All right, go with me if you
would back to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. And let's read verse 16 again. For I am 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. I started
thinking about that verse of scripture. And the more I thought
about it, it just hit me how amazing it is that we are not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. That's amazing. That is a miracle
of God. That is a miracle of God that
he would allow us to not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. when
the unreligious world wants nothing to do with it. And the religious world wants
nothing to do with it. Now, the religious world wants
something to do with the gospel of man's works, which is no gospel
at all. Or the gospel of man's wisdom,
which is no gospel at all. When most people see the actual
gospel of Christ as being too simple. This is why they're ashamed
of it. This is why they're ashamed of
it. They see the actual gospel of Christ as being too simple. Too singular. Too finished. That's just too
finished. That's just too finished for
me. When that's what the flesh, all
flesh, is naturally prone to say about the gospel of Christ.
Is it not amazing? When God goes to work on a sinner
and causes that sinner, just like a little child, like a little
babe, to not be ashamed of the simplicity of the gospel of Christ. Look with me if you would at
Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10 verse 21 says, In that hour Jesus rejoiced in
spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight." What things is he talking about? What things
has he literally hid from the wise and prudent and revealed
to the simple-minded people? What things is he talking about?
He's talking about the things concerning the gospel of Christ. Go with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18 says, for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. So the gospel of Christ is the
preaching of the cross. That's the gospel of Christ.
Verse 19 says, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified. That is the gospel of Christ.
That's the gospel of Christ. We preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews, that's a stumbling block. Because they love their
laws and their ceremonies and their this and their that. So
unto the Jews, that's a stumbling block. Verse 23 goes on to say,
and unto the Greeks, it's foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
And that's not saying that God is foolish or weak, it's saying
man is. Verse 26, for you see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring
to naught things that are. that no flesh should glory in
his presence. What that means is it is amazing
that God would allow any man to not be ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. That's an amazing miracle and
the reason is because all man does is think he's wise. That's all man does. He just
thinks he's wise. That's how man spends his time.
And God has hid the gospel of Christ from those who see themselves
to be wise and prudent, which is all men and women outside
of the grace of God. That's every man and woman born
on this earth, outside of God's grace. Man cannot naturally see
the gospel of Christ alone to be the power of God unto salvation.
Cannot. Man cannot see the gospel of
Christ crucified alone to be the power of God unto salvation. Cannot. So it's amazing when
God reveals it. It's an amazing miracle when
God reveals it to a sinner. All right, now go with me back
to Romans 1. Romans 1 verse 16 Paul said For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ For it alone Yet the
message of who Christ is and what he has done Alone just simply
declaring who Christ is and what he has done alone. I That alone,
it is the power of God unto salvation. Not the gospel of who Christ
is and what he has done, plus me performing the same works
that he performed. Not the gospel of who Christ
is and what he has done, plus me being faithful to the deeds
of the law. The gospel of Christ alone, the
preaching of the cross alone, is the power of God unto salvation. Now, go with me a couple of pages
over to Romans 3. We go here all the time. If there's
a place that I go more often than any other, I'd say it's
Romans 3. And this is, to me, one of the most shocking chapters
in the scripture. This is one of the most shocking,
eye-opening chapters in the scripture. Romans 3, beginning in verse
10, is where it says, as it is written, there's none righteous,
no not one, and then it goes on down to say just how wicked
and sinful we really are. Just how bad we really are. Verse 19 says, now we know that
what things soever the law sayeth. And to make this as clear as
we can possibly understand this, I wanna put this in our terminology
today, okay? This is the law. We think about
Moses and we think about these two tables of stone and we think
about This is the law. This is God's commandments. This
is the law and the commandments. These are the prophets the Bible
The Bible and people say the Bible. I know what the Bible
says now All right, Romans 3 verse 19 says now we know that what
things soever the Bible saith It saith to them who are under
the law and the commandments of the Bible the law and the
commandments of the scripture and that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world may become guilty before God. What things the Bible says, it
says that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may
become guilty before God. That's where we all are in the
flesh. Under the law of the scripture,
guilty before God. Verse 20 says, Therefore, by
the deeds of the Bible, by doing the deeds of the Bible,
