Romans chapter 1. And our title
for this morning is, The Power of God to Save. The Power of God to Save. Now let's begin our reading at
the very beginning of Romans chapter 1 and verse 1. Oh, you want another one on,
alright. There we go. Romans 1, beginning now with
verse 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised before by his prophets in the holy scriptures
concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was made, by margin renders that expression,
who was born, in regard to his human nature, he was born of
the seed of David according to the flesh. The human nature of
Christ is said to be born of the seed of David. And now we
come in verse 4 to the other side of that coin. Not just his
humanity, but his deity. Verse 4. God cannot be born. He must be simply declared. And declared to be the Son of
God with power. How much power? All power in
heaven and earth. Declared to be the Son of God
with power according to the spirit of holiness. by the resurrection
from the dead, by whom we have received grace and apostleship
for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among
whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ to all that be
at Rome, all believers in Rome, beloved of God, called, literally
called saints, The words to be are italicized, therefore were
added by the translators, so it is proper to read it called
saints. All believers are saints. Now
if you ask them if they're a saint, they might try to weasel out
of that. I know I would. Called saints. Grace to you and
peace. from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. All of those verses comprising
one sentence. Verse 8. First, I thank my God
through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken
of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I
serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing
I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request,
if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey
by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that
I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established. That is, that I may be comforted
together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now,
I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed
to come unto you, but was, the word let means hindered, was
hindered hitherto, up until now, that I might have some fruit
among you also as among other Gentiles. I am debtor, he is
a gospel debtor, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians,
both to the wise and the unwise. So as much as in me is, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also." Now
our text, verses 16 and 17. I want us to go through the parts
of these two verses. And may the Lord be pleased to
help us. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is, the gospel is, the power of God unto salvation. To whom? To whom? To everyone that believes. to everyone that believes, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek or the Gentile. For therein,
in this gospel of God, which is the gospel of Christ, therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written, the just The righteous shall live by faith. Now that expression that closes
the seventeenth verse, the just or the righteous shall live by
faith, is found four times in our Bibles. The first time is
in Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 4. The second time is in Romans
chapter 1 and verse 17. And the third time is in Galatians
3.11, and the fourth time is in Hebrews 10.38. Now, if you
and I were writing a note to someone and we wanted to emphasize
a particular phrase or sentence, we might underline it. Well,
if you want to call attention to something in Scripture, one
of the ways that God uses is repetition. Repetition. To find a statement four times
in this book, I mean almost verbatim, is to tell us something of what
that statement is about and how important it is, especially to
sinners who have no other means of coming to God except in His
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel itself. The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. Now let's take this first section,
verse 16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Now this is Paul who's suffered,
who's been beaten, who's been imprisoned, who's been threatened,
and people have tried to stone him and kill him, and he's still
living, and he's still not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The
word for is often translated because it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek. Now, when Peter, Doug read this verse,
He probably quoted it, and I can't quote it. I can just mess it
up. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12. You don't have to turn if you
don't wish to, but if you want to, I'll wait for you. This is Acts 4.12. I'll read
it twice. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is salvation in none other
except Christ. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." And
please remember that that word Jesus is literally meaning Jehovah
is salvation. That's the name the angels used
when talking to Joseph in regard to the to our Lord Jesus Christ
being born to a virgin by the name of Mary. And Joseph was
instructed of God to name that child Jesus. Jehovah is salvation. Now, there are a lot of other
things that we could do this morning in regard to these two
verses, but I still try to work on just one or two aspects of it that
I think need our consideration. So the first place, if you would
turn please, is in Ephesians. Let's see, 1 and 2 Corinthians,
Galatians, and then Ephesians chapter 1. Now here, I don't know if you
left it where you could flip back to the statement in verse
16, but let me refresh you what it says. I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, in Ephesians chapter 1, This famous passage that declares
salvation by God the Father, salvation by God the Son, and
salvation by God the Holy Spirit. And you come in, beginning at verse 15 in Ephesians
1, The Apostle Paul is praying for the Ephesians, and he tells
them what he is asking God for concerning them. And it is... Well, I might as
well go ahead and remind you of this. You should already know
this, but if your mind forgets as quickly as mine, it's probably
gone. In this prayer that Paul gives,
there are three wants, w-h-a-t-s. Three wants. The first one is
in verse 18, The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His
calling. Second what? And what the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. And the third
what is in verse 19, and this is the one that demands our attention. And what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe? And how do we believe? How are
we enabled to believe according to the working of God's mighty
power? Well, how much of God's power
does he put forth to make just one believer? Now, you won't
believe this if you didn't see it written in this book. But
here it is. Verse 20, "...which he wrought," or worked,
"...in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him
at his own right hand in heavenly places." Here's my point. I hope you never forget this.
