This morning, if you would, go
ahead and you can be turning to the Book of Romans, chapter
1. And you can, we're going to cover
a couple of verses here this morning, verses 16 to 17. But
before I get there, I want to go over another verse here. The
verse here in Mark 16, 15, 16, where our Lord is speaking here
to his disciples. Most of all, professed Christianity
is well familiar with these particular verses here in Mark. But this
is where Christ, and it says, And he said unto them, Go ye
into the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. And as we think about these words
of Christ here concerning this gospel, concerning these eternal
things of God, eternal life and eternal death, I believe it would
serve all of us well to know exactly what this gospel is that
Christ says, those who believe it shall be saved. This morning,
as we did in our last study a few weeks ago, I'm going to once
again attempt to show you in Scripture what this gospel is
that Christ is talking about, and what is within this gospel,
the message within this gospel. As I just got through saying,
Christ says, preach this gospel to every creature. He that believeth
is baptized, and if baptized shall be saved. Now in Romans
1, verse 16 and 17, Verse 16, beginning at verse
16, the Apostle Paul here says, 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, within this gospel message here that we are talking
about, is the righteousness of God revealed. from faith to faith,
as it is written, The just shall live by faith. I'm going to kind
of go over a few things that we talked about, refresh our
memory on some things that we talked about the last time where
I talked about these verses here. First of all, we looked at where
the Apostle Paul stated in verse 16 that he was not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. We talked about how this gospel
of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. And concerning
the gospel of Christ being the power of God unto salvation,
we discussed how this gospel in the hands of the Holy Spirit
produces the desired results, which is faith toward God, faith
toward Christ, and repentance of dead works and former idolatry.
We also talked about how belief of this truth here, belief of
the truth and true repentance are fruits and effects of a converted
sinner, those that God chose from eternity and gave to Christ
his Son, called his elect. These graces are only evidences,
though, of faith and repentance, and in no way have anything to
do with the righteousness of Christ that reveals God to be
a just God and a Savior. We looked at John 3 in verse
19-20 where it speaks of that light that is coming to the world. And men by nature, they love
darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were
evil. And when we say the word evil here, a lot of times we
just think about things like murder or stealing on these sort
of things. But we need to understand also,
when it talks about their deeds were evil, we're talking about
anything that a sinner does, thinking that what he does or
don't do recommends himself to God in some way. And that's evil
in the sight of God. I can remember when I first heard
this sort of language, it kind of done like that a little bit,
but we need to understand that it is evil in the sight of God
because it strikes it right at what Christ has done in salvation
based on His righteousness alone. I know our brother Randy preaches
about grace and works, and this thing of grace being all of God
Nothing to do with the sinner. It's a free gift of God. And
works being anything done by the sinner, or anything that
they believe God enabled them to do. Now, in John 15, 18, Christ
speaks to His disciples and tells them that the world will hate
this message, this light, and they will hate you if you preach
it. I gave the example of Cain and Abel. concerning the hatred
of the light, this gospel that reveals the only righteousness
God will accept. And we know what happened with
these two brothers here, Cain and Abel, and how Cain came to
God and presented the best that he could do by the works of his
hand. And then, of course, it was not
what God had told him to bring, and that was that blood sacrifice,
which pointed to Christ and him alone. And, of course, Abel,
he brought what God required, that lamb without spot or blemish,
where that blood was shed. Now, we also talked about how
the Gospel is a declaration and a revelation. of salvation by
Christ and is the means of directing and encouraging souls to lay
hold upon this gospel of how God saves sinners based on Christ
and His righteousness alone. We went into great detail concerning
what this righteousness is that is revealed within this gospel
that we are talking about, the same one that Christ spoke of
earlier. It is clear throughout Scripture that this righteousness
spoken of here in verse 17 is the perfect satisfaction to God's
holy law and to his justice, as Christ obeyed God's law perfectly
even unto death on the cross. As we begin this morning, we
are going to look at how God must be just when he justifies
an ungodly sinner in this matter. As we look at this question of
how God is just when he justifies sinners, in the book of Job,
Job 9, verse 1 and 2, it reads, Then Job answered and said, I
know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just before
God or with God? Job says, I know that God is
just. He's a just God. And in Job 25 verse 4, how then
can man be just with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Behold, even the moon in it shineth
not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. So Job says that
of a truth God is just and that man who is born of a woman is
unjust. We are sinners. So in order for
God to save a sinner, these two opposites must be reconciled. Now, the answer to this age-old
question that Joe just asked, the answer to it can only be
found in this gospel that we're talking about. This gospel that
we're talking about this morning. It is only by righteousness that
God has provided through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
God can be just and justify a sinner. Christ's righteousness is what
Scripture is all about, from Genesis to Revelation. All of
