Thank you, Randy. I want to also
welcome all of you out there that are watching streaming this
morning at 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock hour. The title of the message this
morning is The Righteousness of God. It's taken from Romans
1 beginning at verse 15 going through 17. Now, What Paul is doing here, he just
got through talking to the church at Rome in this letter that he
wrote to the church at Rome because he could not, hadn't been able
to travel there. And the first few verses that
he talked about here in chapter one, he pretty much just was
telling them a little bit about him. who he was. And then we'll
pick up in verse 15, where Paul and I'll begin reading here,
Romans 1 beginning verse 15. Paul said, so as much as in me
is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
therein this gospel that I'm going to be talking about this
morning and that Paul wrote this church at Rome, he says, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now, verse
15 here, Romans 1, where Paul says, so as much as in me I'm
ready to preach the gospel to you, that are at Rome also. Paul was ready, he was eager
and able to preach the gospel there at Rome. Paul's eagerness
to preach the gospel was due to the grace and power of God
that gave him that boldness that he needed to preach the gospel
of Christ. Then he says, so as much as in
me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel. This expresses the readiness
of his mind to that eager work that he was about to do, whatever
difficulties that lay in his way, and declares that what a
willing mind he had to preach it also to that church there
at Rome, as well as other places that he Went to or either he
wrote a letter to now Romans 1 verse 16 Paul says I'm not
I am NOT ashamed of the gospel of Christ the gospel That Paul
is talking about here is the preaching of the glorious person
and finished work of Christ Even unto his death on the cross in
order to satisfy God's law and his justice for his people and
and to redeem them by his blood and secure for them eternal salvation. It is this gospel of God that
sets forth the glory and power of Christ to save sinners by
his shed blood and righteousness that is imputed and accounted
to believers. The words, I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ expresses that the apostle was not ashamed
of it. That is, he was not ashamed to
preach it, which he did. He did openly, publicly, boldly,
and he did it in the face of much opposition. Not being ashamed
of the gospel, Christ also expresses that he had the utmost value
for it and esteemed it, his highest honor, that he was given by God
to preach it according to Acts. 9 beginning at verse 3, and of
course that's when Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. Paul's
reasons for this were because it was the gospel of Christ,
which Christ himself preached, which Paul had learned by revelation
from Christ, and of which Christ was the sum and the substance
of. Now we will see how the gospel
is the wisdom and power of God to believers. In Romans 1, the
first part of verse 16, it says, for it, that is for that gospel
that Paul is preaching here, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone who believes. The gospel that's applied by
the Holy Spirit in the new birth has power to save according to
James 1 verse 18, where it says, of his own will begot he us with
the word of truth. That is the gospel, that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Here we see how
faith in Christ is required in salvation, not as a cause and
not as the ground. or not as a condition sinners
must meet in order to attain it or maintain it. But as the
God-given instrument, that is faith, the God-given instrument
whereby we view, we receive, and we love Christ who is our
salvation. Faith is the power of God instrumentally
that God uses. Faith is a gift of God. as it
is a means by which is used by God in quickening, that is, making
alive dead sinners, enlightening blind eyes and unstopping deaf
ears, softening hard hearts and making friends out of enemies. It is the power of the Holy Spirit
who gives spiritual life from Christ and convinces sinners
of sin in order to drive them to Christ for righteousness and
eternal life. Spiritual life is experienced
and known as sinners are brought to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works and former idolatry. The following verses which Paul,
which speak of the Apostle Paul as an example of what every believer
experiences as they hear and believe the gospel. In Philippians
3, beginning at verse 7, now, like I said, remember this is
the Apostle Paul speaking here. It says, but what things were
gained to me? Now, the previous verses here,
in verses 5 and 6, it goes over a number of things that Paul
thought at that time before conversion was gained to him. And a lot
of them were like circumcised the eighth day. He says he was
of the tribe of Benjamin. in Hebrew of Hebrews. He says
touching the law, he was a Pharisee. He was a religious leader at
that time. And touching the righteousness
of the law, blameless. At least he thought he was. He
thought he kept law perfectly as a Pharisee. But those are
the things that were gained to him in the religion that he was
in prior to God converting him. Then he said, those I count at
loss for Christ, all those things that he once thought a lot of. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but dumb, worthless, that I may win Christ. and be
found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead. Now, once God's word his gospel
in the hands of God the Holy Spirit is heard, preached out,
