Well, what a joy it is to be
here with you this evening, and I want to publicly thank Dr.
R.C. Sproul and the Ligonier Ministry
for hosting this conference, which I believe will be very
strategically used in the life of the church to rally us in
the cause of evangelism, and evangelism as our Lord did it. I'm very proud to say that some
twenty years ago, I was a student of Dr. Sproul at Reformed Theological
Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and as I walked into that classroom,
the impact and the influence of Dr. Sproul was very powerful
upon my life, and I carry with me, really, his ministry and
his influence. It was a part of God marking
me out. If you would have told me then
that I would ever be at a conference like this and speaking at one
of R.C.' 's conferences, I would have wanted to see what you were
drinking. I would have never dreamed that God would allow
me this opportunity, so I consider it a great privilege to be here
this evening. And I believe that God has brought
each and every one of us here providentially for his own sovereign
purposes, for his glory and for our good. Not one of us is here
by accident tonight, but with great intentional design by our
God to equip us and to bring us to greater maturity in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so I trust that God will
capture this moment in each of our lives. And as a wise man
once said, right now counts forever. I invite you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 1. And I want to begin by reading
some of the verses from the text that we will be considering at
this hour. The title that has been assigned
to me is, The Saving Power of God. Romans, chapter 1. I want to begin by reading verses
16 and 17. Tonight, in our time together
in the Word of God, we will look at this entire opening section,
verses 1 through 17. But I want to begin by setting
before your eyes and your heart again what is really the climax
and the crescendo, not only of this section, but really the
central theme of the entire book of Romans. Romans chapter 1,
verses 16 and 17, the Word of God reads, "'For I am not ashamed
of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith to faith. For it is written, but
the righteous man shall live by faith. that all power belongs
to God is clearly taught throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis
to Revelation. This is the doctrine of divine
omnipotence, that attribute of God by which He possesses all
power, and is therefore able to do all that He pleases and
purposes to do. In other words, there can be
no opposition and no resistance that could ever hinder the eternal
purposes of God, because He is a God of all power. The Scripture
asserts in Exodus 15, 6, your right hand, O Lord, is majestic
in power. Job 9, 4, he is mighty in strength. The psalmist in Psalm 42, verse
8, the Lord strong and mighty. Psalm 33, verse 6, "'By the word
of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His
mouth all their hosts. For He spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast.'"
The psalmist goes on to say, "'He made His power known. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it
dried up.' The prophet Isaiah said, there is none who can deliver
out of my hand. God is the speaker. I act, and
who can reverse it? The prophet Jeremiah, oh Lord,
behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power
and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is difficult to you. Philippians 3.10 speaks of the
power of the resurrection. Hebrews 1.3, the word of His
power. And Revelation 1 verse 8 identifies
God as the Almighty. He is almighty. The power of
God was clearly seen in His act of creation. God spoke and everything
came into being out of nothing by the sheer word of His sovereign
authority and power. Moreover, the power of God does
continually sustain and uphold all of the works of His hands. Divine omnipotence governs all
of human history and all of the affairs of providence. All creation
is under the sway of His power. But by far, the greatest display
of the power of God is seen in His saving works. Greater than
God's work in physical creation is His saving work in His new
creation. Greater than God calling light
into being is His causing gospel light to shine into the darkened
hearts of men. Greater than God moving mountains
is His removing the heavy load of sin from the human soul. Greater
than God forming man from the dust of the earth is His reforming
him from the depravity of his sin. All this is by God's saving
power, and it is the very pinnacle of His saving work as He saves
His people from their sins. Only a God who is omnipotent
can display such sovereign power. This is precisely what Paul is
saying in Romans 1. The apostle is declaring the
saving power of God in his gospel. He is announcing that the gospel
is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Beginning in verse 1 and extending
through verse 17, here at the outset of the book of Romans,
Paul is setting forth the soul-saving power of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. The very word gospel means good
news. glad tidings, welcomed announcement. It is the tidings that the herald
would bring commissioned from Caesar's throne as he would go
out into the empire, and he would bring the good news that a new
emperor has ascended to the throne, or the emperor has given birth
to a baby, or there is another conquest by the empire as we
have annexed more territory into the empire. It is this declaration
that is the gospel, the saving power of God. I want us now to
walk through this passage, and I want to bring to your attention
the glories of the saving grace of God in His gospel. And beginning in verse 1, I want
to bring to your attention now several headings. Number one,
I want you to see the source of the gospel. Where did the
gospel come from? Who authored it? Whose gospel
is it? Who conceived it? And we read
in verse 1, Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an
apostle, set apart – now here it is – for the gospel of God. It is very clear that God is
the author and the owner of the gospel. The gospel is God's saving
message. This is not merely a message
about God, though it is. But theologians and commentators
tell us that gospel of God, grammatically, is a subjective genitive, meaning
that this gospel has come from God. It has been authored by
God. It did not originate with man.
