We will join that everlasting
song and crown him Lord of all. Never grow tired of singing it. Romans 1. I'm not sure time will allow us to go as far as I would like,
but I'm just hoping that the Lord will bless Brother Henry's
prayer and speak to somebody to speak a word, just one word.
There's enough in here to save somebody. Verse 1, Paul, and
again, he does not say, The right reverend, most holy, Dr. Father
Paul. Just Paul. Just Paul. A servant, a servant, and really
the word there is slave. A slave. of Jesus Christ, a willing
bond slave. Do you know the story of the
bond slave in the Old Testament? I love that story. This concept of slavery is lost
to our generation. There is no one living on this
planet who was a former slave. No one. The concept of slavery
is relatively unknown. But there were times when a man
actually was master over another one. He was an owner. He bought
that person with a price. And he actually owned that person,
their body, everything about them. And a slave was forced
to do his master's bidding. Well, in the Old Testament, slavery
was all over. The story of a bond slave was
that after so long a period of time in the laws of God, the
Jews, if they owned a slave, they were required to set that
slave free. That slave had an option. At
the end of that time, if he was set free, If he had a good master,
if he loved his master and enjoyed working for his master and wanted
to stay with his master, he could continue with him as long as
he'd like. And the symbol of that was he
would go up to the doorpost of the house and they would bore
his ear through with an awl. They'd bore his ear. and he'd
become a willing bond slave. In other words, he stayed there
to be the lifelong slave, yes, servant, of that master that
he loved so well. Paul is saying here, that's me.
I've got a good master. He bought me with a price, and
the price was the precious blood of his own son. And I love my
master, and I don't want to leave my master. So Paul says, I've
had my ear bored. I've heard the gospel, and it's
been bored through, and that hole went all the way through
to my heart. And I love my Master, and I'm his slave. Now, I'm a
servant of Jesus Christ, a servant of his, and I'm happy just to
stay right there and serve him. Verse 1, called to be an apostle. The call to be an apostle was
the same as the calling to be a disciple now. It was a calling. It wasn't an offer. It wasn't
an invite. It was a powerful, effectual
call, a powerful, effectual mandate. When Christ was walking down
the road one day, he saw Peter and the boys in the boats, and he
didn't say, Would you all like to follow me? I'm sorry to bother
you, but I really hope and wish that you would follow me, if
you've got time. What did he say? Follow me. What did they do? They followed
him. That's the effectual call. That's
exactly what it is. And Paul, when Paul was riding
his white horse to On the road to Damascus one day, the Lord
met him and called him the same way. Paul fell on his face at
the feet of the Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. It's hard to kick against those
pricks, isn't it? The effectual call. Follow me.
And they did, and we do willingly and gladly. And Paul says, I
was called to be an apostle. And what that means is just a
messenger, just a messenger of Jesus Christ to tell people about
him. All right, read on. Separated under the gospel of
God, separated by God, he's the one that separated me out from
my kinsmen, from my neighbors and friends. He called me. left them alone and called me. There was a whole bunch of people
with Paul that day on the road to Damascus. God called Paul,
separated him out, said, Saul, Saul. Everybody else saw the
light, didn't hear the word, didn't hear the boy. And Henry,
you had a bunch of fellows with you, didn't you? A bunch of friends
and family. And one day God separated you,
separated you. by this gospel, and you heard
the word, you heard the gospel, but they didn't hear it. They
didn't hear it. That's goodness, isn't it? The
goodness of God. And Paul says, I separated by
God and separated unto the gospel of God. Separated to preach the
gospel. Set apart to preach the gospel. Now, just for a minute,
let's see what it is that separates. the true apostles from false
ones. And what it is, it separates
true preachers from false preachers. What is it? What is it that separates
true preachers from false ones? There's a lot of preaching going
on today. How do you know who is called
by God this morning? A lot of preachers. A lot of
preachers out there. A lot of preaching going on,
so-called. How do you know? What is it that
separates them? The gospel. True preachers are
separated unto the gospel. They are determined to do nothing
else but preach the gospel. Every true preacher this morning
who is a true preacher, called of God, and he's called to a
church and there's sheep in that church, The true church, he's
going to preach the gospel. And the sheep are going to hear
it. They're going to hear his voice this morning. That's the
true preacher. That's the true church. They're
going to preach the gospel. Any man, listen to me now, any
man, every man that has seen him, they're going to preach
about him Where is that passage, Terry, over there in the Old
Testament? Is it the last part of Hosea or somewhere? One of
the old little prophets that said, What have we to do any
more with idols? Well, we've heard him. You remember
that? I could find it real fast. You
look it up. It's what he says there. The very last words of
one of the minor prophets says, What have we to do any more with
idols? There was idols in here at one
time. in this building one time. Huh? Sure, sure there was. There was an Armenian, another
gospel. It wasn't the gospel, it was another being preached.
