This is a fitting hymn. We're
going to look in a moment at Romans 1 where Paul said,
I'm a debtor, both to the Jew and the Greek, a debtor to preach
the gospel. I didn't necessarily feel like
singing. My hands are cold. But after
reading that psalm, I thought, Well, I've got to sing now. I'm
a debtor. When this passing world is done,
when it's said ? Beyond glaring sun ? When I stand with Christ in glory
? Looking o'er life's Spanish story ? Then Lord shall I fully
know ? Not till then ? How much I owe When I hear the wicked call On
the rocks and hills to fall When I see them start and shrink
On that fiery day to lose the ring ? Then Lord shall I fully
know ? But not till then ? Just how much I owe ? When I stand
before His throne ? Dressed in beauty not my own
? When I see thee as thou art ? Love thee with unsetting heart
? Then Lord shall I fully know ? Not till then ? How much I
owe ? Chosen not for good in need ? Awaken from the wrath to flee Hidden in the Savior's side By
His Spirit sanctified Teach me, Lord, on earth to show By my
love how much I owe How much I owe. How much do you
owe? This gospel will be sweet to
you. To whom much is forgiven. I love
much. I love his gospel much. I'd love to hear about it. Romans
1. Go there with me. Romans chapter
1. Romans chapter 1. You know how
much I love Martin Luther. And these verses are the ones
that the Lord used to give him new birth. He said so.
He said he hated the righteousness of God. See, when he was a monk, living
a devout life, doing the best he could, he said he hated the
righteousness of God. He said, because he's doing the
best he could and he realized it wasn't good enough. His conscience
still convicted. He said he hated it. But then one day God brought these verses
to his heart and he said, I entered into paradise. He said, I was
born again. Then I began to love the righteousness
of God. What does that mean? Romans 1,
look at verse 14. Paul said, I'm a debtor. I'm debtor both to the Greeks,
the barbarians, to the wise, the unwise. So as much as in
me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel. He's writing to the Romans,
said to you that are Rome also. He said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. There was a time when he was,
he hated it. He hated it. He hated it. So I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, it's the power of God unto salvation. For everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein
in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, that just shall live by faith. He went on to say,
talk about the wrath of God, the wrath of God is coming down
on all unrighteousness. You know, as a young man, I used
to approach, I remember approaching this, these verses with great relish and confidence.
Boy, now I do it with fear and a little bit of frustration,
but to try to deal with such profound things and try to make
these difficult things simple. Who is sufficient for that? But
as Paul said, our sufficiency is of God. My sufficiency to
say this, to tell this, to preach it is of the Lord. It's not up
to me. And your sufficiency to hear
it, ability to hear it is of God too. And you know, God's
Word is its own interpreter. Please turn with me as we look
at the scriptures, all right? We're going to look at some scriptures.
God's word is his interpreter. Verse 14, he said, I'm a debtor
to the Greek and the barbarians, wise and unwise. Later, he said,
where is the wise? He's talking about those who
think they are. Greeks think they're wise. Barbarians,
they're just heathens. He said, so as much as in me,
verse 15, as much as in me, I'm ready to preach the gospel. I'm
a debtor, he said. He was indebted to God for his
mercy. Why? Because Paul was a chief
of sinners, he said so. He said, I hated the God of the
Bible. Oh, Paul didn't hate the God
of the Bible. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. He didn't know him.
And he wrote over in chapter 10 of Romans, he said, my Jewish
brethren, they're orthodox. They seem upright. They don't know him either. He
said, I was just like them. Because they're going about to
establish their own righteousness. They think they're righteous.