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by The law,
the Bible, the scriptures, the commandments of God is the knowledge
of sin. Now this is what mankind believes
as far as the eye can see in denomination after denomination
after denomination. This is what mankind believes. By the law, by the deeds of the
Bible, by the law is the knowledge of salvation. That's what mankind
believes. By the law is the knowledge of
salvation. By the Bible is the knowledge
of salvation. God says the exact opposite is
true. The scripture, the Bible, declares
what God demands and that no man can fulfill what God demands. That's what it says. The Bible declares what God demands
and the only person who could and did fulfill it. The Bible
declares this is what God demands and no one can fulfill it But
one, that's what it says. That's what it says. Verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. This is why Paul said the scriptures
were able to make us wise unto salvation. It's because they
expose our sin. And they point us to our only
hope. So verse 20 says, by the deeds
of the law, by the deeds of the Bible, there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God. without the law, without
the deeds of the Bible is manifested. The righteousness of God is manifested. What is that? That's the gospel
of Christ. The good news of Christ. The
righteousness of God without the law is manifested Being witnessed
by the law and the prophets the Bible Witnesses the righteousness
of God that was manifested Verse 22 says 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 No difference in
who? the Jew or the Gentile There's
no difference. Verse 23 says for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by
his grace. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus redeemed paid for completely totally by him. It is that singular. It is that simple. It's that
finished. This is past tense, verse 24,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a bloody
victim, a propitiation through faith in His blood, To declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It's
excluded. By what law of works? No, by
the law of faith. Look into Christ. Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law Without the deeds of the law man wants to run down
to the front of the church To a place or to a thing that he
calls the altar When we do that We miss Christ
When we do that, we miss Christ. The altar is not a place. The altar is not a thing. The altar is a person. Our place of sacrifice is a person. It's a person. Christ is our
appeasement. Christ is our offering to God.
Man wants to make himself as miserable as he possibly can.
This is what man wants to do. He wants to make himself as miserable
as he possibly can on one particular day called Sunday. Absolutely
miserable. And the reason is because he
thinks the more miserable he can become, the more that he
can deny himself, the more he's keeping the Sabbath. When we do that, we are missing
Christ. We are missing Christ. A man
who is trying to keep a Sabbath day every week, a man who's trying
to keep a Sabbath day every week and keep a Sabbath day every
week has missed Christ. He has missed Christ. The Sabbath
is not a day. The Sabbath is not a time of
spiritual reflection. The Sabbath is a person. The
Sabbath is a person. He is our rest. He is our finished
work. Man is constantly looking for
a level of holiness in himself that is satisfactory to God.
Man is constantly looking in himself for a level of holiness
that is satisfactory to God, a level of devotion, a level
of godliness, a level of spiritual sincerity that God will be pleased
with. God will be satisfied with that.
When we do that, when we do that, we miss Christ. We miss Christ. Holiness is not a higher level
of morals. Holiness is not a state of being. Holiness is a person. It's a
person. Look with me at first Corinthians
one again. We just read a second ago, verse
29, which says, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. Verse 30 says, but of him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. He is our wisdom. He just finished
saying, not many wise men are called. God doesn't call many
wise men. He is our wisdom. It goes on
to say, and righteousness, everything that makes us right before God,
everything that makes us worthy before God, He's our righteousness. And sanctification, that's holiness,
purity. He's our sanctification and redemption. He's our payment. Verse 31 says
that according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory
in the Lord. That's all we have. That's all
we can glory in. That's all we can go to the Lord,
the Lord. I am honestly so thankful for
the fact that God has allowed some sinners like us to not be
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Not be ashamed of it, but to
see it alone to be the power of God unto salvation. It alone. As soon as we add something to
who Christ is and what he's done, we no longer have the gospel
of Christ and we no longer have the power of God unto salvation. As soon as we add something to
the simplicity, the singularity of his work, we evidence that
we're ashamed of his work. That's what we evidence. Because
if we have to add something to his work, then it means we don't
believe it was enough. If we have to add something to
it, then it wasn't enough. Look with me at Galatians chapter
1. Galatians 1 verse 6 says, I marvel
that you are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. And that's what man
naturally does. That's what the flesh naturally
does. He may get his doctrine so close. It may be so close. He may have his theology so close,
if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived.
