Good evening, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 295. 295. O blessed thought, O words with
heavenly comfort brought. What e'er I do, where e'er I
be, still tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, Born by His hand He leadeth me. ? Sometimes where Eden's bowers
gleam ? ? By water still or troubled sea ? ? Still Tis God's hand
that leadeth me ? ? He leadeth me, he leadeth me ? ? By His
own hand He leadeth me ? His faithful follower I would be
? For by His hand He leadeth me ? Lord, I would clasp Thy
hand in mine ? Nor ever murmur Content whatever lot I see, Since
this my God hath leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me,
His faithful follower I would be, For by His hand He leadeth
me. And when my task on earth is
done, When by thy grace the victories won, In death's cold wake I will
not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me. Be seated, we'll
sing hymn number 118. When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count
but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. Save in the death of Christ my
God, All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them
to His blood. See from his head, his hands,
his feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow
meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm
of nature mine That were a present far too small But so amazing,
so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all Romans chapter one, Romans chapter
one. Just two verses, just two verses. Verse 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, For it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. Our blessed, blessed Father and
our God, God and Father of our precious Lord Jesus Christ, our
Redeemer, our Savior, the one that you set forth, the one that
you ordained, the one that's the mediator between us and you,
that one whose precious blood cleansed us from our sin. Oh,
Lord, we come in his holy name, come in that name that's above
every name, that precious name, powerful name, blessed name,
That name that gets heaven's attention, that name that makes
the saints sing to his glory in the eternity. And Lord, we've come here this
evening to worship you and by your grace to be a blessing to
your dear saints that's gathered here. May I be used of you to
edify them and encourage them and comfort them or whatever
they might need. And Lord, we pray for our lost
loved ones. God, have mercy on them. They
don't have a need of Christ. But Lord, you can create a need
just in the blink of an eye. You can trouble a soul till they
have no rest, till they have no rest, till they find rest
in Christ. And Lord Jesus, we pray for our
brothers and sisters that's not with us this evening, by your
providence and weakness of body, though they would be here if
they could. But we understand, Lord, that your providence is
what carry on in this world, and we'll bow to it, kiss your
blessed hand of providence. And Lord, we especially pray
for those dear families so affected the last few days, so grievously
afflicted, so grievously hurt, devastated. Lord, God bless them,
strengthen them, encourage them. meet the needs of their homes,
meet the needs of their hearts. We see that your grace has been
sufficient up to this time. Please give them grace upon grace
upon grace and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Hymn number 106. Tell me the story of Jesus Write
on my heart every word Tell me the story most precious Sweetest
that ever was heard Tell how the angels in chorus
sang as they welcomed his birth. Glory to God in the highest Peace
and good tidings to earth Tell me the story of Jesus Write on
my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard. Fasting alone. Tell of the days that are past
How for our sins He was tainted Yet was triumphant at last Tell
of the years of His labor ? Tell of the sorrow he bore ? He was
despised and afflicted ? Homeless, rejected and poor ? Tell me the
story of Jesus ? Cried on my heart every word Tell me the story most precious
Sweetest that ever was heard Tell of the cross where they
nailed him Driving in anguish and pain Tell of the grave where
they laid him Tell how he lived the game Love in that story so
tender Clearer than ever I see Stay, let me weep while you whisper,
but make the ransom for me. Tell me the story of Jesus, write
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard. I think this is the seventh message
already, and we're just down to verse 17. You know, last week we talked
about Paul having a personal interest in the Romans, the Christians
at Rome, how that he prayed for them, he gave thanks for them,
he heard of their faith, and he was wanting to come to see
them, but God purposed it for something else. And then he said,
so as much as in me is, in verse 15, so as much as in me is, I'm
ready to preach the gospel to you at Rome, that are at Rome
also. And oh, he starts out with the
gospel, and he starts with the gospel here. He said he's separated
under the gospel of God. He wants to go to Rome and preach
this gospel. And then this is the theme of
the whole book of Romans. is this theme of God's righteousness
and the power of God being salvation. And that faith is how this thing
operates, faith. And that's the theme of this
whole thing. And you know, these two things here, these incredible
things, and this is the whole theme of the gospel, And this
is the theme of most of Romans. It ends up being about righteousness,
yours or God's. And so he starts out saying,
the first thing he says is, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. And he talks about the gospel.
