of iniquity? And
so, how can we? Well, that's why we need the
righteousness of God, which is the imputed righteousness of
Christ, charged to our account. We need our sins charged to him,
and his righteousness charged to us. That's the only way we're
gonna get out from under the wrath of God. So actually, we
say it this way, we need the righteousness of God for two
reasons, really. Number one is a legal issue.
That is, to be legally freed from the condemnation of sin
by our justification based on Christ's righteousness imputed.
I need to be pronounced not guilty by the judge. I need to be pronounced
righteous by the judge. That's number one. But secondly,
we need the righteousness of God to be spiritually freed within
from the bondage of sin, darkness and unbelief, in giving us spiritual
life and bringing us to embrace and believe the gospel. Now back
up in verse 17, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith and is written the justified shall live by faith. So the foundation, the ground
of salvation is the righteousness of Christ imputed. And then the
fruit of that is spiritual life given, us being let out of jail,
so to speak. The judge pronounces us not guilty,
based on Christ's righteousness imputed, and then the Holy Spirit
comes and sets us free in our hearts and our minds, and we're
let out of jail, so to speak. And that's what we need. Now,
why do we need that? Verse 18, because the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and righteousness
of men. Not just against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men. And unrighteousness is the fact
that we by nature, people by nature, don't have righteousness.
And the ungodliness is everything man does in that state of unrighteousness,
even his religion. Even his morality in the eyes
of other men, because it will not measure up to righteousness. Now, that can only be found in
Christ. Now, in verse 19, he begins to
show some of the specifics of why things are the way they are.
And you know this holding the truth in unrighteousness is unbelief.
That's unbelief. It means literally suppressing
the truth. Whatever truth man has, if he
doesn't use that to seek the Lord according as God reveals
Himself, what's he doing? He's suppressing the truth. And
we can suppress it, we change it. You know people who do believe
some things about God, well look at verse 19. He says, because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God
hath showed it unto them. Now there is a knowledge that
man has, but what does he do with it? Somebody said one time
that there are two times in the history of mankind that everybody
on earth heard the gospel. Now, when do you suppose that
was? Well, obviously, in the beginning after the fall with
Adam and Eve teaching their sons Cain and Abel. And the other
time was after the flood of Noah. Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham,
and Japheth, and their wives, they heard the gospel. They heard
the words. They heard the truth. Well, if
you go back and look at Cain and Abel now, they all heard
the gospel. That truth was revealed. It was
made known in the preaching of the gospel. But what did Abel
do with it? Well, he believed it. That gospel
was made the power of God unto salvation to Abel. As Paul wrote,
I think it's in 2 Corinthians, it was made the savor of life
unto life unto Abel. But what about Cain? Well, he
suppressed the truth. He held the truth in unrighteousness. And so the gospel was not made
the power of God unto salvation to Cain. And it was made the
saver of death unto death. Now what made the difference
between Cain and Abel? Was Abel a better guy than Cain? Is that what made the difference?
Did Abel cooperate and Cain was a more obstinate, rebellious
person? Is that what the Bible teaches?
And the answer you know is no. The difference was made by the
sovereign mercy, power, and grace of God. Where God chose Abel
before the foundation of the world and put all of the conditions
of Abel's salvation on Christ. Christ was Abel's surety. And
then God chose in his sovereign purpose to let Cain go on in
his own way. That's what made the difference.
But now, it doesn't stop there. You know, as time went on, as
time progressed, man, what happened to him as far as truth is concerned? I mean, I know we can talk about
advancements in technology and economics and all of that, but
he made great advancements in medicine and all that. But what
about when it comes to truth concerning who God is, truth
concerning who man is, who we are, truth concerning how God
saves sinners, truth concerning Christ? Man went downhill. Isn't that right? And whatever
revelation he had of God, what does man by nature do? Even us,
if God left us to ourselves, what would we do with any revelation
that God gave us? Whether it's the revelation in
creation, or the revelation in conscience, or the revelation
in law, what would we do with it? We would suppress it. We
would change it. We would maybe ignore it. Deny
it. And that's what Paul begins to
talk about here. Look at verse 19. Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them or to them. There are things man can know
naturally about God. And he says, for God hath showed
it unto them. Now he showed that in the general
revelation. We talked about that last week
and I think a little bit the week before. The heavens declare
the glory of God. Somebody was telling me, we were
talking last night about somebody who had seen, I think it was
Becky was telling me about somebody on the internet had a beautiful
scenery there and talking about how wonderful God is and indicated
some way that a person could just look at that revelation
and that in itself is a sermon of the truth. Well, now here's
what you gotta see. From the scripture, that's not
true. Now, when you look at that beautiful scenery, and I love
beautiful scenery, sunsets, sunrises, and things like that, the phenomena
that goes on in this world, and I see the glory of God there,
don't you? The sun, the moon, the stars, the universe, even
the human body, the psalmist said, how fearfully and wonderfully
I'm made. You know, when you study anatomy,
things like that, it's amazing, it's a miracle. And I see the
glory of God there. But here's what you cannot see
in that revelation. You cannot see the glory of God
in salvation. Because that revelation only
comes from looking at the S-O-N, not the S-U-N. It comes from
looking to Christ. It's in the gospel. It pleased
the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,
that come unto the Father by Him. The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation, not the sun and the moon and the stars.