and heard, and believed from the heart, the desired results
will be as we just read concerning the Apostle Paul. All believers
come to that point. This same experience will also
happen, like I said, to all of God's elect who are saved by
God's grace in Christ. The fruit and the effect of this
conversion is stated clear in these verses here that I just
read. The extent of this power of God is, as it says here, unto
salvation. The gospel is a declaration and
revelation of salvation by Christ alone and is a means of directing
and encouraging souls to lay hold upon it. The persons to
whom this applies are in general, it says, everyone that believeth. This does not suppose that faith
gives the gospel its virtue and efficacy, but the phrase to everyone
that believeth is only a description of the person to whom the gospel
attended with the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of
God produces the desired result. In other words, The desired results
of the gospel preached out is that God's elect come to faith
and repentance, as they hear it. Now, this power of God unto
salvation, according to Romans 1, verse 16, the last part, says,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel is not
for one particular group. It is for God's elect out of
every nation, kindred, and tongue. It is for the Jew and Gentile. Gentile simply means all other
nationalities. At that time, when it talked
about the Jew, which in the old covenant, that's God used the
Jews to reveal himself, to reveal the Messiah who would come in
time in pictures and types, and all other nationalities were
called Gentiles, no matter where you come from. It is for Jew
and Gentile. It is to the Jew first only that
the gospel was preached in Israel to begin with. This was God's
plan and his way of bringing the gospel and salvation to all
his people throughout the world. To the Jew first, as they had
an advantage over the Gentiles to begin with, like I said in
that old covenant. This advantage that the Jews
had was through the peculiar privileges which were given to
them Now, therefore, the gospel was preached to them by Christ
and his disciples. And even when it was ordered
to be carried into the Gentile world, it was to begin with the
Jews and became effectual for the salvation of many of the
Jews, including the Apostle Paul here. Now, we know, and we've
gone over this many times in the book of Romans, where it
talked about Israel And God says, all Israel shall be saved. But
we have to understand that when it says that, it's not talking
about all physical Israel. Now this is another, quite a
few sermons when we get into all this, but it's talking about
spiritual Israel. All those who had the faith of
Abraham. Abraham, Christ said, Abraham
saw my day. He looked for the coming Messiah
that would come in time and do this work of saving them by his
grace. So there were many Jews that
were saved, but the vast majority of the nation Israel perished,
as scripture tells us. The vast majority of them. And
why did they perish? Unbelief. That's what scripture
said. Concerning the word Greek used in this verse, it doesn't
mean the native a native of Greece, but all Gentiles who were under
the influence of Greek culture within the Roman Empire at that
time. Now, we'll look at verse 17 where
the Apostle states, here in verse 17, for therein, therein this
gospel that we're talking about is the righteousness of God revealed. And of course, that's the title
of our message this morning. By the righteousness of God here
is not meant the central righteousness of God, which is God's perfection
of character and nature, and him being a just God and his
essential nature. Even though God's essential nature
is revealed in the gospel, it's not the righteousness of God
that's spoken of here in verse 17. Nor is this righteousness
of God the righteousness by which Christ himself is righteous,
either as God, the God-man, and as mediator. Now, but the righteousness
spoken of here in verse 17, which is something that we really,
it would behoove us to really pay attention to that and understand
what this righteousness of God is. It says it's revealed in
the gospel. Therein is the gospel, is this
righteousness of God revealed. It says in verse 17, this righteousness
of God is the righteousness which Christ wrought out in his work
by obeying the precepts of the law or by Christ's perfect obedience
and Christ bearing the penalty for sin, which is his death,
his shed blood. All of this was done as he substituted
himself in the place of his sheep, his elect. God's law had been
broken and justice must be satisfied, either by the sinner or by a
suitable substitute. This is how sinners are justified
before God, and this is called the righteousness of God. It's
Christ, it's the work of Christ as he came to this earth and
performed obedience to God's law and his justice as he died
on that cross. Now this righteousness of God
is in total opposition to the righteousness of men. This righteousness
justifies man and the side of God. This righteousness of which
God the Father sent his son to work it out, and being worked
out, God the Father approves and accepts it. God the Father
said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. This
is the righteousness that is imputed to God's elect. his sheep. God the Son is the author of
it by his obedience and death, and God the Spirit reveals it
to sinners, works faith in them to lay hold upon it and believe
it, and pronounces the sentence of justification by it in their
heart, their minds, their affections, and their will. Now, this is
said to be revealed in the gospel. That is, it is taught in the
