Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Today
I'm going to be preaching from the book of Romans, beginning
at chapter 1. And my text is Romans 1, 16 and
17. And that's where the Apostle
Paul wrote, by inspiration of the Spirit, he said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation. to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek, which was a right way
of referring to the Gentiles. Verse 17, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just or the justified shall live by faith. Now this
message is the conclusion of a series of messages that I've
been preaching on how to interpret the Bible. And I've given eight
rules of interpretation. Now, I wanted to take this opportunity
to conclude this series of ten messages, is what it's amounted
to, by going back over some of the most fundamental truths in
the scripture concerning the gospel. So I've entitled this
message, Recovering the Gospel. And what I'm going to do is take
you on just a little journey throughout this message, through
the book of Romans. Obviously I'm not going through
the whole book of Romans, that would be too much, but I'm just
gonna hit the highlights. And I'm going to apply the eight
rules of interpretation of the Bible to show you what the gospel
really is. The gospel is a particular message
revealed by God. And I'm going to use the rules
of interpretation. I've given you eight rules. The
first one is the rule of Jesus Christ crucified, raised from
the dead. Rule number two, the rule of
first mention. The truths that I'm going to
be preaching today are first mentioned back in Genesis, the
first chapters of Genesis. Rule number three, the rule of
simplicity. This is what God says and it's
true whether we believe it or not. I trust and hope and pray
that I and you will believe it. The rule of revelation, that's
rule number four. That means that we're totally
dependent upon the Holy Spirit to reveal these things to us.
But here, as I read in verse 17, therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. The rule of language, these words
mean things. What is this righteousness? What
is the righteousness of God? I'm gonna deal with that. The
rule of context. What does the context of these
verses tell us about their meaning? the surrounding passages. The
rule of comparison. We're going to compare Scripture
with Scripture. And then the rule of typology. We'll even
see some of the types and the pictures that we find in the
Bible to support these truths. So in this message of recovering
the gospel, let's look at it again. Romans 1.16. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. The word gospel means good news. And he says it's the gospel of
Christ. This gospel, this good news concerns
a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the gospel is good news
only in light of our problem. And what is our problem? Our
problem is sin in light of the holiness and the justice of God.
And what the Bible tells us about this issue of sin, our problem
of sin, first of all, we've all got the problem. There's none
of you out there, and there's no one here before this camera,
including me, that is beyond this problem of sin. For all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That literally
means we've missed the mark. Well, what is the mark? The mark
is righteousness. The Bible says in Romans 3, 10,
there's none righteous, no, not one. Now listen, if you're going
to interpret scripture correctly, don't delegate that off into
someone else and say, well, no, that's not me. By nature, that's
me. By nature and by practice, I
am not righteous. Now I can tell you I am righteous,
but not in myself. I'm righteous in Christ, and
I'll explain that in a minute. The Bible says there's none that
doeth good, no not one. Don't look at others, look at
yourself. You see, the Holy Spirit reveals
these things to God's people in conviction, showing that God
is a holy God. God is a just God. And He cannot
save you. He cannot save me. He cannot
forgive us. He cannot justify us apart from
His holiness, His justice, His righteousness, His truth being
satisfied. God must be just when He justifies. God must be just when He shows
mercy. He is a merciful God. He is a
loving God. He is a gracious God. But He
cannot show love and grace and mercy apart from justice being
satisfied. And the only payment for strict
justice is death. The soul that sinneth must die.
The wages of sin is death. Now what that teaches me and
you is that we cannot rise above our sin problem. We cannot cure
our sin problem. Listen, our religion will not
cure it. It will not wash away sins. Our
dedication will not wash away sins. Our sincerity will not
wash away sins. Our attempts at morality will
not wash away sins. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. But we must go back to the initial
question. How can a holy God, a righteously
just God, how can He look at me, a sinner, and forgive me,
cleanse me from sin, justify me, and still be God? Now that's
the issue of the Gospel. That's the question of questions.
How can a man, sinful man, fallen, ruined, be just with holy God? And the Bible teaches us that
it cannot be by works. The Bible teaches us that if
God were to judge any of us at any time, even at our best, based
on our works, we would be damned forever. Lord, Psalm 130, verse
3, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, charge us with
sin, who would stand? None of us. What is the good news? Well,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And so if you look
back in Romans chapter 1, listen to verse 1. He says, Paul, a
servant of Jesus Christ, Romans 1.1, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God. This is God's gospel. Man didn't come up with this.
which He, God, had promised afore or before by the prophets in
the Holy Scriptures, same gospel in the Old Testament as in the
New, concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh." That's the perfect,
sinless humanity of Christ. That One who was conceived in
the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, and was born
in the city of David. He is man without sin, perfect
man. And then verse four, declared
to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. He is God. He is God in
human flesh. He's the God man. Now the first
thing the good news of the gospel tells us as we interpret the
scripture is that this is the kind of person that it takes
to save a sinner like me from sin. He must be God and man in
one person. He must be the Word made flesh. He must be Emmanuel, God with
us. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Who is Jesus Christ? He is God in human flesh. He must be God because only God
has the power to save us from our sins. He must be man because
only man can die in the place of his people. Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, eternal Son of
God, was appointed by the Father before the foundation of the
world to be the surety and the substitute of his people. The
scripture speaks of him as being the Lamb of God from the foundation
of the world. And all his people were put in. God chose a people before the
foundation of the world and gave them to Christ. And all their
salvation is wrapped up in this person. Now he goes on over in
Romans 1.16. He says, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. There's the gospel of Christ.