Ellen, you know. You were here. What have you
to do anymore with idols? Huh? What have you to do anymore
with that Southern Baptist nonsense of winning souls and playing
games anymore? Huh? You've heard him. So now
what are you going to be taken up with? Now what do you demand
to hear? Now what is it that's imperative
that we be taken up with? We've heard him. Any man who's
ever seen him, he's going to preach about him, isn't he? Isn't
that right, Joe? If he hadn't seen him, he's all
going to preach about him. But if he's seen him, what do
you reckon Sheba went back down, the Queen of Sheba went back
down to Sheba talking about? Solomon. She couldn't wait to
get back, to tell everybody about it. I bet she made another trip. Wrote him letters. Well, this
is what separates a true preacher from a false one. It's the gospel.
Paul said, I'm separated to the gospel, to the gospel. What is
the gospel? Do you all remember Mother Walter
Gruber's message from this very text? Look at it here with me. Let's look at it. Here is the
gospel. Many claim to preach it. Many claim to believe it. Paul says there's another one
going around. Well, the gospel better contain these things right
here. Or it's not the gospel, John. Because Paul says, if you
want it, there's no better place in all the scriptures to describe
or to declare what the gospel is. Right here. This is it. Romans
1. Right here it is. He says in verse 1, I'm called
to be an apostle separated unto the gospel, point number one,
of God. It's the gospel of God, who God
is, that God's God. That's the first thing. You see,
it started with God. God started in the mind, the
purpose and the will of God, and as every message should start
with God. The Word of God starts with God,
doesn't it? In the beginning, God. Doesn't it? John 1, that
glorious Gospel of John, begins how? In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was God. You don't start with man, you
start with God, because the Gospel started with God. He was the
first one to preach it. He's the one that thought it
up. He was the first one to preach it. And it's the gospel that
gives him all the glory. It's about God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit. It's about God who plans salvation. It's about God the Son who purchases
salvation. It's about God the Holy Spirit
who applies salvation. That's the gospel. Anything more
or less is not the gospel. It's the gospel of God. Right? It's the good news that God's
God. I never get tired of preaching that. I never get tired of hearing
it. You know the message that rejoices
my heart when I hear it more than anything, as much or more
than anything else, is just the good old-fashioned sovereignty
of God. I love to hear a man stand up
and just declare God to be God. I feel like standing up and cheering.
You know, that's my God. God, the gospel of God. That's good news. It's good news
that God's God. There's no good news if God's
not God and you have to let Him. Huh? It's no good news. Might be bad news down the road
if He can't save you. You know, you're going to wind
up in hell after all. because you couldn't keep yourself.
But boy, the good news is that God's God, and he keeps everybody
he's determined to save. And he'll save them. God's God. And look at verse
2. It's the gospel, verse 2, which
he promised before in his prophets and in the Holy Scripture, by
his prophets in the Holy Scripture. It's the gospel promised in the
Old Testament. I told you about that preacher
that said, he told me, he said, I'm going to start preaching
through Isaiah. He said, I've never preached
from the book of Isaiah. This man had been in the ministry,
so to speak, been a so-called preacher anyway for years, 20
years I know. He said, I've never preached
from Isaiah. Man, he claimed to be a great
preacher. Man, old man, you ain't preach
the gospel unless you preach the gospel from the Old Testament.