For it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, when he talks
about the gospel, There's only one place that you can get the
gospel and where the gospel came from. It came from God. There'd
be no gospel apart from God. God is the one that sent His
Son. It's called the gospel concerning
His Son. God is the author of it. God
is the source of it. He's the power of God. And I
tell you, the Apostle starts over and over again the fact
that the Gospel does not come from man. It does not come from
man. It doesn't do it. I want you
to look with me in Galatians chapter 1. I've got some other
notes here to look at, but this just come to my mind that we
need to look at this, talking about the Gospel. The Gospel
is the power of God and the SOURCE of the Gospel. It's not an invention
of man. I know that man come up with
the ABCs of salvation. I know they came up with seven
easy steps to faith, and I know they've come up with all kinds
of tracks. They've come up with the Romans Road. They've come
up with a lot of things. But I tell you, when we talk
about the gospel, there's only one place it started, and that
started with God Almighty. And look what Paul said down
here in verse 11 of Galatians chapter 1. But I certify you,
brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after
man. Man had nothing to do with it.
And neither I received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that's how he said,
I got it. He said, God revealed it to me,
Christ revealed it to me, and that s how the Gospel starts
with God Almighty. It didn t come from man, and
it s not man s invention. I know they keep trying to make
it as simple and easy as they possibly can, make decisions
and come to the front and do all kinds of things, but God
set forth His Son to be a propitiation. God did it. God ordained His
Son to be the atoning victim, the atoning sacrifice to put
away the wrath of God. God did that, and I tell you
what, the gospel, it starts with God Almighty, and it s called
the gospel of Christ concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I want you to look at another thing. Well, I won t hold you
up long. Look in I Thessalonians chapter No, excuse me, 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2. I'll give you a chance to get
over there to it. You know, He said, It's by the power of God.
2 Timothy 1, 9 said, By God's power. He says that we were saved
by the power of God. said, You know that grace was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, and that's why
this grace was given us, and God did that. God did that, said
God did that. But look here in verse 2, 1 Thessalonians
2, talking about the gospel of God. But even after that we had
suffered before and were shamefully entreated, as you know at Philippi,
we were bold of our God to speak unto you the gospel of God. That's
why we was bold to speak unto you, didn't care how much contention
we had. And look down in verse eight,
down in verse eight here of chapter two, being so affectionately
desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not
the gospel of God only, see how he calls that on, but our own
souls for your dear unto us. Then look what he says down here
in verse 12, He said that you would walk worthy
of God who hath called you into His kingdom and glory, for this
cause also. We thank God without ceasing,
and this is the reason when you received the Word of God, when
you had the Gospel, the Word of God preached unto you, you
didn't take it as some man's Word. Why did you take it as
the Word of God itself? You say, this is God speaking,
this is God's Word, and look what it says, it effectually
works in you. It affectionately works in you.
The gospel works in a person. It affectionately works in a
person. Now back over in our text. Look at the nature of the
gospel. The gospel, he said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, this gospel of God. And the nature
of the gospel, he says in verse 16, is the power of God. It's
the power of God. So what are we talking about
when we talk about the power of God? That word power there
means the same word as dynamite. And I tell you what, when the
gospel explodes in your heart, it blows up that old heart, blows
up them old imaginations, blows up that vain imagination, blows
up the darkness and brings in the light. And the gospel is
the power of God. We aren't dealing with somebody's
ideal. We're not dealing with ethics
in the gospel. We're not dealing with morality
in the gospel. But it's the gospel alone that
is the power of God to save a man. Now, when the gospel comes, it's
the power of God. When we talk about the power
of God, the same power that created the world, that spoke the world
into existence, that's the same power that He uses to save His
people. The same POWER that He raised
up Christ from the dead is the same power that He manifests
in His people when He saves them, when He saves them. You know,
look in Ephesians chapter 1, look at this, this is what I'm
talking about. The Gospel is the power of God. And that's why we don't have
to talk anybody into anything, Ephesians chapter 1. We don't
have to talk anybody into anything. You know, if the gospel belongs
to God, He started it, and if the gospel is God's power, What
in the world could I do? All I can do is preach it. That's
all I can do is preach it. But oh, my, it's the power to
give dead men life! Do you know what kind of power
it takes to give a dead man life? Do you know what power it takes
to take out a heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh?