They think they were just like me. That's how he could have
compassion on them. That's why he They all ended
up hating Paul for telling the truth, hated him and beat him
up. And to the end, he said, brothers, he was compassionate
with them because he was just like them. He said, I'm a debtor. I owe
it to God and I owe it to men and women because he persecuted
them. He said, I was injurious, I was
a blasphemer, I was a persecutor. He never got over what he did
to believers, God's people, just for believing the truth. He hated
it. He never got over that, so he
said, I'm going to preach the gospel. As much as I denied the
truth, if God gives me dying breath, I'm going to preach it
until I die, until they kill me for telling it. The one who Paul saw of Tarsus,
the one who went around trying to kill people for the truth,
now he's gonna lay down his life for the truth. Now who can, who
or what could make a change like that but God? He said, I hated the truth. Like
everyone, Paul loved God, he imagined him to be. He was zealous
for the God he thought he knew. He was zealous, he was very zealous. He thought God was pleased with
him because of what all he did. Paul said, I was a blasphemer. The gospel, he said, I'm ready
to preach the gospel. And Paul talked about, wrote
about the gospel in the first few verses, didn't he? The gospel
of God. It's God's gospel. It's concerning
his son. The gospel promised. It's the
Old Testament gospel. Everybody in the Old Testament
is saved by the same gospel. You know that? Nobody's ever
been saved by keeping the law. Nobody's ever been saved under
a Mosaic covenant. Everybody's been saved by grace
through Christ. Everybody. He wrote that in the
Romans. We're going to look at it. We're
going to see it in Romans, Galatians. He said that Abraham heard the
gospel. Hebrews, he said, they all heard the gospel. Our Lord
said, Moses wrote of me. He's going to say here in a minute
that the gospel, the righteousness of God is witnessed by the law
and the prophets. The gospel is the gospel of God. The gospel is old as God. He purposed it, willed it, planned
it, covenanted it. It's concerning His Son, verse
3, made of the seed of David. We've looked at that. Declared
to be the Son of God with power, all power, over all flesh. Remember our Lord in John 17
said, As thou hast given Him power over all flesh, This is the God of the Bible.
This is the Christ of Scripture. This is a true Jesus Christ of
Scripture. Any gospel that says Jesus wants
to, wants in your heart is not the gospel. It's another gospel. It's a perversion of the gospel.
What good news is there if God loves you and Jesus died for
you that you might go to hell anyway? Then what does the love
of God have to do with anything? If God loves you like He loved
Judas, like He loved Adolf Hitler, and what does the love of God
have to do with anything? If Jesus died for you like He
died for Judas, like He died for... What does the blood of
Jesus Christ have to do with anything? Nothing. Didn't save
them, did it? The love of God didn't save them,
did it? What did? Your will. Your decision. That is not the
gospel, people. That is another gospel. Anybody
preaching it is a false prophet. And what good news is there for
sinners, hopeless sinners, sinners through and through? What good
news is there if the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, doesn't
cleanse us from sin, doesn't pay for my sin? If God can't
keep me, I can't keep myself. What good news? The gospel means
good news. There is no gospel in that. That's
another gospel. This Jesus that can't do anything
unless you let Him, that's a helpless Jesus. That's a God who can't
save. Peter, Simon Peter, stood at
Pentecost. What did he preach? Not what,
who. He preached a sovereign, victorious,
seated Lord. on a throne. He didn't ask anybody
anything. He didn't have an altar called.
He didn't say, Now won't you accept Jesus? No. He just declared
what Christ came to do, what Christ did and where God has
put Him and sat down. What happened then? The power
of God moved. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. The Spirit of God moved. What
did He do? Convicted every one of them that
they had sinned against God. They rejected God's Son and put
them all in the dirt. Peter didn't have to ask them
to come down and accept Jesus. They were all begging Him, what
shall we do? We've killed God's Son. We've
rejected the truth. What do we do? Not knowing that God had already
done something. That's why they were asking that. God, the Spirit of God, already
moved on them. They wouldn't be calling. And where am I? The gospel. See, this is the
gospel is the power of God. Look at verse 16. He said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation. Paul was once gloried in that
which he should have been ashamed of. Himself. His religion. His works. And he was ashamed
of the gospel, which he should have gloried in. Now he's ashamed of himself.
Over in Philippians 3, he said, those things that were gained
to me, what I thought I knew, he says, dung, it's cow manure. That's what he called it. Lost, he said, all my religion,
past religions, lost times, lost. I didn't know God, I didn't know
Christ. No, he wasn't. didn't, like so many think, Armenians,
you know, that believe this false gospel, they're saved. They just
need to come to a higher form of the gospel. No! It's a different
God. It's a different salvation. We're talking about God's righteousness. In the gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed. What are you talking about, preacher?
All right, let's look at it. The gospel, the gospel of Christ,
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. It says in verse
17, and this is what struck Martin Luther, and this is what struck
Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus here in Romans
chapter five, he said, I was alive once without the law, but
then when the commandment came, I died. I died, he said. He thought he
was blameless concerning the law. He thought he was keeping
the law, but they say when the gospel begins with the law, the gospel begins with the law.