It must be. The gospel has to click with
the Old Testament, right? It's the gospel according to
the Old Testament. That's what Paul preached, isn't
it? Every time he got up, he pre-opened the scriptures, didn't
he? Christ preached the gospel. What? From the Bible. What Bible? The Old Testament. It says then
he opened up the scriptures to their understanding. from the Old Testament. It's
the gospel according to the Old Testament. It's the gospel that's
as old as God is. Paul said over in 2 Corinthians
15, he said, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.
And he went on to say how Christ died according to the There's the key to that passage,
isn't there? The gospel is the gospel of how
Christ died according to the scriptures, according to the
scriptures, according to the pattern. You remember when he
told Moses that? See that you make all things
according to the pattern. Don't leave one thing undone,
right? See that you preach the gospel
according to the pattern. It hadn't changed, right? You
don't change it. It ain't no new gospel. It's
the old, old gospel. Same gospel that Moses believed
and prayed. Same gospel that Noah believed
and prayed. Go on, keep on going back. Same
gospel Abel heard and saved his soul. The gospel of blood If there
ain't no blood in the preaching, there ain't no gospel in it.
Same gospel of a priest, you've got to have a priest. Three ingredients
to worship God. You know that? Three ingredients.
You can't come to God without these three ingredients. Number
one, blood. You can't come into the holiest
of holies without the blood. There's no remission. God won't
speak to anybody without blood. Number two, you've got to have
a priest. You can't bring the blood, Joe. Steve, you can't
bring the blood. Your hands are filthy. You can't
bring the blood. Got to be a high priest. Got
to be a fit man. Got to be a holy man. Holy man.
Who's that? We got one. Read Hebrews. Go through and read it. A great
high priest, a great one. He went in there with blood,
and it wasn't lamb's blood, bulls and goats, his own precious blood. He was a holy of holies. And
then the third thing, you've got to have a tabernacle. You've
got to have a place. There's a mercy seat. You've
got to have a place where all these things are contained. A tabernacle. You see, our great,
he's so great, he's all those things. He's the blood, he's
the priest, and he's the tabernacle. He's the mercy sitting, all those
things. So it's got in. We worship the same way today. We've got to worship the same
way, and not with outward form and show. That's the reason I
don't wear robes and try to look like a priest. I ain't a priest. We've got a priest, a great high
priest who's passed into the heavens. He's the one that's
Showing the blood right now. He's the one who did all the
work. All we're doing is telling everybody
about it. He's up there right now doing it. He's up there right
now pleading his own precious blood. And we've got to worship
the exact same way. Blood, priest, tabernacle. That's
all in one person. The gospel concerning his son.
Right? It's got to be the Christ of
the Old Testament scriptures. The gospel has got to be the
same God, same Christ, same remedy for sin, blood. Look at verse
3. It's the gospel of God, it's
the gospel promised in the Holy Scriptures, and verse 3, it's
the gospel concerning his Son, Jesus Christ. It's not concerning
what you'll do with him. It's not concerning what you
must do, or what you can be, or ought to be, or what we ought
to do, or what we're going to be. It's the gospel concerning
his son. It's all about him. The gospel is all about him,
what he did who he is, what he did, what he has done. It's all
about his righteousness, not ours. It's all about his shed
blood. It's all about his prayers, not ours. I was blessed by your
prayer, Henry, but it's just another prayer, buddy. Right?