How much power does it take to save just one sinner? How much? The same amount it took to raise
Christ from the dead, ascend him to glory, and seat him at
God's right hand. Now, my dear friend, that ain't
peanuts. Believing in Christ is in some respects the miracle
of all miracles. And yet this religious generation
of our day knows not one thing about that. They say all you've
got to do is decide. All you've got to do is come
to the front. Take the preacher's hand. He'll tell you what to
say. That's worthless. It's downright damning to the
souls of men. But if we would simply read the
Bible, we would find that that is foolishness, and this is the
truth. Faith in Christ is no small matter,
and it is the work of God in the soul of the sinner. I want you to see this one too,
if you don't mind. I've used it a million times.
1 John chapter 5. Now these guys in the Bible class,
now they can give you reference, you know, get you to turning
like you wouldn't believe. I'm trying to have mercy on you. But you've got to see this in
print. 1 John chapter 5. Here's my second
point now about this matter of believing. The first point was what? It's
God's doing, it ain't mine. It's God's doing. Listen carefully. Believing is the result of being born again. Believing is the result of the
new birth, not its cause. You and I don't contribute. Well,
I take that back. There's one thing that we contribute
in this whole matter, and that's our sin. We're sinners. That's why we need saving. That's
why what we need only God can do. We've already done enough
to put ourselves in hell forever. And if you think you don't deserve
to be there, you're sadly mistaken, and so am I. Look at this statement. 1 John 5, verse 1. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ. Whosoever does what? Believes
that Jesus is the Christ. Is born of God. It's the result of the new birth. Therefore, saving faith is one of the most glorious miracles
ever to be spoken of in our Bibles. Alright, let's work on verse
17. Going back to Romans chapter
1. Now this time I think I can perhaps
just ask you to turn right into the book of Romans itself. Okay,
let's go back now to verse 17 in Romans chapter 1. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just, the righteous shall live by faith." The just shall live
by faith. This righteousness of God that
is revealed is revealed nowhere else except in the gospel of
Christ. The gospel is a revelation of
God's grace and mercy to sinners in and by and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is imperative for us to To be adamant about this, I mean
to get fired up if people turn their backs on this. This is
not some insignificant matter. This is the crux of the whole
thing. Faith is God's doing. And salvation is God's doing. And believing and trusting in
the Lord Jesus Christ is God's work. And then we exercise that faith. But we did not give ourselves
that faith. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Alright, put a marker right here
at Romans chapter 1. And let's run over to Romans
chapter 10. See, that's just probably not
ten pages in your Bible. Romans chapter 10. Since we're that close to the
beginning of Romans 10, let me start with verse 1, Romans 10,
1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul earnestly
desires the conversion of his countrymen, but he cannot effect
it Only God can do this, and this man surely understood this.
Nothing could be plainer than the statements he makes in this
letter to the Romans. Verse 2, Paul still speaking
of his countrymen. For I bear them record, oh, he
said, they have a zeal of God. But it is not according to knowledge. It is not true. The religious zeal
is a false zeal. Alright, here's what I came to
this chapter for. is for you to take the very next
verse, which is verse 3, and then the one after it, verse
4, take these two verses and just let one of them be a magnifying
glass for this eye and the other one for this eye, and you go
back and look at Romans chapter 1 again. After we've seen this,
we'll go back to chapter 1 and see if we can understand even
more clearly why these things must be so. People are a little bit touchy
when you tell them they're ignorant. But you can't preach the gospel
without communicating that to people. Let me just read it. Verse 3,
Romans chapter 10. For they being ignorant, these
are Paul's countrymen of whom he longed to see them come to
Christ and be saved. For they being ignorant of what? God's righteousness. Now, some of you have heard me
say this before. The word righteousness is in this third verse three
times, and each time it is a different righteousness. It's not the same. Now let me finish the sentence,
and I'll come back and explain it. For they, being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, that's the second one, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God, that's the third one. Three righteousnesses,
and in this case, only one. which is saving only one. Let's go back now and see if
we can identify them. What is this righteousness of
God that Paul says his countrymen are ignorant of? Generally speaking, trying to
put it in the plainest of terms, This righteousness of God is
simply His being. It's His nature. It's His. These things belong
to Him. This is part of who God is. He's
righteous. He's holy. And nothing can save a sinner
except the substitutionary death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else avails. Nothing
you and I can do or nothing we stop doing can advance us one