The gospel begins with the righteousness of God, meaning God's personal
righteousness. Isaiah, in Isaiah 6, he said,
you turn with me to Psalm 11, Psalm 11, you turn over there.
Isaiah said, I saw the Lord, didn't he? High and lifted up,
his train filled the temple, and one word described the Lord
God of glory. One word, what did he say? Love?
No. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
hope. You know the word love is not
found in the book of Acts anywhere. The book of Acts is all the public
recorded messages by the apostles, the only one that our God saw
fit to write down. The word love is not there. None of them stood up and said,
like this false gospel, God loves you. None of them. No prophet
ever stood up and said that. No apostle ever said that. And
no true preacher today says that either. It begins with the holiness
of God. What they say is God is holy.
Holy, holy. Look at Psalm 11. It says, verse
4, the Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men. The
Lord trieth the righteous. That the wicked and him that
loveth violence, his soul hateth. 6, upon the wicked he shall rain
snares and fire and brimstone. A horrible tempest shall be the
portion of their cup. I just sang that song. When I
see the wicked call on the rocks and hills to fall, when I see
them start and shrink on that fiery deluge brink, then, Lord,
shall I know how much I owe. Why? Because that was me. Verse 7, the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness. See that? People say God loves
a sinner but hates his sin. No, it doesn't say that in the
Bible anywhere. You are what you do. It must be righteous. You must
be righteous. Psalm 14, look down here. Psalm 14, verse 1. Now here's what God says about
what he sees. The fool The fool has said in
his heart, there's no God. They're corrupt. Who? Read on. They've done abominable
work. There's none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from
heaven upon the children of men, see if there were any that did
understand and seek God. They're all gone aside. They're
all together become filthy. The word means stinking. There's
none that doeth good. No, not one. And Paul in Romans
3 says, there's none righteous. No. Not one. Not one. None. Genesis 6, you know the
story where God looked down and it says, He saw that the wickedness
of man was only evil continually from his youth up. Only evil
continually. The thoughts of his heart and
imagination were only evil. It says God said, I'm going to
destroy man whom I created. It's repented me that I made
him, speaking as a man. to show his utter contempt for
man. He says, the whole earth is corrupted
my way and full of violence. I'm going to destroy it because
he's righteous. Because the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness. And all he sees when he looks at man is unrighteousness,
iniquity. The gospel begins with the righteousness
of God, the personal righteousness of God, all right? and our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, the Holy One, is coming back
like Joshua of old. The whole story of Joshua of
old, conquering, is the story of Jesus Christ. The whole book
of Joshua is Joshua destroying people. You know that? That's why the
world hates the Old Testament. They hate it. They can't understand
it. It's a picture of Christ who's coming, the Righteous One
coming to destroy, but He's taking some out. Who? Well, who did Joshua take out
of Jericho? A harlot. I just told you the gospel. So she wasn't righteous. She
was declared righteous. She was made right. What about
Sodom? What about Sodom? If I can find ten righteous men,
the Lord said, I won't destroy that city. He couldn't find ten. But he brought a lot out. Was Lot righteous? Look what he did just a little
way after he got out. He didn't want to leave. Some of you know this gospel. It said, the Lord being merciful. laid hold on him. And the Lord
over the Hebrews, it says, that righteous man. He called him
righteous. Lot, that just man. Lot, just. See, your righteousness is not
you. Your salvation is not you. Nothing
to do with you. It has everything to do with
Him. Now, let's talk about man's righteousness, okay? Man's righteousness. All people by nature think this.
They think that this is what man thinks. This is how he gets
rid of the truth. God's not that righteous, they
think. God's not that holy. And I'm
not that sinful. Man's not that bad. Man has a
spark of good in him. I remember when my daughter was
in grade school. elementary school, going to her
graduation. And the man, the principal, who
we've talked to him, he and his wife, and they know the truth,
and some of you know them, and they hate the truth. And they
hate us. And he looked right at me during
that. He's commending these kids, and he's talking about them.