As glorious and as wonderful as they are, and as they reveal
the wisdom and the power of God. But what should that revelation
do for me or for you? It should cause us to seek more
of the living God. I wanna know more about the one
who created that, who created these things. Well, but man left
himself will not do that. Look at verse 20. He says, for
the invisible things of him, of God, from the creation of
the world are clearly seen, evidently seen, being understood by the
things that are made, the things that God created. And he says,
even his eternal power and Godhead. His eternal power. You know,
a person could say, Whoever made this has power. But what do a lot of people do
with the revelation of that? Well, they might deny God. You
know, they're atheists. They deny that God exists. They
think it come about by chance or some kind of a random flow
of particles or something like that, or the Big Bang Theory. I think some people, there are
some scientists who believe that there is one God and he created
the world, and they calculated the odds and the numbers that
it would take to get to where we are now through evolutionary
process, and it's phenomenal. In fact, it's unbelievable. But
what happens here, God has given this general revelation, and
look at verse 21. He says, or verse 20, he says,
for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and God, so that they are what? Without excuse. Now let's talk
a little bit about accountability. Turn over to the book of Romans
chapter nine. You and I both know what the
Bible teaches about God's sovereignty. About God's sovereign electing
purpose. And that is certainly a truth
that man today, and well, man has always suppressed. Because
he didn't like it. God being in control. God choosing. whom he will save and pass him
by others. You see, in our arrogance, and
that's what it is, we just don't think that's fair. We just don't
think that's fair. Well, and the answer that is
given in the Bible is something we don't like. I can remember
when I didn't like it. I hated it. But here's the thing
about it. God reveals in His Word that
He's sovereign in all things. He reveals that there are vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction. That means prepared for destruction.
Look at Romans 9 and verse 22. He talks about the potter and
the clay here. Well, look back up at verse 19. You see, Paul is answering objections
here. And he says in verse 19, thou
wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault for who hath
resisted his will? That's his sovereign will. Now
I believe in the Bible you have God's sovereign will which cannot
be changed. He doeth as he will among the
armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. None can stay his
hand, can stop him, or even saying to him, what do you think you're
doing? You ever seen your children do stuff and you're looking,
what do you think you're doing? It's because you have authority
over them. Nobody can do that to God. Now they'll try, you
know, but not with God. And it says in verse 20, he says,
nay, but old man, who art thou that replyest? And the word reply
there means answer as in a dispute, like a debate. Who are you to
reply, to debate against God? Shall the thing formed say unto
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
under honor and another under dishonor? Doesn't God have that
right? He's the creator, he's the sovereign.
Verse 22, what if God, willing to show his wrath and to make
his power known, Now we're talking about his wrath and his power
back in Romans 1, see? Endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted or made up or prepared to destruction,
and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. God
has that right. And so when we look at that,
when man argues with God by saying how can God hold us accountable
in these areas, but the issue then is who has resisted his
will? Well, the answer's clear. God
has that right. That's what the Bible says. God
has that right. And as far as being unfair or
unjust, look back up at verse 14. Romans 9. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness? Is God unjust to do this? Is
he unfair? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid, verse 15, for he saith to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. And of course the lesson there
is in verse 16, so then it's not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God. that show with mercy. It's sovereign
mercy. If I'm an object of God's mercy,
if I'm an object of God's grace, an object of God's love, it's
sovereign grace, sovereign mercy, sovereign love. There is absolutely
no reason in me or anything done by me to deserve it or earn it. It's all God. And that's why
it's such amazing grace. So how are we to respond to that?
Well, look over at verse 30 of Romans 9. What shall we say then? How are we to view it? How are
we to look at it? How are we to react to it? How
are we to respond to all this sovereign revelation that God
gives of himself in his sovereignty? When we look at passages like
Romans 1, and it talks about man suppressing the truth, how
are we to view that? Well, here's the answer. Look
at verse 30. What shall we say then, that
the Gentiles, which follow not after righteousness, have attained
to the righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith?
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness hath
not attained to the law of righteousness, wherefore, why? Because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law,
for they stumbled at that stumbling stone, that's Christ. You know
what he does here? How are we to look at this? He puts the responsibility
and the accountability back on man. And it's like what the wise
man in Ecclesiastes said. You go through the book of Ecclesiastes
and it talks about the times, the providence of God. How God's in control. How God works all things after
the counsel of his own will. You remember Ecclesiastes 3?
There's a time for this, a time for that, a time, you know. Who
sets those times? It's not me or you, it's God.