gospel. That is the word of righteousness,
the ministration of it. It is manifested in and by the
gospel according to our verse here in Romans 1, 16. But I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God and the salvation. For therein, once again, is the
righteousness of God revealed. This righteousness is not known
by the lot of nature. We don't know it by nature as
we come into this earth. I didn't know it by nature until
I was 30 years old. I knew a lot of religion, but
I didn't know anything about this righteousness that God was
going to save me based entirely on that righteousness that Christ
worked out and accounted to me. It says this righteousness is
not known by the law of Moses. It was hid under the shadows
and the pictures and types of the ceremonial law given to Moses
and is brought to light only by the gospel. It is hid from
every natural man, even from the most wise and the prudent,
and from God's elect themselves before conversion. It was hid
from the Apostle Paul until God converted him as he was on that
road to Damascus and began teaching him. And it's only made known
to believers to whom it's revealed. This righteousness of God spoken
of here in verse 17 is God's perfect and just way of redeeming
sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ. God must always be true to himself. He's a loving and merciful and
gracious God. But he is also a righteous, just,
and truthful God. He cannot ignore sin. And all
sin demands and deserves eternal death according to God's law. And as we will see in some of
the following verses that I'm going to go over, God is clear
concerning his justice in punishing sin. If you're a sinner, and
we all are by nature, if we're born into this world, We're by
nature sinners, and as we're accounted sinners due to Adam's
sin, original sin, and also by practice. Then either we must
die an eternal death, or a suitable substitute must take our place.
He must stand in our place. This thing is legal, folks, this
thing concerning salvation. We're going to look at a few
scripture that makes it clear that the penalty of sin is death.
And we'll start with Genesis 2, 17, as we go back talking
about Adam and Eve in the garden. And God had commanded them, he
said, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now, they began physical death
at that time when they disobeyed God. They began it. They didn't die until years later,
but they died spiritually when they disobeyed God. And we know
that because what did they do? They went and hid themselves,
and they put on fig leaf aprons, their works, to try to hide what
they had done disobeying God. And so they died spiritually
when they disobeyed God. And then, of course, we know
that God came to them, and what did he do? He put on them, he slain an animal,
he slain an animal, and shed blood, and he took those coats
of skin and covered them, which is a picture of Christ and his
righteousness being charged to our account. Ezekiel 18.4 says,
Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, also
the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And then Romans 5.21, that is,
sin hath reign unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And
then we'll look at Romans 6.23. It says, for the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. In Hebrews 9, 22, and almost
all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding
of blood, there's no remission, no forgiveness of sin. Since
sin demands death, the question then is, how can God be both
a righteous judge and a loving father? How can a sinner be just
with God? And we'll look at a couple of
verses here in Job, Job 9-2. Y'all know in the book of Job,
then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth, but how
should man be just with or before God? And in Job 25-4, how then
can man be justified with God or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman Behold, even the moon, and it shineth not,
yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man,
that is the worm, and the son of man, which is a worm." Now,
it's easy to see that Job was convinced that God was a just
God in all of his actions. So the question is, since this
God that we're all going to have to deal with, since this God
is just in all his ways, then how should man be just with God,
who is the sinner? If not the angels, and if not
man in his best estate, in which he is vanity when compared with
God, then much less frail, feeble, mortal, sinful man, even the
best of men considered in themselves and with respect to their own
righteousness. that we try to attempt to work
out by keeping the law. And the scripture calls them
filthy rags. For to be just is not to be so through an infusion
of righteousness and holiness into men, but to be just is a
legal term and stands opposed to condemnation. You're either
justified before God or you're condemned before God. There are only two ways. For
a man to be pronounced righteous is a judiciary way. In a judiciary
way, he cannot be reckoned or accounted by God by any works
of righteousness done by the man. Since his best works, man's
best works, are imperfect and not answerable to the law by
way of fulfillment. For our works are very defective
and therefore our works are not able to justify before a holy
God. It is a certain thing that a
man can never be just or justified with God in such a way or through
any righteousness that's worked out by a man other than the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. If God should mark iniquities,
if he should account your sin, or enter into judgment with us,
we could not stand before him without blame in and of ourselves.