Do you know what power it takes to regenerate a man and bring
him from death to life? To bring him from darkness into
light? To give him life from the dead? To give him out of
darkness into the light? Oh my, the power! Look what he
said here in verse 19, Ephesians 119. He talked about, you know, God
opening the eyes of people, enlighten them, and this is what He shows
them when He enlightens them. What is the exceeding greatness
of His power to usward who believe according to the WORKING of His
mighty power. Now, listen, what power is He
talking about? Which He wrought in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right
hand in the heavenly places. Oh, the power of God. Oh, my. You know, we have this treasure,
and that's what it's called. It's a treasure. And we have
this treasure in an old earthen vessel, but it's still a treasure. It's still worth everything. And I remember, I've told you
this before, when I first started learning the gospel, I went to
visit Brother Henry Mahan, and I was 27 maybe, 26, 27. And been in a
meeting up in West Virginia, Chapman Mill, West Virginia.
We drove down to talk with Henry and I sat in front of Henry and
I said, Henry, brother man, I said, I know it's the gospel soaked
in our tears. He said, wait a minute, wait
a minute. He said, it's just the gospel.
If you never shed a tear, it's the gospel that God used us to
save sinners. Boy, I tell you, He had my attention,
and that's right. We may shed tears, but that don't
make the Gospel any less powerful or more powerful. It's the Gospel
that God uses to save sinners, and nothing, NOTHING short of
the POWER, the MIGHT, the GREAT FORCE that God manifests can
make a believer, an unbeliever, into a believer. It was the power
of God that gave our Lord Jesus Christ up to the cross. It was
the love of God, the grace of God, His Spirit that makes a
man a believer. And I tell you, all that power
has come to break, brought to bear upon a believer, on a sinner,
brought to bear upon a sinner. People say, Boy, you can resist
it. You can until He puts so much power. He makes His people
willing to win in the day of His power. His power. And I'll tell you something else.
That same power that saves us has to be the power that keeps
us saved. And I like that. Now, God saves
you, now it's up to you to do the rest. You've got to live
right and run the foot race with the devil and hope that you beat
him across the finish line. You won't do it. No, you won't
do it. Oh, my. We kept KEPT BY THE POWER
OF GOD! KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD! So,
oh, the gospel's the power of God. Now, look what else they
said here in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16, and oh, here's the
power of God, here's the purpose of the gospel, it's the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. That's how powerful
it is! It actually saves you! It brings
salvation WITH it! When the gospel comes and it
comes in power, it comes and it brings SALVATION! It brings
ALL that a person needs to be saved! And what does salvation
mean? It means EVERYTHING that you
need in order to be accepted of God, to be saved from sin,
to be saved eternally, God provided it in the gospel, and salvation
also means DELIVERANCE. God delivered us from the power
of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His dear
Son. God delivered us from the darkness of this evil world,
and oh my! And then He not only does that,
but He equips us equips us. What does He equip us with? Faith? Grace? Love? And He gives us the ability by
His blessed grace to able to stand by God s power and be holy
and without sin in the presence of God. You know, we need faith? He gives us faith. We need salvation? He gives us salvation. You know,
I'm getting ahead of myself, but I tell you what, He gives
us faith, He gives us repentance, He gives us love, He gives us
everything, the things that we did not have, when He saves us
and He brings His salvation, He gives us all the graces that
goes with it. He gives us faith, He gives us
love, He gives us power, He gives us kindness, He does all these
wonderful things in our hearts and souls that we did not possess
until He brought salvation. And the gospel is the gospel,
the purpose of it is to bring salvation. And I tell you something,
Brad read it Sunday night in the men's meeting. He says, Set
your affection on things above where Christ saith on the right
hand of God, not on things of the earth. FOR YOU ARE DEAD,
AND YOUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD. CAN YOU BE HID AND BE
SAFER ANYWHERE THAN IN GOD? HID IN CHRIST IN GOD? AND THAT'S
WHAT SALVATION IS! GOD TAKES US OUT OF THIS WORLD
AND HIDES US IN HIS OWN SON! PUTS US THERE! THAT'S WHAT SALVATION
IS! BEING PUT IN CHRIST! BEING BROUGHT
FROM DEATH TO LIFE! And oh, my! You re talking about
SAFETY! You know how safe you are if
God saves you? You re SAVED till you get to
GLORY! Oh, my! And I tell you what,
we re safe, and this salvation is a THREE-FOLD SALVATION! What
do I mean by that? It took care of our It took of everything we ever
done before God saved us. It takes care of everything in
the present, and from the day He saved us all the way through
our lives, and takes care, I don't know what tomorrow holds, but
I know He, my future is taken care of in this business of salvation.