He looked right at me. Nobody else. He looked right at me,
and he said, they're good in all of them. They're good. They're
good kids. Don't you forget that. Well, you're calling God a liar
then, aren't you, bud? God said there's none good. No,
not one. David said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. He said, I was brought forth
from the womb speaking a lie. Tell me, do you have to teach
your children? Which do you have to teach them,
to lie or tell the truth? Huh? What comes naturally to
them? To steal or to give? Come on
now, you know by experience. You know yourself. You know your
children are born that way because they came from you. Unrighteous. Unrighteous. People
say, God's not that holy. He doesn't demand that. He's
not that strict. God doesn't demand that. Man's
not that sinful. I'm not. My mother sure isn't.
She's a good person. Well, here's what God has to
say about that. Look at Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1,
look at verse 18. He said, Now the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness. What's that
mean? It means they hold back the truth. It means they suppress
the truth. They hold it down. They have
it, they see it, they read it, but they don't like it, so they
suppress it. They don't tell it. That's what these evil preachers
do. They see it. They read it. And
so what they do, we'll come up with a new translation. We'll
take away the offense of it. We'll take out the words we don't
like, like Thomas Jefferson, or like way before him, Jehoiakim,
who took a penknife and said, I don't like that. I'll cut it
out. I'll make my own Bible. Take out the offense. Hold it down. Hold it back. I
won't preach that. I won't say that. I don't like
that part of God's Word. Hold it back. Everybody sees
it, don't they? Have they not all heard Paul
wrote? Have they not all heard Romans 10? Yes, barely. Hold it back. The truth about
God, the truth about man. Verse 19, that which may be known
of God is manifest in them or to them. God has showed it unto
them. His creation, he went on to say,
His creation clearly shows it. Why do scientists, why do Physician,
why don't they surely they see the handiwork of God surely David
said I'm fearfully and wonderfully made how could a physician open
up this glorious body and and see not see that a Marvelous
all-wise glorious creator made all of this. It's so complex.
It's so wonderful Why don't they see that? Oh, they see it. All
right, but they don't like it Don't want a creator because
that means he owns you. Don't want a creator, that means
he's a potter and you're the clay. Don't want a creator, that
means he's a judge. He can do with his own what he
will. Don't, I don't, the fool has said, no God for me. No,
I don't need a God like that. I don't want a God like that.
Verse 22, professing themselves, verse 21, says they, when they
knew God, they see it, they don't glorify him as God. Don't glorify him as God. We'll
attribute everything to luck. We'll attribute it to chance.
We'll attribute it to good fortune. We'll attribute it to man. We'll
attribute it to everybody but God. Now you tell me man's not
corrupt. Huh? You tell me man's not depraved. Verse 22, professing themselves
to be wise, they became fools. Change the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image. Like what? What's the first thing
He makes God into? A man. So God gave them up. And we'll look at that a little
more later, but it doesn't mean God gave up on them. It means
God just left them to Himself. Verse 25, change the truth of
God into a lie. The truth of God. Now people,
that's not only science and the natural man, that's religion.
That's religion, isn't it? Look down at verse 28. They did
not like to retain God in their knowledge. Like to think about,
talk about anything and everything but God. The greatest show, revelation,
or evidence of man's depravity is you can't get him to come
and worship God. He'll do anything. He would rather
do anything than come and sit and read the Word of God and
hear a man read the Word of God. He doesn't want to think about
God. Man's unrighteous. God's creator. God's our benefactor. God's merciful. He's tender mercies. God feeds
us. He said, I've clothed you, I've fed you, though you don't
know me. He said, the ox knows his owner, the ass knows his
master's career, but my people that I make, they don't know
me. They don't consider. I've done all this. Don't give
me a thought. Don't want to think about me. What's wrong with him?
He's unrighteous. Man's unrighteous. And he goes on to say, verse
29, so God left them to themselves. Verse 29, they've been filled
with unrighteousness. Filled with them. Filled with
them. Then chapter 2. Let me hurry. Chapter 2, the
whole chapter talks about religious people. The Jews. The Jews. They worshiped, seemed
to, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had the law. They had the covenants. They
had the ordinances. They had everything. They were
strict about it. Thought they were. Thought they kept it. And the
chapter 2, in brief, Paul said, you think you're better than
the unbelieving world out there? He said, don't you know what
the law says? The law says you teach that you're
not to commit adultery. He said, do you look on a woman
with lead? He says, the law says thou shalt not steal. Do you
steal? Do you covet? Same thing. That's
worse. Covetousness is idolatry. All
right, now we get to chapter 3. Let's get to chapter 3, okay? Chapter 3. Now it says, verse 19, here in chapter
3, verse 19. We know, we'll look at verse
9 and 10. This is what we just said. Paul says to the religious Jews,
he says, are we better than those infidels, the world, out in the
world? No and no wise. We've proved both Jew and Gentile,
they're all under sin. As it is written, there's none
righteous, no not one, none that understand, none that seeketh
after God. And down in verse 19, it says, now we know that
whatsoever things the law saith, that saith to them who are under
the law. Who's that? All men and women, young people
that are born on God's earth. by nature, are subject to the
law of God, but underneath it, under its curse, under its penalty. It says to them that are under
the law, what does it say? What does the law say? Guilty. You say, but I haven't, I haven't.