It has not come from any church or any denomination. The gospel
is a supernatural message that comes down from above. It is God's property. It is God's
saving declaration. And none of us are allowed to
tamper with this message. It is God's saving message that
has been entrusted to us, that has been preached to us. And
it is God's solution to the human dilemma of sin. Jesus, as He
began His ministry in Mark 1, verse 14, came into Galilee preaching
the gospel of God. And in Romans 15, verse 16, Paul
said He ministered the gospel of God. 1 Thessalonians 2. We have the boldness in our God
to speak to you the gospel of God. That is how we come to have
confidence and boldness as witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ. that
there has been placed into our hands, not a message that has
been drawn from the culture, not a message that has come to
us from human tradition, but an eternal, supernatural, sovereign
message. It is the perfect message. It
is the gospel of God. It has been supernaturally revealed
to us. It is not the result of human
speculation, nor of human insight, but by supernatural revelation,
this gospel has been committed to us. And because it is God's
gospel, it bears all of the properties of God Himself. It is an authoritative
gospel because it comes with God's authority. It is a powerful
gospel because it comes with God's power. It is a gracious
gospel because it comes with God's grace. And we simply are
those who are stewards, who have been entrusted with the gospel
of God. And success for us in ministry
is not tampering with this message, but to declare it and share it
and to proclaim it and to teach it exactly as God has entrusted
it to us. None of us are free to alter
the language. None of us are free to negotiate
the terms. This is God's message. And to
alter the gospel, one must give an account of himself to the
one who has authored it, God Almighty. And so the source of
the gospel, it is the gospel of God, and it comes with all
of the authority and power of God himself. Now second, I want
you to note with me in verse 2, the stability of the gospel. This gospel is not a new message
that had just recently come onto the scene in Paul's day. This
gospel is not a trendy theological fad to appear today and be gone
tomorrow. Oh no. This gospel is rooted
and grounded in Old Testament Scripture. It was proclaimed
by the Old Testament prophets. And the gospel of the Old Testament
is the gospel of the New Testament. There is only one saving gospel
that runs from cover to cover in the Scripture. It is the gospel
of God. Notice in verse two. which, which
is a reference to the gospel, which he promised beforehand
through his prophets in the Holy Scripture. This gospel is an
ancient message that was promised long ago by the prophets. The first prophet, Moses, wrote
the first five books in the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, and it is chock full of the gospel. Genesis 3,
verse 5, is what we call the Proto-Evangelion, which is the
first mention of the gospel in the Scripture. It reads, when
God spoke His curse to the serpent, and I will put enmity between
you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, He, referring
to the seed of the woman, ultimately of the Lord Jesus Christ, He
shall bruise you on the head, and you will bruise him on the
heel." And while Satan would deal a great bruise to Christ
at the cross, nevertheless, the first prophet announces that
Christ would deal, wield a fatal blow to Satan at the cross. And all of the way through the
rest of the Old Testament, it is the prophets who looked ahead
and spoke of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ by prophecies,
and by pictures, and by types, and by illusions. The entire
Old Testament pointing ahead to the coming of this Christ
who would be set forth in the gospel. The entire Bible speaks
with one voice, presenting but one way of salvation, revealing
but one plan of redemption, saving but one people of God. There is this scarlet thread
of redemption in the gospel of God that runs from cover to cover
throughout the entirety of the Word of God. And it is the unifying
message, the glory of God in His saving purposes through His
gospel to a world that has gone into rebellion against Him. But
by His power, He will act to bring to Himself a people for
His own glory. And so all this is to say there
is only one saving gospel in both Old and New Testament that
declares but one way of salvation, and it is through this gospel
of God. Third, I want you to note in
verse 3. not only the source of the gospel, and not only this
stability, but number three, the subject of the gospel. Verses three and following. What
is the essential content of the gospel? What is the very essence
of the gospel? And the answer to that is found
in verses 3 and following. The very sum and substance of
the gospel of God is the message of His own Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega
of the gospel. And the entirety of the gospel
is in His saving person. Notice verse 3, the gospel, all
that he has said in the first two verses concerning his Son. It is the Son of God who is the
subject of the gospel. Listen, you cannot preach the
gospel without preaching Christ and Him crucified. You cannot
share the gospel with another person without presenting the
person and work of Jesus Christ. Now verse 3 speaks of his humanity. Verse 4 speaks of his deity. And together these two verses