inch toward Christ. In fact, it always takes us the
other way, further away from Christ. Here's what I also say about
Romans 10.3 in this First Righteousness. This is the plight of our generation. This is what we were before we
believed. And this believing, as we've
already seen, is the work of God in the soul. It's not our
work. Now, the second righteousness,
it's just generally speaking, it's just man's self-righteousness. Man's self-righteousness. Sometimes it's called a legal
righteousness, which means a law righteousness, People, honest,
I mean, these are people who've got enough smarts to make a good
living, and they believe these things about themselves that
they can keep the Ten Commandments, and that they earn a righteousness
before God based on what they do or don't do, as the case may
be. And this is not so. This book
tells you If you could just keep one little part of the law, it
would be worthless, because God requires you keep them every
last single one. In Luke 18, when the rich young
ruler came running and kneeling at the feet of Christ and said,
Good Master, what must I do to be saved? Our Lord said, Well,
have you ever heard of the Ten Commandments? Oh, I've kept them
since I was a boy. Our Lord said, All right. You
evidently missed the one about covetousness, which means you
missed all the other nine as well. And he said, go give all
that you have to the poor and come be my disciple. And the
man went away not happy, not happy. This second righteousness
is no righteousness at all. It's a professed righteousness. It's one that people think they
have, but I'm telling you, nobody does. There's only been one person
in the whole history of the world that went into this world as
a holy man and came out holy, and that was Christ our Savior.
And even then, on the cross, his people's sins were charged
to his account. And God forsook his own son on
Calvary's tree. And yet I think I can stand before
God on what I've done and not done? Is Matthew 7 in our Bibles,
verses 21 to 23, when Christ describes those people on judgment
day that are going to stand up and say, Lord, I've done this,
that, and the other in Your name. I'm looking for a great reward.
And our Lord said, I'll say to them, depart from Me, you workers
of iniquity. I never knew you. You claim to
know me and you claim to have served me, but that ain't the
case. I didn't know you. Alright, let's see where I'm
at now. The third righteousness in verse
3 of Romans 10. Or did I already do three? No. You see, the last phrase in verse
3 of Romans 10, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. Now, we had that expression,
righteousness of God, at the beginning of the verse. Then
we had that other righteousness, which turns out is no righteousness
at all. But God has two kinds of righteousness. One is his being. Bless his name,
the other one is his gospel. In Christ he gives us a perfect
robe of righteousness. every last single one of his
people, all who believe are of this kind and nature. We call this the righteousness
of God in Christ, or gospel righteousness, or perhaps you like this word
better, imputed righteousness. It's one and the same. Without
it, we perish. And with it, we are accepted
in the beloved. Now that ought to ring your bell,
and mine as well. Shall we go back to Romans 1
just for a bit? Verses 16 and 17, For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in that gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed From faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall
live by faith. Translated, the just shall live
by faith, you may say the just shall live by Christ. It is to Christ In his life, in his death, in
his suffering, in his cross, in his resurrection, in his present
glory at God's right hand, these are the things that the gospel
reveals to us concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation.
Verse 17, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, As it is written, the just shall live
by faith. Now, one other footnote. I'm
going to be early finishing anyway, so I can just slow down and take
this deliberately. You remember these three things. How long ago it was that churches
in America turned from the true gospel to a false gospel, I do
not know. It had taken place completely
before I was ever born. I never heard this gospel preached,
and I'll guarantee you if the church doors were open, we were
there. My mother saw to that. But all it does is teach you
a false gospel and a false hope. You spend all these years trying
to climb the ladder of success in Southern Baptist religion
and come to find out it's false. It's false. The just shall live Alright,
here are three things. Number one, the God of the Bible, I want you to find out if you
believe this, the God of the Bible requires of us no more
than He gives us. He gives us Christ in the gospel. Nothing less than that will put
our sin away and make us accepted before God. God is the giver. Everything we touch is contaminated
by sin, therefore unacceptable. We come to God through the blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ. God requires no more than He
gives. But listen to this glorious statement.
God gives what He requires. Huh? I mean, in order for us
to be a believer, God has to give us Christ in
the gospel. Thirdly, God accepts only what
He gives. So the next time you hear a preacher
telling you, if you'll do something, God will do something, that ain't
so. That is not so. It ain't ever
been so. And a man can't tell what he
doesn't know. The just shall live by faith.