I'm interested in somebody else's prayer. Aren't you? Because the
Father always hears him. It's all about his prayers. His
prayers. Won't make much of prayers, let's
make much of John 17. What do you say? Won't make much
of righteousness, we'll make much of his, we'll speak of his
righteousness in his own way. Him, it's all about him. The
gospel is not do, do, do, it's the gospel of done, done, done,
done by the Son. All right, read on. The gospel
concerning his son. Jesus Christ, our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh." That's
important. The Word was made flesh, and
the humanity of Christ is very important. You see, the Scripture
says he was made a little lower than the angels. Had to. Had
to. God couldn't just come down,
or God just couldn't say, well, I forgive you. Y'all are forgiven. No, sin had to be paid for. Without shedding of blood, no
remission of sin. Well, God can't die, can he? God's spirit He has no blood,
right? The Word, God became a man, was
made flesh. Why? Well, you see, Jesus made
a little lower than the angels. Flesh and blood, lower than the
spirit form. Flesh and blood, why? To taste
death. to die. He came to die. That's why he came, to shed his
blood. He was looking to Calvary's tree
the day he walked this planet, looking, set his face steadfast
toward Jerusalem. That's why he came, to die. He
came to live to die, to shed that blood. Ah boy, son of God,
son of man, yes, son of David, more than a man. But he's more
than a man. Verse 4, he's declared, and here's
the fourth thing the gospel does. The gospel declares him to be
the Son of God with power. The gospel is the declaration
of the powerful Son of God. It's not only the gospel of God,
who is God. It's not only the gospel promised
in the Old Testament scripture. It's not only the gospel completely
and totally and 100 percent concerning his Son, all about him and what
he did and what he must do for us, but it's the gospel that
declares him to be all-powerful, all-powerful. I'm trying to preach with as
much patience as I can this morning, not get mad. I'm prone to get
mad when I think about these false gospels going around. I
can preach that way with a mean look on my face. But any gospel, so-called, that
puts Jesus Christ in the hands of man is not the gospel. Any gospel that says he's not
all-powerful, that he's done all he can do, but he left something
undone, that's not the gospel. Here's the difference between
the true gospel and the false. The false gospel says, you make
him Lord. You must make him Lord. The true
gospel says, God hath made this same Jesus Lord. The false gospel says, let him
into your heart. Won't you let him into your heart?
The true gospel says, I'm coming into your heart. I'm coming in. That's the true gospel. The false
gospel says, now he can if you. He can if you. The true gospel
says, I will and you shall. Huh? The false gospel says, no,
he cannot do it without you. The true gospel says, you can't
do anything without me. Huh? Without me, you can do nothing. The true gospel says, all power
is get A double L. Not some, All power is given
unto us. You and me, we'll share. Christ said, All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. The gospel declares him to be
the Son of God with power. with power. Power. Life-giving. Soul-saving. Soul-keeping. Power. There's power, blood, and a power
in the blood. Not potential. Power. Saving power in that blood. Oh
boy, I'd like to camp there a while. All right, let's go on. He says,
the gospel declares him to be the Son of God with power. And
I'm telling you, this Jesus they're preaching today, he ain't got
power to save a flea. He doesn't have as much power
as you do, because he wants to do something and you won't let
him. That means you're more powerful than he is. Doesn't it? Take
this tape to somebody. I'm preaching real nice. This shouldn't make anybody mad
the way I'm delivering, should it? But I'm just here to tell
you that this Jesus they're preaching today, you're more powerful than
he is. Because he can't do something unless you let him. That means
you're stronger than he is. But that's not the Son of God
with power. That's another Jesus in another
gospel. And it says here, he was declared
to be the Son of God according to the spirit of holiness, according
to a holy life. He was given the Holy Spirit
without measure. He wasn't given him. He had the
Holy Spirit without measure. His holy life, the only holy
man to ever live, that's proof that he's God. Man is none righteous,
no, not one. Well, this man was. Well, he
must have been more than a man then, because a man can't do
it. That's right. Now you're getting
close. You're on the right track. He's more than a man, all right.
A man can't live holy life. God can know as a man, and he
did, according to the spirit of holiness. And it's the Holy
Spirit that declares him to be the Son of God with power. If
you ever hear a powerful message, it's going to be the Holy Spirit
that's going to deliver it through a man, and what's it going to
be about? About the powerful Son of God. About the Son of
God with power. That's what the Holy Spirit declares.
That's what the Holy Spirit anoints, the preaching he anoints about
God's Son who has all power. All power. Isn't that what he
said in John 16? He said when he comes, he's not
going to speak about himself. He's going to take the things
of mine and show them to you. What things of Christ? His power.