set before us the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice his
humanity in verse 3. who was born of a descendant
of David according to the flesh." Emphasis upon born and flesh. Here is the true humanity of
the subject of the gospel, Jesus Christ. He was born of a woman. He was born of a virgin. He was
born in the Messianic line, a descendant of David. He was born under the
law and subject to the law. And in his humanity, he lived
a life of perfect, active obedience. He was perfectly human, yet without
sin. And this is absolutely necessary
if Jesus Christ is to be our mediator, and represent us before
God, and represent God before us. He must be fully man and
fully God to represent both parties and bring about a reconciliation
and to bring the two parties together. So verse 3 speaks of
the humanity of Christ. Fully human. Verse 4 speaks of
His deity. And great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. We read in verse 4 who is declared
the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. co-equal, co-eternal,
co-essential with the Father and with the Son. Not 50% man
and 50% God, but 100% God and 100% man. And it has been announced
and declared to us, verse 4 says, through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Notice, who is declared the Son
of God? with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the
Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord." The bodily resurrection
from Jesus Christ from the dead is the greatest documentation
and authentication that Christ is exactly who He claimed to
be. He said, I have authority to
lay my life down and I have authority to raise it back up again." He
had prophesied his own death, burial, and resurrection. He said, it took you 40 years
to build this temple, and it will be torn down, and I will
be raised up in three days. But he spoke of his own resurrection. It was the declaration of God
from heaven. that this is my beloved Son who
is fully God. And being fully God, fully man,
He alone, the uniqueness of the God-man, He alone, able to die
upon that cross and be equal to God, be equal to us, and to
bring the two parties together in His saving death upon the
cross. This is the very heart of the
gospel, the death of Christ, substitutionary death for us
as sinners. And so we read in verse 5 of
this mediatorial work of Christ upon the cross, verse 5, through
whom we have received grace. There is not one drop of saving
grace outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. This statement is claiming
a sole and exclusive monopoly on saving grace that alone comes
through Jesus Christ. And this is the heart of the
good news and the gospel that Christ is the mediator through
which God's saving grace comes to us. As our mediator, Jesus
Christ offered the perfect sacrifice for our sins, as he offered himself
in our place, our perfect atonement. The perfect sacrifice was a once
and for all sacrifice that he has made for us, his people. This is the subject of the gospel. And when we talk to others about
the Christian faith, We have not shared the gospel until we
speak of the person and work of Christ. His virgin birth,
His sinless life, His substitutionary death, His bodily resurrection,
His present exaltation at the right hand of God the Father. And let me be quick to say that
there is salvation in no other name. for there is no other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." There
is no other God-man who could stand as our mediator. Jesus said, I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but
through me. And the Apostle Paul said, there
is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all, the testimony born at the
proper time. Christ, Jesus Christ, is the
subject of the gospel. That's why Paul said, we preach
Christ and Him crucified. That's why Paul said, we proclaim
Him. He is the sum and substance of
the gospel that we proclaim. But I want you to note fourth,
not only the subject of the gospel. But in verse 6 and 7, I want
you to see the success of the gospel. This is wonderful. It is our responsibility to proclaim
the gospel, but God guarantees the success of His own gospel. The gospel will triumph in the
hearts of people because God will sovereignly and powerfully
call out a people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
verse 6. We spoke of this in the afternoon
session. The effectual call of God. We see it here again in verse
6. Among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament epistles,
every use of the called or the call refers to God's effectual,
irresistible, sovereign call. It is more than just the general,
external call of the preacher or of the one who witnesses the
gospel, but there must be this internal call of God. And when it comes, the Bible
says, He makes us willing in the day of His power. It is a
call that is an internal call, the call of the Spirit. It is
an individual call, as He calls us individually, each and every
one of His elect. It is a powerful call that overcomes
all human resistance. And it is a divine call. It is a summons. It is that call
which arrests and apprehends the heart of the sinner toward
whom it is extended and brings them into a saving relationship
with Jesus Christ. The reason that you are a Christian,
if you are saved tonight, is not because you sought the Lord. The Bible says there is none
who seeks after God, no, not one. The Bible says we all have
gone astray like sheep. Each one of us has turned to
his own way. No, God was the great initiator.