I don't have no past, God took care of that. He took care of
my present, and He gonna take care of my future. Paul said,
You know, He said like this, I HAVE BEEN SAVED, I AM BEING
SAVED, AND I SHALL BE SAVED, AND I CAN'T WAIT TILL THAT TIME
I SHALL BE SAVED! Oh my, oh my! A SALVATION! God saves us from
the penalty of sin! You think about that, the penalty,
you know what the penalty of sin is, is DEATH! Hell separated
from God? I can't imagine! You know, I
was looking for Sunday morning's message, and like last week,
you know, and the scripture says the Jews, Sunday morning the
Jews REJECTED, Sunday night the Jews REJECTED the counsel of
God against themselves. We can't, you know, once God
saves you, you can never, ever deny the gospel. Once He saves
you, you cannot never, ever deny Christ and never deny the gospel. It'd be impossible for you to
do it. I believe that with all my heart. You know, the reasons
why so many folks, you know, Christ is not enough, but here's
the thing about it is, He saves us from the penalty of sin. You
know why He saved us from the penalty of sin? Christ bore the
penalty to us. You know what the penalty for
sin is? Death. Death. Whosoever sinneth shall
die. Christ was made sin for us and
He suffered the penalty of our sin on the cross. And then I'll
tell you what, His salvation is from the power of sin. Sin
does not have dominion over us right now. Sin is not our master. If he was your master, you wouldn't
be here tonight. Sin is not our master. Sin does
not rule us. Sin is not our dominion. In fact,
we want so much, if we had the ability, none of us in this building
would ever sin again, if we could help it. We wouldn't do it. We wouldn't do it. Then, oh my,
but sin does not, we may sin, but sin's not our master. We're not under the dominion
of sin. And oh, one of these days, one
of these days, He gonna save us from the presence of sin. Sin in ourselves, sin in this
world, gonna take us out of it. Oh my, what a day that's gonna
be. That's the first thing you think when a believer goes to
glory. First thing you think. I was talking, you know, I mentioned
that Brother Joe, I said, you know, He's face to face with
the Lord, his race is run. And his dear wife wrote back
and said, yeah, he was already in glory before I ever knew he
was gone. He's already in glory before I ever knew he was gone.
Now ain't that something? She didn't even know he was gone.
He's already gone. Now that's the salvation we're
talking about. That's when we're done with the
presence of sin in this world. And God bless His holy name.
He just keeps weaning us and weaning us and weaning us and
weaning us. And one of these days, He's gonna
wean us so much that we just beg Him, beg Him, beg Him, Lord,
please. It's like Joey, Lord, I wanna
go. Please come and get me. Oh, my. Oh, I tell you what. And then
this business of salvation, it includes justification. for God
to justify you. That means that God, before the
courts of heaven itself, before God's law, God's justice, God's
righteousness, God's perfection, God Himself says, I justify them. There's not a thing real wrong
with them. Nobody can condemn them. And oh, then sanctification. I said, I'm going to make them
holy. I'm going to make them holy. You know, I'm holy and
they're going to be holy like I'm holy. And then the other
thing is, He s already purposed our glorification. His salvation
includes our glorification, our leaving this world to go be with
Him. And the gospel deals with all these things, and that calls
it unto salvation, unto salvation. Let me give you another one here
back over in our text here then. It says, You know, for it is
the power of God unto salvation. Listen to this now. To every
one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
I love that, to everyone that believes. You know, when it talks about
the Jew first, that means that they, in preference, in precedence,
not preference, but they had, they got the gospel first. Christ
even said, you know, I can't, I'm not sitting, but the Lord
sheep of the house of Israel. And, but, oh, they weren't, they,
they received the gospel first. And that's why Paul, you know,
he told them over in Acts, he said, Seeing you put the gospel
far from you, I'm going to go to the Gentiles and start preaching.
And so I'll tell you, it's for everyone. And when he says Jew
and Greek, it always means, ALWAYS MEANS, the gospel is universal.