And so it really sets forth all through that book. And then it
comes to Ecclesiastes 12, I think it's verse 13 to 14, it says,
said, now what is the conclusion of the whole matter? Let me just
read it to you. In Ecclesiastes 12. It says in verse 13, this is
the last two verses of Ecclesiastes. After having shown God's sovereign
purpose and will, he says, let us hear the conclusion of the
whole matter. Fear God. You know what that means? That
means worship God. That means respect God. That
means believe God. Seek God. It means serve God. Fear God. Fear God and keep his
commandments. Whatever he says, do. Now, of
course, we know the commandment of the gospel. And for this is
the whole duty of man. That's our whole life. That's
what he says. For God shall bring every work into judgment with
every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.
And we, of course, we know that judgment. What is that judgment?
What is the standard of that judgment? Acts 1731. God has
commanded today in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained and that he hath given assurance
unto all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. In
other words, it all ends up being about Christ. Now go back to
Romans 1. Well, that's the conclusion.
Seek the Lord. You see, God in his sovereign
will and purpose, you know that's his business. We don't operate
in that realm. The secret things belong to God.
The revealed things belong to us. Now what's revealed here?
The righteousness of God is revealed. What is the righteousness of
God? Spend your life, if you don't know already, spend the
next part of your life seeking out and finding out what that
is and who that is. It's revealed from faith to faith
from the Word of God, the truth of God, to God-given faith, which
causes a sinner in the power of the Holy Spirit to receive
Christ, to believe in Christ. And listen, it's God who makes
the difference. What's on your mind? What's on
my mind? Well, if that's the God that
you worshipped, I don't want any part of Him. Well, you're
suppressing the truth. If that's the way it is, then
it doesn't matter what I do. What's the conclusion of the
whole matter? Fear God. Keep His commandments. Does it
matter what we do? Yes, it does. But what we do
does not make the difference between saved and lost. And what
we do will not wash away our sins. And what we do will not
make us righteous before God. God has a people. Paul said to
Timothy, he said, this is the reason that I put up with all
this junk that I'm putting up with. This is the reason I put
up with the hatred and the derision and the persecutions of men in
going out and preaching the gospel. Because God has a people. If
God didn't have a people, we'd all be going to hell. That's
what Paul said. He said, this electing grace
of God is the motivation for my evangelistic purpose. Because
if it weren't for that, I wouldn't do a thing. I'd just eat, drink,
and be married. Tomorrow we die. Well, look at
it again back here in Romans 1. Look at verse 21. Now here's
man left to himself without the power of God and the grace of
God. that when they knew God, whatever
knowledge they had, now just go back to Cain and Abel. Cain
heard the gospel. Abel heard the gospel. Abel,
by the grace of God, believed it. Cain was left to himself.
Man looks at nature, and there's enough there to show the glory
of God. He looks at creation. And what's
he say? I saw a thing on the internet
yesterday that talks about the reason that we're having
such a long kind of wintry kind of conditions here is because
Mother Nature got confused because Father Time was driving the car
and failed to ask for directions. Well, there is no Father Time,
and there is no Mother Nature. And there is no Mother Earth.
It's all God. Isn't that right? God's the reason
we're having a longer winter. That's it. Well, why does he
want to do that? I don't know. You ask him. He hasn't let me
in on it. He hasn't revealed that to me.
But there's a purpose for it, isn't there? We go through our
lives asking why God for different things, and he just didn't reveal
it. But I know why he revealed the righteousness of God in Christ. It's because he must be just
when he justifies the ungodly. He has determined to save a people
of his own choice. I want to be one of them, how
about you? Well, seek the Lord. But now if he leads me to myself,
here it is, because that when they knew God, they glorified
him not as God. Neither were thankful. Seeking
the Lord is an issue of thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord, for giving me
life. Thank you, Lord, for showing me truth. Neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations. They became puffed up. They became
proud and empty. And their foolish heart was darkened.
What does man do with the knowledge that he has if left to himself?
I'll tell you what he does. He fashions a god-liken to himself. He ends up worshiping himself.
Why do you think humanism is so popular? It's all about me. It's all about you. And that's
even taken over popular Christianity, which is false. It's all about
me. It's all conditioned on you.
It's all conditioned on me. And that's humanism. He becomes
vain in his imagination, in his thinking, in his reasoning. And
he reasons out, well, I'm the one that makes the difference.
I set my own standard. Just like Adam when he wanted
to be as God's. I'll set my own standard of what's
right and what's wrong rather than go by God's revelation.
I'll suppress the truth here. God says he requires perfect
righteousness. God says we don't have it. God's
righteous and we're not. God says that if you're gonna
find righteousness, you're gonna find it in His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, through His obedience unto death as our surety and
substitute. Now what are you gonna do with
that truth? Well, by the grace of God, we believe it. We rest
in Christ for all salvation. All right.