His power. Let's read on down here. Skip
on down to verse 14. These other things are no less
important, but Paul is displaying his affection for these people
at Rome in verses 6 through 12. But down to verse 14, skip on
down through here. He says in verse 14, both to the Greeks and to the
barbarians, both to the wise and unwise. I'm a debtor to Christ,
is what I am. I'm working for him. Remember,
he started out that. Isn't that the way he started,
Stan? He said, I'm working for Christ. I'm not working for you.
Let's make that clear. Paul wasn't a hireling. He said,
I'm not in this thing hired by you people that God called me.
And God gave me one message to bring. And I'm working for him,
see, I'm his slave, and I'm a debtor to him, but I'm a debtor to your
soul. A debtor to your soul, verse
15, and this is what I'm indebted to do for the good of your soul,
the glory of God, as much as in me, whatever strength he gives
me, I've got to do something. I've got to do something for
you. What? What's the best thing a man can
do for you? Look at verse 15. I'm ready to
preach the gospel. There it is again. I'm a debtor
to God. I work for him. I'm a debtor
to you to preach the gospel to you. That's why I'm here. That's what
I'm writing about, he said. That's the only ministry there
is. I hear about preachers and men And even women talking about
their ministry. Well, we're in the ministry.
What do you mean in the ministry? We're in the youth ministry. What do
you do? Well, we take them on hayrides and have ball games
and we have cookouts. That's not the ministry. That's
just a good old time. You can get that now at the 4-H
club. You can get that in the Bluebirds,
or the Girl Scouts, or the Boy Scouts. You can get all that.
And all that's fine and dandy. That's good and all that. But
don't call that the ministry. There's only one ministry. It's
the gospel ministry. Oh, yeah, we do that. We do that. We preach the gospel to them
right in the midst of all that nonsense. You know, we sneak
it up on them. That's what they do, people.
They think, you know, they get kids out, get them having a good
time. And they think if they can befriend
them and all that, then we'll sneak the gospel in on them,
and we'll jerk the profession out of them. That's being ashamed of the gospel
is what it is. Bring them in, compel them to
come in and sit down when the gospel is going to be preached
from start to finish. That's where they're going to hear the
gospel. Generally, that little gospel that they're going to
hear and sneak in on those kids is some little watered-down message
of sweet Jesus and His love and won't you accept Him and make
your decision and don't do drugs and make a life for yourself
and all that and everything will be pie in the sky. That's about
all it is. Right? People are going to be saved.
They're going to have to hear a powerful gospel about a powerful
Lord. and fall down at his feet. So
Paul says, I'm a debtor. Woe is unto me if I don't preach.
I'm indebted to preach the gospel. Verse 16, he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. You know that most of the world's
so-called preachers are very much ashamed of this gospel,
that I'm preaching this morning, they would not stand beside me
and claim before their people and say, Yes, I believe that.
What that man's preaching, what I'm preaching, they wouldn't
own up to it before their people, would they? If they were up here
with me this morning, I was in their congregation, before their
congregation, and they were seated on the pulpit, and I began to
preach just who God is, what man is, who Christ is, Son of
God with power, where salvation can be found. It's in Christ
and Him alone. His work, not ours. They wouldn't
own up to it. They're shamed of it. I don't ask people to do something. I don't ask people if they will. I just preach the gospel and
stand back and watch God make them willing. It's power. I see it work. I just say, God's
God, and watch them melt. Just watch them melt. God's people,
that is. I just say all that the Father
gives Christ to come to Christ. I don't ask Him to come, keep
begging Him, and bribe Him, and go over to their house and try
to jerk a prophet. I just say, Christ is Christ,
and God is God, and you're in His hands. All the Father gives
Him will come to Him and bow and worship Him, and I watch
Him come. Stand back in amazement and watch God bring Him in. bringing
in the sheaves. They shall come rejoicing, bringing
in the sheaves. All the Father gives him will
come to him. It's power. Paul says the power of God is
life-giving, will-changing. It's actual saving power. This
gospel actually saves people. I mean it actually saves them.