No matter where you go, that's what's so wonderful about the
gospel. We don't have to, me and some other preachers always
talked about it. Say if we had four or five visitors
come in here tonight, I would not have to change my message
and get all nervous and all stressed out and everything. Boy, I need
to try to reach them if I can while they're in here. No, no,
we don't change our message no matter who's in here. The gospel's the same. It's universal. No matter where I go and whoever
comes here, they preach the same thing. You know, we hit, that one fellow
just got that, plucks on that one string, said, why does he
pluck on that one string? He said, he's found that one
note that, you know, that just, he's got it, he's gonna stay
with it. And that's what we are. We're one note preachers, one
note preachers. And I'll tell you what, it means
it's universal for everyone. I don't care what their station
in life is, what their position in life is, what their capacity
is. And I'll tell you what, I don't
care how much sin they have, or how much sin they think they
don't have, but at every time, in every place, under every circumstances,
the gospel is for everyone, everyone. And that's why, I'll tell you,
that's what's so wonderful about it. And then let me give you
this real quick, receiving the gospel, receiving the gospel. Look what it says now, down in
verse 17. or excuse me, the reception of
God, for everyone that believeth. For everyone that believeth.
You know, the gospel, and I don't know if I should say it this
way or not, the gospel requires faith, and that's something you
don't have. But where are you going to get
it? The gospel brings it with it. It comes with the gospel. The faith comes with the gospel.
That's what's so wonderful about it. It comes right along with
it. Oh, my. Oh, the gospel of faith. And you know what? Faith, it
bleeds the message. IT RESTS IN CHRIST AND HIS DEATH,
REST IN CHRIST AND HIS BLOOD, REST IN CHRIST AND HIS BLESSED
GRACE, REST IN CHRIST, AND ALL FAITH, FAITH IS NOT OF OURSELVES,
IT'S THE GIFT OF GOD, AND YOU KNOW WHAT FAITH DOES? SEE IF
Y'ALL DON'T AGREE WITH THIS, FAITH IS US ACKNOWLEDGING OUR
INABILITY AND THE ABILITY OF SOMEONE ELSE, Not our ability,
but His ability. You understand what I'm saying?
Faith tells us and makes us understand that we have no ability. That
we don't have any ability. So what faith does is looks outside
itself and looks to Christ because He's got all the ability. Everything
about our faith is out there. Out there. you know how to you
know faith goes back all the way back to the cross and what
christ accomplished out there oh my faith acknowledge our inability
and and and acknowledges christ ability and i tell you involves
our mind it involves our heart You know, we hear with our mind
and we perceive with our mind and with the heart, you know,
that soul of us, whatever that part of us is that receives the
gospel and believes the gospel, it goes out and receives that
gospel and BELIEVES that gospel! God says it like this, I give
you Christ, I give you faith, I give you repentance, I give
you everything, and you know what the hand says? I'll take
it! That's what faith is. Faith reaches
out and said, I'll take it. You give it, I'll take it. And
you know what he gives? Everything he gives is free.
It's free. Faith don't bring anything. Faith TAKES everything. Faith does not bring nothing.
It's the hand of the heart that reaches out to God, to Christ
and what He gives us. And then look at the power again,
the power of gospel, the effectualness of the gospel. It said in verse
17, I'll hurry. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. You know, the gospel reveals,
provides, and bestows God's righteousness. That's why it's the power of
God. Now when it talks about God's righteousness, THAT'S HIS
VERY NATURE. HE'S HOLY AND IT SAYS THE JUDGE
OF ALL THE EARTH MUST DO RIGHT. GOD IS RIGHTEOUS IN HIS CHARACTER. GOD IS RIGHTEOUS IN HIS NATURE.
IT'D BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO NOT BE RIGHTEOUS. NOW HOW IN
THE WORLD DO WE GET THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS? BECAUSE WE GOT TO HAVE A RIGHTEOUSNESS
AND WE AIN'T DON'T HAVE ONE OF OUR OWN. And the righteousness
of God is that God revealing His own CHARACTER, revealing
His own NATURE, revealing what He willingly GIVES and PROVIDES
for His people, sinful men, on the ground of what His blessed
Son accomplished on the cross. And I tell you, on the ground
of the work of Christ. You know, you've got to have
a GROUND to stand on, you've got to have FOUNDATION. and the
foundation is God's righteousness, it reveals His character, and
it stands, sinful men receive it on the basis of what Christ
Himself did in the work of Christ. And you know what righteousness
also means? It means conformity to right,
always doing what's right. ALWAYS doing what's right. Now
how long have you always done what's right? How often have
you done what's right? Huh? If you're going to be righteous,
you're going to have to do it from the day you're born to the day
you die. So that's why in the gospel, God reveals his righteousness. He reveals His righteousness,
He reveals it to sinful men, and I tell you, righteousness
is what God is, righteousness is what God has, and righteousness
is what God gives in the gospel, and I tell you, it's a revelation. Oh, you've heard me say this,
I'm as righteous as I'm ever going to be. I'm as holy as I'll
ever be. I'll never be more no righteous
than I am right now. You say, I've never seen you
do a righteous deed. I don't know that I ever done one, but
it's not my righteous. It's going to make any difference
at all. It's his righteousness. It makes it. And all my, and
God's righteousness is put in contrast with man's righteousness,
the righteousness he provides for himself. by his own endeavors. And this started in the Garden
of Eden, this controversy between the righteousness of God and
the righteousness of man. You know, will a man establish
his own righteousness and not submit to God s righteousness,
or will he submit to God s righteousness and deny his own righteousness?