And it was God who not only bought us, but it is God who has brought
us to Himself. And it is this powerful, effectual
call that has laid hold of us and drawn us to faith in Jesus
Christ. So important is this call in
verse 7 that he mentions it again. This is not an incidental truth.
And by the way, think with me about this. This presupposes
what a foundational, elementary truth this was in the church
at Rome, that in the opening chapter, in verse 6 and 7, still
in the introduction to this book, before he has laid his theological
case, he is speaking of the effectual, irresistible call of God. how well they were taught in
sound doctrine in this early church. And this was not a doctrine
that was relegated to a Wednesday night prayer meeting when only
a few would gather together. No, Paul puts this truth out
on the very front doorsteps of this book for all who pick this
up to read it. to make known this sovereign
call of God that guarantees the success of the gospel as we witness
for Christ. Listen, our responsibility is
to be a witness for Jesus Christ. We are to preach the gospel to
every living creature. We are ambassadors for the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we are to go in the highways
and the byways and lift up our voice and to speak of Jesus Christ. But God goes before us. And God
works powerfully in the hearts of people. And there are a people
who have been appointed unto eternal life. And when the gospel
comes to their hearts, God will work powerfully. and God will
draw them to Himself. This is what he speaks of. In
verse 4, excuse me, verse 7, he speaks of this call again,
to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints. He's not saying that we're called
saints, but that we're called to be saints. We are called as
saints. And it is this call of the Spirit
that opens blinded eyes. It opens deaf ears. It opens
closed hearts. And it activates dead wills. And without this powerful call
of the Spirit, our gospel witness would be in vain. The total depravity
of the human heart will always resist the free offer of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. God must call, and this guarantees
the success of the gospel. I want you to note with me as
we continue to look at this, in verse 8, the service of the
gospel. Because the gospel is so compelling,
as we receive it in our own lives, it makes demands of each and
every one of us. And it calls for our unwavering
allegiance and loyalty. The gospel can never be a side
issue in any of our lives. And that is what we read in verses
8 and 9. First, I thank my God, verse 8, through Jesus Christ
for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout
the whole world. Think of the transforming power
of the gospel in the lives of these saints in Rome. The message
went out far and wide, how the gospel had triumphed in their
hearts and they were greatly and radically changed. Verse
9, for God whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the
gospel. Paul is saying that as one who
has been called by God to believe the gospel and to receive Jesus
Christ by faith, that now in his spirit, in his innermost
being, he must now spend the rest of his life getting the
word out, getting the gospel out. We can relate to this, can
we not? For all who have received the
gospel are those who desire now to serve this gospel. Come down to verse 14. Paul speaks
of how the gospel has so laid hold of his life. He writes,
I am under obligation. both to Greeks and to barbarians,
both to the wise and to the foolish." Your translation may read, I
am a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians. It is a financial
term. And Paul realizes that the riches
of heaven have been entrusted to him in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And now there is a stewardship
involved in being one who has received the gospel, and he is
under obligation to God to spend the rest of his life disseminating
this gospel, proclaiming this gospel, and all who receive this
gospel feel this very same stewardship. It may be as a businessman, it
may be as a housewife, it may be as a college student, but
we all feel under obligation to God with the gospel because
we have received the riches of salvation in this gospel and
we must now take it to others who are under great need. He
says in verse 15, so for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel
to you also who are in Rome." Now listen, Rome would be the
most difficult city in the known world to go and to bring a different
message. Rome was a place of Greek philosophies
and many different ideologies and pagan gods. But Paul says,
I am eager to come to Rome and put the gospel up in the marketplace,
to put the gospel up in the midst of the pantheon of the gods. There is no hesitation on my
part. I am a steward of this gospel,