Oh, hold on now. God looks on the heart. He said,
Christ said on his sermon on the mount, if you thought it,
you're guilty. And God, the only reason you
didn't do it is because God kept you from doing it. You didn't
keep yourself from it. All right? That all the world
may become guilty before God. All the world. Therefore, verse
20, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. No flesh shall be declared righteous,
acceptable, holy, unblamable, unapprovable in God's sight. Nobody. The law is only the knowledge
of sin. That's why the law was given,
not to make you righteous, but to show you you're not righteous. And anybody that's under the
law, they don't hear it, Paul said. They don't hear it, it's
a curse. Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things. Got some Seventh-day Adventists
that think they're keeping the Sabbath. They're breaking the
Sabbath. by worshiping a day. Christ is our Sabbath. Christ
is our Sabbath. And they're dishonoring God. Don't believe
the gospel. If righteousness come by the
law, Christ... Here's how serious it is. If
righteousness come by keeping the Sabbath day, Christ is dead
in vain. That's how serious it is. It's
not just a doctrinal issue. Verse 20, Therefore by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul later said, I wouldn't
have known sin except the law said, don't do this, don't do
that. He said, I thought I didn't. He said, I realize the law is
spiritual. He looks on the heart. The law requires perfection in
thought as well as deed, motive as well as action. He said, I'm
guilty. But now, I saw somebody smile. I saw several
smile. But now, the righteousness of
God. Now we're going to talk about
a righteousness provided. Now we're going to talk about
a righteousness imputed. Do you know what that means?
Do you know what all of Romans 4 is about that? All of the Bible
is about that. Righteousness imputed. David
describes a righteousness, the blessedness. Blessed is the man
whom the Lord will not impute sin. We're guilty. But now, verse
21, see you can't preach the gospel without a but, but God,
but now. All right, here we have the holiness
and righteousness of God. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. All right, we're guilty. We're
unrighteous and unrighteous. No, not one. Are you with me?
Stay with me. I'm building up to a crescendo
here. It's going to be real good news
if you're guilty. This gospel is not for the righteous,
but for sinners. That's why this room is not full. It's hard to find a sinner. Oh,
I go to church. I made a profession. I quit this. I quit that. Well, you deserve
to go to hell. Oh, no, I'm not that bad. Paul said, oh, wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me? Got good
news for you, Paul. And Paul said, this is what I'm
gonna preach until my dying breath, the righteousness of God. What's
that? It ain't a what, it's a who. Isaiah 45, the last verse says,
surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and
strength. You see, in the Lord shall all
the seed of Israel be justified and glory, and glory in His righteousness. Next Sunday, Lord, we're going
to sing that song by Isaac Watts, was it? It says, dressed in His
righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. No, we're going to sing it today
after this message is over. But now the righteousness of
God, verse 21, without the law is manifested, is made clear.
Without the law. What do you mean without the
law? Without you keeping it. Because you can't. But preachers,
does that mean we can live any way we want to? No. But then
we're supposed to keep the law. We're under the law of Christ.
We're not under the law of Moses. We're not under the Levitical
law. We're not under the law in any way, shape, form. We're
under the law to Christ, or whatever He says we're to do it, but us
keeping it is not going to save us. The law is written on the heart.
We love His law, holy, just, and good, righteous, and true. I love it. There's nothing I
hate about it. I love it. I want to do it. I
want to keep it, but I can't. I can't. What's my hope? What's my righteousness? He did. Christ did. He kept it for me.