Oh, men labor to put themselves right, and no, God s got to be
able to put a man right. But that happened in the Garden
of Eden. The thing is, Abel brought a lamb, brought a lamb. God bore witness to him. God
bore witness to him, testified of him. Cain come along, and
he didn t LIKE God s righteousness. He didn t LIKE what God told
him to do, didn t LIKE the way God said for him to come. So
he established his own righteousness by his WORKS, and God REJECTED
him. Oh, my, what an awful, awful,
awful thing for a person to think that they could have a righteousness
of their own and don t need the righteousness of God, the righteousness
of Christ. Jump in a septic tank and come
back out and say, Boy, I m righteous now. I can stand before God now. That s exactly what a self-righteous
person is. That s exactly what stinks in
the sight of God Almighty. And it's the righteousness of
God that He Himself provides in Christ, that's what makes
the gospel the power of God unto salvation. And then let me show
you this here. I'm trying to hurry. He said that righteousness, verse
17, the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith
as it is written, the just shall live by faith. You know, this
is what comes out of the Gospel, this outcome of the Gospel. The
JUST, when you're justified, when you're righteous, God provides
you a righteousness in His blessed Son, because of what Christ did,
you'll live by FAITH from then on. LIFE is the result of God's
power. In life we live it by FAITH.
And I tell you what, and when He says, From faith to faith,
the just shall live by faith, First of all, it s the just.
Secondly, they shall live, but the way they live is by faith.
But now watch what he says here. He speaks of righteousness being
continually revealed from faith to faith. Now, what does that
mean? We receive it by faith, we believe
it by faith, and it continually depends upon faith. We can NEVER
from the moment we believed, we continually believe. That's
revealed from faith to faith. And I'll tell you what, it produces
faith, and one of these days it'll end with faith. It'll end
with faith. And that's what he meant. We
go from strength to strength and grace for grace. Faith is
that great principle of righteousness from the beginning to the end. It starts with faith and it ends
with faith. in the righteousness that God
revealed in Christ by the power of God. Oh, my Abraham believed
God and it was puted to him for righteousness. We're justified,
he said, by faith. We're sanctified by faith. Every
moment we live by faith. And works, I'm telling you, works
have no part whatsoever in this life. It's all of faith and all
of grace. And that's why Paul said, I'm
not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I'm not ashamed of it. Well, I hope as a blessing, faith to
faith. Oh my. He gave us faith and it,
Faith believes it, faith continually believes it, and it's going to
end in faith one of these days. Our Father, thank You for meeting
with us tonight. Thank You for Your Word. Nothing
like it in this world, nothing like this faith that You gave
us, no righteousness could we possibly ever have. And we bless
you for giving us your righteousness, bestowing upon us, coming and
making us righteous through your blessed Son. Oh God, we stand
in your sight. It's called the very righteousness
of God himself, not man's righteousness. Oh God's righteousness, Christ's
righteousness, the righteousness that will stand time and eternity.
The righteousness can stand in the presence of God, and God
say, oh, look at him. They're as righteous as me, righteous
as my son. Oh, Lord, what a thought, what
a privilege, what a blessing, what a gospel that does this
for us. God bless these dear saints as
they go their way. Meet the need of every home,
meet the need of every heart. Continue to bless our dear brethren
who's not here, brothers and sisters. And oh, Lord Jesus,
again, pray for those dear families going through this great, great,
great trial, deep waters, you call them, to go through. We
pray that you uphold them for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Well, good night and God bless
you.