It actually takes an old hell-bound, hell-bent, God-hating holiness
hating, son of Adam, spitting, cussing, drinking, chewing, and
every other vile thing that man can do, takes an old bum like
that, an old worm like that, a harlot on the street, a drunk
in the gutter, you name it, however bad, uttermost, it saves them
to the uttermost. It reaches way down and picks
them up out of the muck and mire and washes them, cleans them
up, actually cleans them up. It actually saves them and it
keeps them. This gospel has power to actually keep people saved.
And that's what you do to keep people saved. Like I said, you
don't have to go over to their house and make sure, well, why
hadn't you been to church later? You don't have to do that. You
don't have to do that. Just preach the gospel. That's
why I haven't been to church lately. You're not preaching
the gospel, isn't it? Preacher, if you'd preach the
gospel, I'd come." That's what your dad told that man, wasn't
it, that time? He said, her dad told her preacher
one time, he said, I'm not coming back. He said, and he hadn't
heard the gospel yet, but he knew what he was hearing wasn't
the gospel. And he told that preacher one time, he said, I'm
just not coming back. He said, I've got to go somewhere
and hear something. He said, I'm not hearing something. I
don't know what it is, but I'm not hearing it. The preacher begged him. He said, well, if you'll come
back, I'll try to do better. And he said he did, didn't he?
He said he preached a little better message or something. He included
a little bit of hell or a little bit of something in there, you
know. They had a little spit and venom about him that day,
but it still wasn't the gospel. And he finally quit going there
and went someplace, and he heard something. And he's still there,
thirty years later. He's still there, and he had
a daughter, and there she is, and she's still here. Huh? The
gospel is what keeps you safe, what keeps you coming back. It's
keeping power. It powerfully saves, it powerfully
changes, it powerfully keeps. It's the power of love that actually
saves. You tell me what gospel there
is in love that can't save anybody. Huh? I don't know why anybody
wants to do anything, have anything to do with the love of God they're
talking about today. Do you, Jeanette? Say, God loves
you so much, but can't do anything. I don't need love like that.
Do you, Ed? I don't need love like that.
That's not good news to me. But I'll tell you what's good
news. It's the love of an all-powerful Heavenly Father who actually
loves me and said, I'm going to love you all your life, and
I'm going to see to it everything about you. The Lord sees to it.
Jehovah Jireh, that's his name, has all power, and his love is
eternal. He said, I've loved thee with
an everlasting love. I'm going to have you, I'm going
to draw you, and I'm going to keep you safe. all throughout eternity. I ain't going to try nothing.
I'm going to do it. Now that's love. That's powerful
love. That's the gospel of God's powerful
love. It's powerful love. It's love
itself. It's the powerful gospel of his
blood. I've already talked about that.
Get back on it again. The power in the blood, it actually
cleanses. It actually justifies. The power
of the Holy Spirit. Listen to me. We're talking about
a Holy Spirit who has all power. Invincible, irresistible power. He has all power. Let me tell
you something. This Holy Spirit won't take no
for an answer. That's the Holy Spirit I need.
Isn't it? Isn't it you, Terry? No, no, no. Yes, yes, yes. You will. You will. This Holy
Spirit is so powerful, he won't take, I quit, for an answer.
I like that, too. I'm just going to quit. Peter
says, I'm going fishing. No, you're not, Peter. I'll let
you fish a day or two, and I'm coming back to get you. I'm coming
back. You may be through with me. I
ain't through with you. Because what I began, I'll finish
it. I'm confident. I'm persuaded
he's able to keep me. That's power, isn't it? Isn't
that power? If I had the power, I'd love that girl so much, if
I had the power now, I'd make sure she never got sick a day
in her life, never did without anything, and was saved, her
soul was saved and sure for heaven. I don't have the power. If I
had the power, I'd do it. I don't. God does. And does. He has the power, and that's
exactly what he does. And I don't need any other gospel. You can
have it. Not you. You won't have it. But whoever
out there wants another gospel, if any man comes preaching another
Jesus, bear with him. What Paul said, didn't he? Another
spirit, another gospel, another Jesus. That's what you want.