and I must, in service of this gospel, bring its message far
and wide. This is the mandate of the gospel
when we receive it. We have been saved to serve. We have received the gospel to
proclaim the gospel. We have been called out of the
world to go back into the world, and that is our primary ministry
in the world. It is to be stewards and servants
of this gospel. And so Paul, all of this now
is to build up to verse 16, number 6, the strength of the gospel. Paul tells us in no uncertain
terms why he is so eager and why he is so confident to share
this gospel message far and wide. He says in verse 16, "'For I
am not ashamed of the gospel.'" Why would he say that? Because
there was so much opposition to the gospel out in the world. How difficult it was to be a
Christian in the first century. And no doubt the church in Rome
was very intimidated as they lived under the shadow of Caesar,
and as they have felt opposition from every side. And so Paul, as he writes, He
wants to put steel into the faith and into the backbone of these
early believers. And he makes this announcement,
for I am not ashamed of the gospel. And he tells us why. And as we hear this answer, you
and I ought to be filled with confidence. And we ought to be
filled with great boldness regarding the gospel. He says, for it,
referring to the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation. This word power speaks of the
dynamic, explosive power of the gospel to save sinners. It is the most powerful message
in the history of the world. It is the only message by which
salvation comes to lost sinners. It is a message that is so powerful
that even the chief of sinners will melt down under the sway
and influence of this gospel message. The Apostle Paul himself
stands as Exhibit A, a trophy of God's grace. How the gospel
had conquered his own once proud, pharisaical heart. Until that
day, the gospel exploded in his soul and he was radically changed
and transformed from the inside out, never to be the same again. He says, for it is the gospel,
it is the power of God. He is not saying that the gospel
is about God's power, nor is he saying it is just a source
of God's power. He says the gospel itself Is
the power of God, when it is brought to the human heart and
accompanied by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, so powerful,
no one beyond the saving power of the gospel? No one gone so
far into sin, but that the power of the gospel is not yet greater. to remove their sin and to clothe
them in the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
bring a message that is so powerful that no one is beyond the saving
power of this gospel message. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes, quote,
the thing to grasp is that the apostle is saying that he is
not ashamed of the gospel because it is of God's mighty working. It is God Himself doing this
thing, Lloyd-Jones says. not simply telling us about it,
but actually doing it, doing it in this way through the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation. And this begs the question that
R.C. Sproul has stated in the title
of his book, Saved From What? The answer is so clear in this
context. Look two verses later, and we
see save from what? It's not save from loneliness.
It's not save from a meaningless life. It is not save from a life
that is simply misspent on a horizontal plane. It is a life to be saved
from the wrath of Almighty God. Look at verse 18. For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men. God is a holy God, and God can
have no fellowship with sin. And there is an infinite chasm
that separates holy God from sinful man. And the psalmist
says that God is angry with the wicked every day, and God is
a God of wrath towards those who are ungodly and who are unrighteous. And Romans 2 verse 5 says that
we are storing up wrath for the day of wrath. And verse 6 of
chapter 2 says that he will render to each person according to his
deeds. Listen, we all have two unmistakable
appointments, death and judgment. And there is a final judgment.
And Jesus Christ will preside over that final judgment. And
He will render to every man according to their deeds in that last day.
And unbelievers are storing up wrath until the day of wrath.
Jonathan Edwards described it this way, that the flowing river
of God's wrath is presently damned up by His mercy, and it is being
held back by His mercy. But the longer it is being held
back, that wrath is only building and growing and increasing. And in the final day, God will
remove His grace, and that wrath will consume sinners in the last
day. and they will be the object of
his vengeance forever and ever and ever in a real place called
hell. Every person needs to be saved
from God Himself, from the wrath of God that will be poured out.