For it, that is the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. Now that word power, what does
it mean? Well, it means the ability. You see, you don't have the ability
to save yourself. You don't even have the ability
to believe spiritually. I don't have that ability, but
God does. This word power is an old ancient
Greek word that we get our English word dynamite from. It's a powerful
thing. It's the power of God unto salvation,
but to everyone that believeth. Now, believeth what? Believe
the gospel. And it doesn't matter what your
race, your nationality, your culture, your ethnicity, your
socioeconomic status, it's to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. The Gentile. The Jews first because God chose
them to bring this revelation through, to even bring Messiah
through according to the flesh. But it's also to the Gentile.
But now look at verse 17. He says, for therein, in that
gospel, is the righteousness of God. revealed from faith to
faith, from faith meaning the body of doctrine, the gospel
message, to faith, that is to those whom God has given faith
to believe. As it is written, the justified
shall live by faith. Those who are justified before
God live by looking to Christ. Now what is this revelation of
the righteousness of God? What is the gospel? It's the
revelation of Christ as the righteousness of God. My friend, listen, people
say today they have all kinds of different ideas. Somebody
says, well, the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15. Well, listen,
the gospel message includes the historical facts of Christ's
death, His burial, and His resurrection. But just to use those historical
facts and say that the gospel is not so, It's not just that
he died. It's not just that he was buried.
And it's not just that he arose from the dead. Those are, listen,
you can't preach the gospel without those. But if that's all you
know, you don't know the gospel. Why did he die? Why was he buried? Upon what ground was he raised
from the dead? What was this all about? Why
did he have to die? And what did his death accomplish?
That is answered in this phrase, the righteousness of God. What
is this righteousness of God? Well, it's what we need as sinners
to be saved from our sins. It's what we need as sinners
to be made just before God. It's what we need as sinners
to be secured for salvation. You see, we need the righteousness
of God. We don't need the righteousness
of man. First of all, what is righteousness? Righteousness
does not lie in what we do or don't do. You know that's how
most people measure righteousness today? Well, it's always been
that way. They measure righteousness by
what they don't do or what they are not. Some go a little further,
they measure it by what they do. But righteousness cannot
be measured by what you do or don't do, or I do or don't do.
Righteousness must be measured by God's standard. And where
do we find God's standard of righteousness? We find it in
the person and obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So if you say, well, I know I'm righteous because I love everybody.
Now let me tell you something. I hope you do your best to love
everybody, but your best efforts to love everybody will not make
you righteous before God. It will not measure up to righteousness. You see, your best efforts, if
it could be called righteousness, at best, would be the righteousness
of man. But in the Gospel, it's revealed
there the righteousness of God. The Bible says in Acts 17, 31,
as Paul preached to the Greek philosophers on Mars here, he
said, God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained in
that he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. My friend, if I'm expecting God
to accept me and declare me righteous based upon my attempts at loving
everybody, then my love must measure up and be equal to Christ
and His love. And I, listen, there's no way
my love, my attempts at love. measure up to His. Now, that's
not to say I shouldn't do my best to love you with all my
heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love you as myself, to love
God perfect. Oh, listen, there's no limit
to how far we should go in loving God and loving one another. But
our love to God and our love to one another will not equal
the righteousness we need for salvation. We need the righteousness
of God. I hope you understand that. Well,
what is this righteousness of God? Well, Paul starts in Romans
1.18, and he goes all the way over to Romans 3, showing us
why we need the righteousness of God. It's because we're sinful
men and women. We are sinners, and among us
there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none, he
says, that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. There's none that doeth good. No, not one, according
to God's standard. That's not to say that there
are not moral people in the world, religious people, sincere people.
There's a lot of moral, sincere, charitable, religious people
in the world. But if we're going to interpret
the Bible right, we have to see these things in their context.
What does God require of me for salvation? Perfect righteousness. And I don't have it in myself.
and I can't work it. The best I can do will not measure
up. Man at his best state is altogether vanity. Well, where
will I find righteousness? Well, in Romans chapter three
and verse 19, listen to this. He writes, now we know that what
thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may
become guilty before God. That's subject to the judgment
of God. Therefore, verse 20, by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in God's sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. But here's the good news, here's
the righteousness of God. But now, the righteousness of
God without the law. that is, without our obedience
to the law, is manifested, made known, revealed, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there's no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. The righteousness of God is Jesus
Christ crucified and raised again from the dead. You see, this
is the gospel. This is how God can be just and
justify. It's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. It's a righteousness that He
worked out and is literally charged to the account of His people.