He's the law giver and He's the law keeper. He's the Lord my
righteousness. It's witness the righteousness
of God without us keeping the law is made clear being witnessed
by the law. What does that mean? And the
prophets. What does that mean? The laws... Moses wrote the law to Him. Moses,
you know what Christ said? Moses wrote of Me. Moses wrote of me. Wasn't he
right? The Passover lamb. Here's the
law. Here's the law at Sinai. Guilty,
guilty, guilty. Thou shalt, thou shalt, thou
shalt, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. And we haven't, and we haven't,
we haven't. Whatever He said do, we haven't
done. Whatever He says don't do, we have done. But God in
a covenant of grace before the world began made His Son under
the law, to redeem them who are under the law from the curse.
Curses everyone who hangeth on a tree, made his son a body to
fulfill the law as a man. Righteousness, perfect righteousness. Look down here at verse 22. It
says, The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Does your Bible read that way,
faith of Jesus Christ? Let me show you another one real
quick, Galatians 2. Real quickly, you've got to see
this. Does your Bible, if it's King James it says this, it says
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Galatians 2 verse 16, you have
it? Knowing, and it's the same gospel
here, knowing a man is not justified by the works of the law but by
the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we believed in Jesus Christ
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Does it
say that? Would you want to turn to one
more? Ephesians chapter 3. Look at verse 12. Ephesians 3, 12 and there's other
places. But in whom, that is Christ,
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Does your Bible say in Him or
of Him? You can change everything by
one two-letter little word. of Christ, the faith of Christ.
That's what it said. That's not a grammatical error. The translators didn't mess up.
God had them write it perfectly. You know how you're saved? By
the faith of Christ. You know why we read Psalm 71? Because David said, deliver me
in thy righteousness. He said, I'll speak of thy righteousness
and thine only. My mouth, He says, will show
forth thy righteousness. In the Lord have I righteousness.
You see, God made Jesus Christ a man. He came down here and
the just shall live by faith. The justified shall live by faith.
You have to live by faith. You have to believe God perfectly.
You have to love God perfectly. Jesus Christ did. He lived by
faith. Why did He do that? To show us
how? No, He did it for me. He did it for me. It's the faith
of Christ. Deliver me in thy faithfulness.
He lived as a man by faith. And He did that for me. He did
that for all who need Him, who want Him, who call upon Him,
who ask Him. He is our righteousness. Oh,
where do I stop? Where do I start? This whole
book speaks of this. Philippians 3. One more. One
more. Philippians 3. Philippians 3. Go over there.
I'll quit with it. This is why Paul preached all
night long. The righteousness of God is a
person. People, if you don't know anything
about the righteousness of God, you don't know anything about
God, you don't know anything about the gospel, you don't know,
the Lord hasn't revealed Himself to you. You cannot know the gospel. You cannot preach the gospel
unless you know something about the righteousness of God. Five
hundred times. 500 times righteous or righteousness
is mentioned in the scripture. And Paul said this is the gospel.
He said it begins with the righteousness of God. The righteousness of
God is revealed in the gospel. If you don't preach the righteousness
of God, you don't preach the gospel. If you don't understand
the righteousness of God, you don't understand the gospel.
If you don't see that Christ is your righteousness, you don't
know Jesus Christ. You don't know why He came. You
didn't need Him to come. You don't know that you're unrighteous.
that if you know you're unrighteous, the way the scriptures declares
it, you know that there's only one way you can be righteous
before God, it's if Jesus Christ makes you righteous. 1 Corinthians
1.30 says, Of God are you in Christ, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness. Sanctification. Oh, we've got
to sanctify ourselves. No, by one offering. He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. He said, I sanctify
myself that they may be sanctified. Anybody thinks they sanctify
themselves doesn't know Jesus Christ. But that person who knows,
I can't do anything good like Paul. I try to do what I want
to do. I can't do what I don't want
to do. That's what I do. Who's going to help me? Christ
said, I have. and I will and I shall. I am
your righteousness. I am your Deliverer. I am your
Savior. That's why Paul said, Everything
I used to know about God, forget it. I didn't know God. Didn't
know how righteous He was. Thought I was righteous. He said,
Can you imagine that? I thought I was good. He said, oh, verse 8, He said,
I've suffered the loss of all things, but nothing is done.