A man can only be just with this holy God through the imputation
of righteousness of Christ as God accounts it to us, putting
it upon us and clothing us with it. It has to be based entirely. on God accounting us righteous,
imputing it to us, the righteousness that Christ worked out. This
act of God wherein he reckons his sheep, his elect, his righteous,
is entirely consistent with the justice of God, since by this
righteousness the law is fulfilled, is magnified, and made honorable
and justice satisfied, all of that by Christ's work. in our
place, so that God is just while he is justifier of him that looks
to Jesus Christ as the Lord his righteousness. Let's look at
some scriptures that show us that salvation must be by grace
and not of works. Matthew 520, for I say unto you
that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the
kingdom of heaven. This scripture points out that
the most obedient men, which was described in the Pharisees
at that time, that ever lived on this earth and were born of
Adam did not possess a righteousness whereby they could stand before
a holy God. Christ tells us that unless we
possess a righteousness that exceeds theirs, we shall in no
case enter into heaven. Also look at 9, Romans 9, beginning
at verse 31. We see here in these verses that
the majority of the nation Israel did not attain righteousness
because they sought it by the works of law. They're keeping
the law. Romans 9, beginning at verse 31. But Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. Wherefore, it says, why? because
they sought it not by faith, not by looking to Christ for
righteousness, but as it were by the works of law. For they
stumble at the stumbling stone, that's Christ, as it is written,
behold, I lay in sign a stumbling stone and a rock of offense,
and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Also look
at Romans 10.4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness." That's pretty clear to everyone that
believes, that looks to Christ alone for righteousness. And
then Titus 3 beginning verse 4. But after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Sinful man's attempts to make
himself righteous by his works are the fruit of unbelief and
a denial of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. How then can
God be just and justify sinners? It is only by righteousness God
has provided through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is This is
this righteousness of God that is revealed in the gospel. This
is what sinners must possess if they are to stand before God
without blame. Because Christ alone is the author
of this righteousness to his people. God the Father appointed
and sent Christ to work it out. He approved and he accepted it
and he imputes it or counts it to his people. The Spirit convinces
God's elect of the need of it. He reveals it to us and brings
it near, works faith to receive it in us and applies it and pronounces
a person justified by it. The Holy Spirit points sinners
to Christ who did work out this righteousness, this righteousness
of God. It is very clear that the Son
of God alone is the author of this righteousness. And Christ
became so by his obedience to the law and by bearing the blood-bought
penalty of it. Christ who was delivered for
our offenses and he rose again for our justification. This righteousness
which Christ wrought out to the satisfaction of law and justice
becomes ours. This righteousness was wrought
out for us and is a free gift to us. It is ours. only through
the imputation of it by the Father, and in virtue of our union to
Christ and our interest in Him. If you would, let's look at Romans
3, beginning at verse 21. Paul says, but now the righteousness
of God, without the law, that is, without our obedience to
the law, our keeping the law, is manifested. being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God,
once again, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them that believe. There is no difference for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be of propitiation, or satisfaction,
or appeasement through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. The righteousness of God revealed in the gospel that
we're talking about, that is mentioned here in Romans 321,
as well as in our message text in Romans 117, is the merit and value of the work of one
person, Jesus Christ, who obeyed the law perfectly and died on
the cross to satisfy the justice of God against the sins of his
people. This is the righteousness of
Christ that he himself worked out and established by his obedience
unto death. In Romans 10, 17, once again,
so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Now, where it says reveal from faith to faith, spoken of in
the latter part of verse 17 is meant from the faith or the content
of the gospel. The words to faith here would
be the work of the Holy Spirit in giving us faith to believe
and love what we hear in the gospel. Therefore, we who have
righteousness imputed to us will in time be given faith to receive
it. We will submit to Christ and
his righteousness as our only hope, our only ground, and entitlement
to all of salvation. The last part of verse 17 says,
as it is written, the just shall live by faith. This is quoted
from Habakkuk 2.4. The justified person shall live
by his faith, which means that the person who is justified before
God, which is, he's declared not guilty, righteous by God's
grace in Christ, shall live by looking to and resting in Christ
continually. He knows his only righteousness
before God is Christ and him crucified. We must never confuse
the ground of salvation which is the imputed righteousness
of Christ, with the fruit or the evidence of salvation, which
is the powerful work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. We must
also never deny either of these great blessings of salvation
by God's grace in Christ. The just shall live by faith.
A just or righteous man is one that is made righteous by the
righteousness of another. the righteousness of Christ imputed
to him, which as stated in verse 17 of Romans 1 is to be revealed
in the gospel. Well, as I close this morning,
I pray that God would use this message to stop some poor sinner
like he did me. In my tracts, I pray that God
will cause sinners to stop going about to establish a righteousness
of their own and flee to Christ and His righteousness alone for
justification and eternal salvation. And I'm going to close by just
reading these verses again in Romans 1 verse 16, beginning. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein
There in this gospel message is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. Amen.