Take it. Scott would say, each man to
his own poison. Now, I'm not going to take anything
but the gospel that's powerful. That's where I'm going to deposit
my soul, in the hands of this all-powerful one. Not one who
tries and fails, but this one he actually saves. I'm persuaded, Terry, I'm persuaded
now more than ever. That's salvation in a nutshell. Isn't that what he said about
Abraham? Abraham believed God. What did
he believe about God? He was able. He's God. Why is he able? Because he's
God. Why is Christ able to say? He's Christ. He's Lord. He's got all power. That's power. That's the God of the Bible,
and that's the gospel. And I've got to quit. Verse 17, though,
it says, I wanted to talk about this a while, but verse 17 says,
In this gospel is the righteousness of God revealed, and you people
know it. Oh, you know this. Blessed are
your ears. Hearing this in your heart, you
believe it. You know it down in your heart what the righteousness
of God is. Don't you, John? There was a
time as a man stood up and said, John, do you have the righteousness
of God? Do you know what the righteousness of God is? Do you
have it? You say, well, yeah, I quit my drinking. And I'm trying
to quit chewing. It's tough. But I'm trying. And here I am going to church.
You would have thought that was righteousness, wouldn't you? You were ignorant of the righteousness
and going about to establish your own, weren't you? Well,
if I just get good enough, God will have me. That's ignorant,
isn't it? You're ignorant of the righteousness.
You heard a man, eventually you heard a man who declared the
righteousness of God. A person. Romans 10, verse 4. Jesus Christ, the end of the
law, the righteousness of everyone that believed. The end. The end
of the law, the righteousness. Jesus Christ, Jehovah Sidkenu. When you heard that, you gave
a shout. That's the righteousness I need and I want. Surely one will say, and right
there he sits, in the Lord have I righteousness. Are you a righteous
man? Do you have the righteousness
of God? You better. Do you? You better be as holy
as God Almighty. You better be. Are you? Well,
some of you are doing that. But you're a sinner, yeah? Well,
where do you get this get-off saying you're as good as God?
In Christ, my righteousness. Well, you know, if there ever
was a truth, the truth, throughout the scriptures from start to
finish, That's what all those Old Testament sacrifices, everything,
spoke of concerning him, this righteous one, the righteous
one of God, the holy one of Israel, the holy one of Israel, Israel's
holy one. God, he said, Behold my righteous
servant, whom I am well pleased. He's going to come. It's written
in the volume of the book of him to do thy will and do it
for us. But he says here in verse 17, Some, or verse 18, some men
hold this truth in unrighteousness, and God's angry with them. You see that? What's that mean,
Rick? Some men hold the truth in unrighteousness. What's that mean? Some men hold the truth of God
in unrighteousness. I'm holding the truth right now. It's the truth of God's Word.
It's the truth of God's Son. This is the truth. It's God's
Word. Every word is truth. And every word of it speaks of
Christ, who is the truth, the truth. The truth, right? The truth of who God is, the
truth of what I am, the truth of how we're saved. The truth
of a righteousness imputed and a bloodshed for the remission
of sins. Right? Some men hold this in
unrighteousness. In other words, they've got it,
but they ain't got it. You get it? They're preaching truths, but
they ain't preaching the truth. Get it? They hold it in unrighteousness. What's unrighteousness? Whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. It's unrighteous. Whatsoever
is not of his righteousness is another righteousness in self-righteousness. Right? Anybody's preaching any
other gospel, preaching it from the Bible, and it's not the gospel
of righteousness imputed. He's holding the truth in unrighteousness
and God's anger. Why do you think he sent his
son? Why do you think he butchered his son? If we can do the best
we can do and God will accept that, why did he kill his son? Huh? Isn't that a good question?
If righteousness come by the law, Christ died in vain. He
didn't need to die. But here's the conclusion of
the matter. Here's the conclusion. No man is justified by the works
of the law and the sight of God. How, then, are we justified?
just to live by faith. That's what Paul said there in
that verse. He said, the just, let's just wrap this thing up,
the just shall live by his faith. That's what Habakkuk 2.4 said.
His faith. His faith. His faithful life
imputed to us. You got it? All right. Brother Joe, come up here and
lead us in singing the closing hymn, if you would. You got something
picked out? What is it? One hundred twenty seven. If
you stand, sing one twenty seven.