the Old Testament prophets spoke of it. Over in Isaiah 46, beginning
at verse 12, God says, Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted. that
are far from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness,
it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry,
and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory." Then
again, over in Jeremiah, you all can turn there, Jeremiah
23, beginning at verse 5. Jeremiah 23, verse 5. Over in
Jeremiah, God talks about the coming Messiah. and calls him
a righteous branch. There in Jeremiah 23, it reads,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch. This righteous branch respects
Christ in His incarnation, His springing up and appearance in
the earth, and is a branch and a plant, not of man's raising,
but of the Lord's. his human nature, being formed
without the help of man, and is the tabernacle which God pitched,
and not man. Then it reads, And a king shall
reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice
in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved. And in the days of the Messiah,
or the coming Christ, who is this righteous branch, and reigning,
prosperous all of God's elect that truly embrace and confess
and praise him, as Judah's name signifies, they shall be saved
from all their sins, from the law, its curse, its condemnation,
and from wrath to come, and from all their spiritual enemies.
Then it reads, and Israel shall dwell safely. This simply means
that all of salvation and the safety of the Lord's people are
owing to the righteousness of Christ. That righteousness that
he worked out as he obeyed the law completely, perfectly, went
to the cross and shed his blood. Now, this righteousness that
we are talking about, the effect of which to the believer, those
that have laid hold upon it, those that believe it, that trust
it, have all their hope in it, the effect of is this peace and
quietness and assurance, this assurance forever, this salvation,
eternal life. Then it reads, And this is his
name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Now,
this is this righteousness of God that is revealed in this
gospel that we're talking about. 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 all his people. No creature
could be the author of it or the one that accomplished it.
Unrighteous man cannot be the author of this righteousness.
And the righteousness of an angel is of no advantage to man. And
indeed, neither of the other divine persons is the Lord our
righteousness. For though they are both Jehovah,
both the Father and the Spirit, yet not our righteousness, the
Father appointed and sent Christ to work it out. He approved and
he accepted it, and imputes it to his people. But he is not
the author of it. The Spirit convinces God's elect
of the need of it, He reveals it, he brings it near, he works
faith to receive it, and he applies it. And he pronounces a person
justified by it. But the Holy Spirit did not work
out this righteousness. The Holy Spirit points sinners
to Christ who did work out this righteousness that we must have
to stand before God. Now turn with me to John 16.
The book of John, chapter 16, beginning with verse 13. This
is the work of the Holy Spirit that John speaks of here. This
is Christ speaking. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you unto all truth. For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak. And he will show you things to
come. He shall glorify me. for he shall receive of mine,
and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath
are mine, therefore saith I, that he shall take of mine, and
shall show it unto you." It is very clear that the Son of God
alone is the author of this righteousness, and Christ became so by His obedience
unto law and by bearing the blood-bought penalty of it. Christ who was
delivered for our offenses rose again for our justification. This righteousness which Christ
brought out to the satisfaction of law and justice becomes ours. This righteousness was brought
out for us and is a free gift to us. It is ours through imputation,
by the imputation of righteousness by the Father, and in virtue
of our union to Christ. in our interest in him, which
speaks of the eternal, everlasting covenant of grace wherein the
elect were put in Christ and stood as he stood as our substitute
and our surety. The Spirit of God is the person
of the Godhead that puts this righteousness upon us and clothes
the elect with it and enables us to lay hold upon it and claim
interest in it. Also turn with me now to Romans
3, chapter 3, verse 21. But now the righteousness of
God without the law, that is, without our obedience to that
law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ,
unto all and upon and upon all them that believe. For 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. Now,
the righteousness of God revealed in this gospel that we're talking
about here, in Romans 321, as well in our text message of Romans
117, is the merit and the 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 how God can be just and justify a sinner. See, that sin
debt must be paid. God must be just. The penalty
for sin, the sin that we owe. And so Christ, in time, those
sins that were charged to him by the Father, came to this earth
and done all those things necessary for our salvation in his obedience. even unto death, not what we
do. This is the righteousness of
Christ that he himself worked out and established by his obedience
unto death. And in the book of Daniel, once
again speaking of the righteousness that Christ worked out, in Daniel
9, verse 24, it says, Seventy weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and
to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. God is glorified in
all His attributes in the salvation of sinners based on the righteousness
of His dear Son. This righteousness of God, this
everlasting righteousness is applied to all God's elect by
imputation alone, by the charging of righteousness
to the sinner's account. Imputation simply means the legal
act by which God charges or credits the merits of Christ's obedience
unto death to the account of his people. Now, later on in verse 17, it
says revealed from faith to faith, speaking of this gospel here.