If it were possible. Our adversary's doctrine was
so close, for a period of time anyway,
Eve was deceived. He said, Hath not God said? And
God had said those things. He told half of the truth, half
of the story. But he had said those things.
But he perverted the word of the Lord by adding the deeds
of the flesh to it. He said, you lay hold of that
apple, or you lay hold of that fruit. You add the deeds of the
flesh to it. That's how he perverted the word
of the Lord. These Galatians did the same
thing. They laid hold of free grace in the blood of Christ,
free, free grace. And then they started adding
back in for salvation the deeds of the law. They got a hold of
free grace, but then they couldn't help it. They just had to add
back in some of those deeds of the law. Some men told Titus,
in addition to the blood of Christ, if you want to be saved, you
have to be circumcised. Now you have to be, it's in there,
you have to be circumcised. Paul said, no, he doesn't. And
he said, we're not gonna do it. If it becomes an issue of salvation,
we're not gonna do it to prove that he doesn't. The blood that
Christ paid on the cross is the power of God unto salvation alone. Chapter two, verse 16 says, Galatians 2 verse 16, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by
the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified, period. He said in verse 21, I Do not
frustrate the grace of God For if righteousness come by the
law Then Christ is dead in vain if we can earn our own holiness If we can earn our own righteousness
then Christ died in vain I If we can earn it ourselves, we
did not need for him to come and die earning it for us. He
died in vain, and he didn't die in vain. He said in chapter 3,
verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath
been evidently set forth, crucified among you? He said, you've seen
the good news of who he is and what he's done. Verse two, this
only would I learn of you. Received ye the spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Did you receive God's
spirit through the deeds of the law or by having it preached
to you through the gospel? The hearing of faith. He said
in verse three, are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? He said, do you really believe
that Christ did not complete everything concerning your salvation? Do you really believe that he
only started the work? And it's up to us to finish the
work. Do you really believe that your final state of holiness
is in your own hands? Paul said, do you really believe
that? Because to believe that is to be ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Ashamed of it. And to believe
that we have to finish the work that he started is an insult
to his work. It's an insult. It's to say his
work was not the power of God unto salvation. It was almost
the power of God unto salvation. Verse 11 right here in Galatians
3 says, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident for the just shall live by faith. They'll just believe
on him. God's people will just believe
on Him. They will hear of His work. They'll
hear who He is, what He's done. God's Spirit will enter that
heart and they will say, that's it. That's it. They'll just believe on Him.
They won't try to add to His work. They won't try to perfect
His work. They'll just believe on Him.
They'll just believe. This is the gospel of Christ,
this declaration. This is the power of God unto
salvation. Verse 13 says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. God's miraculous gift
of saving faith. Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. Cursed is everyone that
hangs on a tree, and he hung on that tree for us. that we
might be given all the promises that he made to Abraham. Every
promise, the miraculous gift. Thank God for the gift of the
gospel of Christ. May we never take it for granted.
May we never take it for granted that he has caused us, given
us the privilege, allowed us to not be ashamed of it. We are
a privileged, privileged people. Who can say, I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ for it. Who he is, what he's done. That
declaration is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believes when God sends faith to the heart and the sinner believes. And it's to the Jew first, but
it's also to us Greeks. It's a great privilege to just
rest and trust in the gospel of Christ. Great, great privilege. All right, let's all stand together. Turn with me to 229. 229.