I want to win Christ, verse 9, and be found in Him, in that
rock, in the cleft of the rock, in that city of refuge, that's
Christ, not having my own righteousness. But that which is through the
faith, let's hear everybody say it,
of Christ. righteousness which is of God
by faith. It's not only His faith, but
faith in Him. Yes, it's faith in Him, on Him,
looking to Him, Him alone. A lot of people say that. Do
you? Well, do you mean it? Is He really all your salvation?
All of it. Your wisdom, your righteousness.
You see, by His knowledge, you've justified now. It's not your
knowledge. Salvation is not an intellectual
pursuit. You're not educated in the kingdom of God, you're
born into it. You're not, you know, what's the word I'm
looking for? You're not, you turn over a new
leaf, you become, you know, into the kingdom of God, you're born into it, born of
God. Let me just close with this. Paul was a Pharisee and he used
to preach the law. He used to think he kept the
law. And I will never say anything derogatory or bring up God's
law without absolute respect and love. The law is a reflection
of who God is. It's His Word. It's His character.
It's His holy character. But by the deeds of the law,
nobody is justified. Nobody. Not before you're saved,
not after it. Paul said to the Galatians one
time, he said, are you beginning a spirit and made perfect by
the flesh? I mean, you saved at Calvary and then you go back
to Sinai? No, no, no, no. Paul used to preach the law.
Now here's, the law says do. Gospel says done. That's what
a woman said to a fellow one time. The difference between
your religion and mine is two letters. He said, what do you
mean? She said, yours is two letters,
D-O, mine's four, D-O-N-E, done, done, done. The law says guilty,
the gospel says justified. The law says cursed, that's all
the law can say, but the gospel says blessed. The law says die,
the soul that sinneth shall surely die. The gospel says live, The
law says, work, work. You know, the Sabbath day was
the seventh day, right? Sabbath day still is the seventh
day. Work, work, work, then you can rest. The gospel says, rest. First day, rest and work. Not to be saved, because you
are. The law says, unrighteous. The
gospel says, righteous. The law says unacceptable. You want to say it, John? The
gospel says accepted in the beloved. I'll give you an illustration.
Two men went up in the temple to pray. One of them a Pharisee. Everybody thought he was something.
Everybody. He's a good man. And he thought he was, too. And
he said, Oh, God. He prayed thus with himself.
Because God's not listening to him. but he sure liked the sound
of his own words. He could sure pray a good prayer.
He thought he was heard for his much speaking and everybody was
impressed with his prayer. I've heard so many Pharisees
pray, oh, he prays so good. Probably didn't bounce off the
ceiling. That's what it did. Thank you
God, I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust. I do this,
I do that. Back in the back was a publican. If you've known The publicans
are like preachers and lawyers. They're the worst. False preachers
and lawyers. Publicans. You wouldn't have
anything to do with them. But God brought him to that place,
convicted him of his sin, and had him cry for mercy. And he
wouldn't come up front. He stayed in the back, and all
he could do was pound on his breast. Like there's something
in here. Like his loins were filled with
a loathsome disease called sin. like something he couldn't do
about it. All he could do was pound on his chest and say, God...
And he wouldn't lift up his eyes. He'd hang his head in shame and
guilt. And all he could say was this. All he could pray was,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. And he was. He was a sinner.
A bad man. And that fell up front. Everybody
thought he was a good man. Let me tell you what Christ said. He said, I tell you, that Pharisee
went home justified. But he didn't do anything. That's
right. He didn't do anything. What'd I say? The publican. Thank you, Mindy. The publican. He said, that man went home justified. You try talking for an hour and
not make a mistake. The peblican went home justified,
completely justified from all things he'd ever done, declared
innocent, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight,
righteous, justified, just as if I'd never seen, guiltless,
unblameable before God. But he didn't do anything. He
didn't do anything. No, he didn't. What happened? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is He that condemneth? Christ
died. Christ died. God laid on Him
the iniquity of that publican. God made Christ to be sin for
that publican that He might be made the righteousness of God.
Do you understand that? It's not a doctrine. This is
a sinner being made righteous by the substitution of Jesus
Christ and they just love it. They just, all their hope, all
their help. And that Pharisee went to hell. He went to hell. That's why Paul said, oh my,
I don't want to be found having my own righteousness. It's filthy
rags. I want to be found in Christ.
In Him. Hidden in Him. in him. Oh Lord,
help us all. Alright, in closing, 272. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. Rest in his righteousness alone.
Alright, let's stand at 272.