And who are they? Those who come to faith in Him.
Those who believe in Him. Not all without exception. You
see, my friend, the gospel, listen to me, And I wouldn't offend
you for the world, but I want to tell you the truth. The gospel
is not God loves you, Christ died for you, and you make the
difference. That is not the gospel. You see, God's love for His people
is in Christ because Christ makes the difference. It's not your
decision that makes the difference between heaven and hell, between
saved and lost. It's what Christ did on the cross.
Now believe Him. Believe it. You see, it says,
even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. That's a good translation. In
other words, it wasn't my faith in Him that brought forth and
made effectual the righteousness of God. It was His faith, Christ's
faith, to do what the Father sent Him to do. He was and is
faithful in all things. Now, by God's grace, I have faith
in Christ, but my faith is not perfect. My faith does not equal
righteous. My faith in Him does not equal
righteous. I have moments and times of doubt. I wrestle. And that's sin. I'm a sinner. That's why I'm
in the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. But Christ's faith
His faithfulness to do what He agreed to do before the foundation
of the world. He said, I have finished the
work which you gave me today. His faith was perfect in every
way. And so, it's unto all, that is,
it's to be preached to everybody. But it's upon all them that believe.
In other words, righteousness of God is imputed, charged to
everyone who believes this gospel. Verse 24. of Romans 3. He says, being justified freely,
unconditionally by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. What did it take for Him to bring
about redemption? His blood. He says in verse 25,
whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation. There's that
word propitiation. What does it mean? Interpret
it, see. It means satisfaction. Christ brought satisfaction through
faith in His blood, His death, to declare His righteousness.
That's what His blood means. It's righteousness, the righteousness
of God. For the remission, the forgiveness,
the pardon of sins that are past, that's the Old Testament saying.
Through the forbearance of God, verse 26, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that God might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Isn't that good news?
God looks at a sinner like me and He can be gracious and loving
and merciful and still be righteous and true to Himself and just. and save me. How? Based upon
the merits of his son, the righteousness of his son imputed to me. And
the book of Romans goes through talking about that. Here he speaks
of David in Romans chapter four. Listen to this in verse six.
He talks about David who's described the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputeth righteousness without works. saying, blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin.
And I could go through each chapter, but over in chapter eight, it
talks about that. You see, the hope of a sinner
before God is the hope of the non-imputation of sin to that
sinner and the imputation of righteousness to that sinner.
And that's why he says here in verse 33 of Romans 8, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Verse 34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. You see there, the whole
salvation of a sinner is in the fact that God does not and cannot
charge him with his sin. But God being just, He must deal
with sin. God cannot look at you or look
at me and just say, well, let's forget it, I'm a loving God,
I'm a merciful God, so I just feel sorry for you. No. God's
a just God. He must punish sin. So who does
He charge it to? He charged it to Christ. The
debt of sin. was put to Christ's account and
he paid it in full. And as a result, the righteousness
of God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to his
people, charged to his people. It's like he paid my debt in
full and he gave me his riches on my account, an inheritance,
a richness of grace and glory. And so yes, God is a merciful
God. Yes, God is a gracious God. But
he cannot show mercy or grace to sinners without justice being
satisfied. And justice cannot be satisfied
by the works, the efforts, the decisions of a sinner. It can
only be satisfied by Christ. Let me read you this passage
in Romans 10. Paul speaking of his Jewish brethren who are unbelievers. And he says in verse one, Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being
ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Well, what is the righteousness
of God? Well, verse four tells us, for Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Now
that word end, Christ is the end of the law. That means the
fulfillment, the completion, the perfection, the finishing
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. So
if you believe, My friend, if you truly believe, as you see
the meaning of the Scriptures here, the interpretation of the
Bible, you believe that Christ met all conditions, fulfilled
all requirements, all stipulations, that He fulfilled it all and
secured your salvation. If you believe that He did His
part and the rest is up to you, you don't believe what the Bible
teaches. you don't believe the gospel. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. In the Old Testament, Book of
Jeremiah, for example, just one of the many examples, Christ
in prophecy is identified by the term, the old Hebrew term,
Jehovah Sidkanu. That's in Revelation. In Jeremiah
23, 5 and 6 and Jeremiah 33, 15 and 16. And that term Jehovah
Sidcanu means this. It means the Lord our righteousness. That's what it means. This whole
issue of righteousness means salvation. and Christ is my salvation. In 2 Corinthians 5.21, it says,
for God made him sin, Christ who knew no sin for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And I hope that
in seeing these things and using these rules of interpretation
of Scripture, you'll see this by the power of God, the Holy
Spirit, as He opens your eyes and ears and your heart. I hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 31707. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.