Now, this, when it says revealed from faith to faith, is meant
the content of this gospel, the gospel itself, the message within
this gospel. And Romans 10, 17 says, So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The
words to faith, as it says, from faith to faith, here would be
the work of the Holy Spirit in giving us faith to believe and
love it, love this gospel that we hear. Therefore, we who have
righteousness imputed to us will in time be given faith to believe
it. We will submit to Christ and
his righteousness as the only ground, as the only hope of salvation
and entitlement to eternal life forever. The last part of that
verse 17, it says, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
This is a quotation from Habakkuk 2, chapter 2, verse 4. The justified
person shall live by his faith, which means that the person who
is justified before God, those who are declared not guilty in
the sight of God, that are righteous by God's grace in Christ, that
stand without blame before God, those that have this righteousness
that Christ worked out, charged to your account, shall live by
looking to and resting in Christ continually. That person knows
their only righteousness before God is Christ and Him crucified. We must never confuse the ground
of our salvation, which is the imputed righteousness of Christ
and that alone, with the fruit of salvation, which is the powerful
work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. We must never deny
also either of these great blessings of salvation by God's grace in
Christ. The just shall live by faith. A just or a righteous man, a
justified man, is one that is made righteous by the righteousness
of Christ imputed in charge to his account, which is stated
in verse 17 of Romans 1. This is to be revealed within
this gospel message, this gospel message that Christ, here as
He was talking to the disciples, and He said unto them, Go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
What is this gospel that they are to preach? Well, it is what
I have been talking about for the last few minutes. This gospel
is the good news of how God saves a sinner by Christ and Him alone,
by His righteousness and that righteousness alone as it is
freely imputed and charged to God's elect. Those that He chose
from eternity, those called His sheep, and Christ in time come
into this world, represented them is their surety, mediator,
substitute, and obeyed all things necessary for their salvation,
where they can stand without blame before Him, even throughout
eternity, because they are righteous before Him. They have Christ's
righteousness charged to their account. They're clothed with
it. I pray this morning that As I know myself and all other sinners,
when we come into this world, we're sinners, and we know that we've got a problem here. So
what we do throughout this life is we go about trying to appease
a God that we know that's angry, with us. We know we do those
things we ought not do. The light of nature and other
things tell us that. So what we do, we go through
this life trying to work out a righteousness of our own. We
try to do those things, whether we call it being enabled by God
to do them, but we try to do those things that will appease
this angry God. And that's self-righteousness.
That's what God won't accept. We must have a perfect righteousness
to stand before this holy God that we have to deal with. And
the only place you're going to get it is through Christ, through
the righteousness that He worked out. It's perfect. It has no
blemish at all. That lamb that was slain before
the foundation of the earth, that lamb without spot of blemish,
Christ's perfect sacrifice for sin. And I pray that God will
do like to sinners this morning, whether they hear this message
or what, that He will do to them what He did to me, and that is
stop me in my tracks. One day He stopped me. And He
revealed to me Christ, His righteousness alone. And He stopped me from
going about to establish a righteousness of my own and caused me to plead
for mercy and caused me to lay hold upon that righteousness,
the only righteousness that he'll accept.