And there is only one way to be saved from the wrath of God,
and that is through the person and work of Christ in His saving
gospel. This is the good news. that Christ upon the cross has
stood in our place, and as He bore our sins, He absorbed the
wrath of God that was due us, and that there is now therefore
no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus. This is
the strength of the gospel, and only God Himself can save us
from Himself, and He does so in His gospel, and there is no
other way of salvation. I want you to note the scope
of the gospel. In verse 16, it is to everyone who believes.
to the Jew first and also to the Greek, regardless of one's
social standing, regardless of one's financial position, regardless
of your educational background or your religious upbringing. The gospel is for everyone who
believes. It transcends all nationalities. It transcends all social standings
and backgrounds. Everyone on the planet has one
crisis problem. It is sin and there is only one
solution. It is in the gospel and it is
offered to everyone who believes. I want you to note finally the
substance of the gospel, the very substance, the very essence,
the material principle of the gospel. Verse 17 tells us, for
in it, referring to the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. This righteousness of God is
just like the gospel of God in verse 1. It is a righteousness
that comes from God. God is the source of this righteousness. It must be given by God. Martin Luther called this righteousness
of God a foreign righteousness, an alien righteousness. A righteousness that comes to
us from outside of ourselves, and it is not earned, it is not
deserved, it is given freely by God and by His grace. This righteousness of God is
the very righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. Jesus was born
under the law. And Jesus Christ kept the law
at every point. He lived in perfect obedience
to the law. He is the only person who has
ever fully met all of the demands of the law. You and I are measured
by the law. We have been weighed in the balances
and found wanting. We are unable to keep the law
and all of its moral demands. James says to break one point
of the law and you have broken it all. We are all law breakers. and we stand before God in our
own unrighteousness condemned. All of our righteousness is as
filthy rags in His sight. But when we believe upon Jesus
Christ, it is His perfect righteousness, His active obedience to the law
of God that is charged to our account in the act of justification. God, by legal declaration, by
forensic declaration, He imputes to us the perfect obedience,
the perfect life that Jesus Christ lived. and we stand before God,
now robed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, and there has
been charged to our account the perfect moral life of Jesus Christ. Though we are sinners, and though
we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, in the miracle
of the gospel, in the miracle of justification, the perfect
obedience of the life that Christ lived. That is what is imputed
to us. It is reckoned to us as if we
had lived that very perfect life. And so that brings us Finally,
to the simplicity of the gospel. How it is received. Notice it
says, he writes, from faith to faith. There is an endless number
of ways that this has been interpreted. From faith to faith. Many of
the church fathers interpreted it from faith under the law to
faith under grace, or from faith in the Old Testament to faith
in the New Testament. Augustine interpreted it from
the faith of the preacher to the faith of the hearer. Calvin
interpreted it from initial saving faith to an increasing, ongoing
daily faith. Others have interpreted it from
the faith of one to the faith of others. And still others have
interpreted it from the faith of the Jew to the faith of the
Gentile. It seems most likely that what
Paul is emphasizing here is the primacy and centrality of saving
faith in receiving the righteousness of God. In other words, the exclusivity
of saving faith as the sole requirement of God by which the sinner believes
upon Christ alone. In other words, sola fide. faith
through and through, or faith first and last, or faith from
beginning to end, or by faith entirely. Nothing but faith. Not faith and works, but from
faith to faith alone are entirely faith. God's righteousness in
Jesus Christ. is imputed to us. It is reckoned
to us exclusively by saving faith in Jesus Christ alone. It is not by faith and baptism. It is not by faith and church
membership. It is not by faith and good works. It is by faith and faith alone. He concludes, as it is written,
And he now reaches back to Habakkuk 2, verse 4, and he makes this
citation, again to underscore that there has only been one
way of salvation in both the Old and the New Testament. All
of salvation is sola fide, as it is written. But the righteous
man shall live by faith." In this, there are echoes of Genesis
15, verse 6. Abraham believed God, and it
was reckoned to him as righteousness. This is the simplicity of the
gospel. that no matter who you are, or
where you are, or what you are, there is only one way to obtain
a perfect standing before God of acceptance with Him, and it
is through His offer in the gospel of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who offers His perfect righteousness, the perfect life that He lived,
and His saving death on our behalf. And it is received by us exclusively
and entirely by saving faith alone. That is what Paul is saying
here. And when he says, the righteous
man shall live by faith, there is also a hint here of sanctification
that flows out of justification. That it is more than just the
moment of justification, but that there is a life to be lived
in the pursuit of practical righteousness. And it is the righteous man who
shall even live day by day by faith. This is the saving power
of God, and it is contained exclusively in His gospel, the gospel of
God. It is rooted and grounded in
the prophets in the Old Testament. It is centered in God's Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the sole mediator of this saving
grace. And as we preach and share and
proclaim this gospel, it is the Holy Spirit of God who calls
the elect to faith in Jesus Christ and what power there is in this
gospel to radically change and transform the sinner. If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things passed
away. Behold, new things have come. I conclude with a testimony of
Martin Luther, who came to experience the power of the gospel in his
own life. Martin Luther writes, and I conclude
with this, as he looked back upon his own life-changing experience
when he was called by the Spirit to believe upon Christ, Luther
writes, meanwhile in that same year 1519, I had begun interpreting
the Psalms once again. I felt confident that I was now
more experienced, since I had dealt in university classes with
Paul's letters to the Romans and Galatians, and the letter
to the Hebrews. Paul was a teacher at the University
of Wittenberg, yet he was unconverted, and he was under a sense of the
guilt of his own sin. He said that phrase, referring
to Romans 1, verse 17, the righteousness of God. He said, I grew to hate
those very words. I had been taught to understand
that these words referred to an active justice. That justice
by which God is just and by which He punishes sinners and the unjust. Luther said, but I, the blameless
monk that I was, felt that before God I was a sinner with an extremely
troubled conscience. I couldn't be sure that God was
appeased by my satisfaction. I did not love, nor rather I
hated, the just God who punishes sinners. in silence. If I did not blaspheme, then
I certainly grumbled vehemently and got angry with God and said,
isn't it enough that we miserable sinners, lost for all eternity
because of our sin, are oppressed by every kind of calamity through
the Ten Commandments? Why does God heap sorrow upon
sorrow through the gospel and through the gospel threaten us
with His justice, and wrath. I meditated day and night on
those words, the righteousness of God. Until at last, by the
mercy of God, I paid attention to their context. The righteousness
of God is revealed in it. For it is written, the just shall
live by faith. Luther said, I began to understand
that in this verse, the justice of God is that by which the just
person lives by a gift of God. That is by faith. I began to
understand that this verse means that the justice of God is revealed
through the gospel, but it is a passive justice. That by which
the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. All at once, Luther said, I felt
that I had been born again and entered into paradise itself
through open gates. Immediately I saw the whole of
Scripture in a different light. I exalted in these sweet words
the righteousness of God with as much love as before I had
hated it with hate. This phrase of Paul was for me
the very gate of paradise. It is the gate of paradise for
us, by which we enter into the kingdom of God. It is this gate
that is paved with the gospel of God in Jesus Christ. It is by this gate the righteousness
of God, the gift of the righteousness of Christ. freely given to sinners
who repent of their sins and believe upon Jesus Christ, that
ushers us from darkness to light, from the kingdom of this world
into the kingdom of our God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the power of God in salvation. that he can take lost, ruined,
corrupt, depraved, defiled sinners who are justly under his wrath
and condemnation. and forgive us, and pardon us,
and clothe us with the perfect righteousness of His Son, Jesus
Christ, and impute to our account the perfect obedience of Christ
to every point of the law. It is the power of God unto salvation
that comes to the life that believes exclusively in Jesus Christ. It is this gospel that is offered
to the world. It is this gospel that is offered
to sinners. And all who will believe upon
Christ are those who are made the object of the power of His
saving grace. May all here tonight who have
believed upon Jesus Christ. May we take this gospel far and
wide to every person and every creature. And if you find yourself
here tonight and have never entered through these gates into the
kingdom, there is only one way of entrance into the kingdom
of God. It is through the narrow gate who is Jesus Christ. You
must come repenting of your sin. You must come believing upon
Jesus Christ. And it is in your faith in Christ
alone that you receive this gift. of his perfect righteousness,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you
for your saving power in the gospel. we gladly acknowledge
that it is your gospel. It is your message of salvation.
It is your plan of salvation. It is rooted and grounded in
Old Testament Scripture, made known through the apostles. And
Father, we thank you that it sets forth in all of the saving
glory Jesus Christ, who is a Savior of sinners, who has come to seek
and to save that which is lost. We thank you that in the power
of this gospel, that there is no sinner beyond its saving grace. We pray, God, that you would
open our eyes to see afresh the magnitude of this explosive power
that is contained in this gospel. May we too be unashamed. May
we too be bold and confident and courageous as we proclaim
its saving message. Father, cause the gospel to burn
brightly in our souls and may it be strong in our hearts. In
Jesus' name we pray. Amen.