Welcome to Reign of Grace. This program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And now for today's program. Welcome to our program today. I'm glad you could join us.

If you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I'm going to be going to the book of Romans. This is a book that I've preached through verse by verse several times and a Bible book that I've referred to just about every sermon in some way or other. But Romans, and we'll be going through chapter one of the book of Romans. Not through the whole chapter, but basically Romans 1, 16, and 17, along with a few other verses.

And the title of the message is Gospel Basics. Gospel Basics. I've been doing this program for so many years and just every now and then I want to go back and just make a simple message redefining, restating the issues of the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

For example, I never assume that everybody in my audience, whatever audience there is, knows the gospel. Now, a lot of people say they know the gospel, and when you talk to them, you find out they really don't know what the gospel is according to the scriptures. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about that matter. He said, you know, people will say something like, well, the gospel is the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. And those historical facts, the fact that Christ died on the cross, the fact that he was buried, the historical fact that he arose again from the grave, those are all truths of the gospel.

But just saying that in and of itself doesn't define what the gospel, the good news is all about. That's what the word gospel means. It means good news. Now, news is only good in light of bad news. And so I want to go back to the very beginning of this and bring us through to show what the gospel is. And I may be able to do it in one sitting. It may take me two, but either way, it's not, you know, somebody said, well, you make it so complicated. I don't make it complicated.

It's a simple message, but it's a message that the natural man will not receive a part from the spiritual work of God, the Holy Spirit, in the new birth. That's why Christ told Nicodemus, you must be born again or you cannot see the kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven. In other words, you can't understand it.

First Corinthians 2.14 is a verse I quote all the time. The natural man, the unregenerate man, a person who's in a state of nature, spiritually dead, without being born again, he receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, they're spiritually discerned. and he doesn't have spiritual life, he doesn't have a spiritual heart, a spiritual mind. He's bogged down in the natural ways of sinful man, even in religion.

And that's one thing that you need to understand about the Bible as it relates to the condition of man. But if you look at Romans 1, 16 and 17, which is a verse that I quote so many times, Paul writes in verse 16, he says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now the good news has something to do with this person who is called Christ. So the gospel concerns a person and it says, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Now it has to do with salvation.

From what? What do I need to be saved from? Somebody might say, well, you need to be saved from hell. Well, that's true. You need to be saved from death. That's true. But the basic gospel tells us that what we need to be saved from, ultimately, is saved from sin. Because it's sin that brings forth death and ends up in hell. So the problem is sin, that's the disease. And this is where we start with the gospel. It's good news, only in light of the bad news. And the bad news is our sins.

Back in the Garden of Eden, you know about Adam. Adam was upright, he walked with God, and then he sinned and brought the whole human race into a state of spiritual death and depravity and unbelief. over in Romans chapter five in verse 12. Listen to this verse. It says, wherefore as by one man, that's Adam, sin entered into the world and death by sin.

Now sin is the problem. And the Bible says we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And think about it this way. If you've committed one sin, Now, you've committed more than one sin. You have, I have. We as natural born sons and daughters of Adam, we've committed a multitude of sins.

Well, the penalty for sin is death. Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth must surely die. That's the penalty now. And the Lord's not gonna lighten up on that penalty because he's a just God. Now, I know that Romans 6, 23 goes on to give some good news. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But you gotta deal with the first part, too.

The wages of sin is death. Well, here in Romans 5, 12, it says, wherefore, as by one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, there's the penalty, And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned and literally all sinned when Adam sinned. Adam was the representative of the human race and he brought the whole human race, every man and woman, down into a state of sin and death and depravity. And so that's why we need to be saved from sin. When the angel came to Joseph just before the birth of Jesus, he said, his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now back to Romans 1.16. So the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, salvation from sin. If you're saved from sin, you're saved. And that's the key. And he says it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.

Now the only ones who can lay claim to this salvation through this person, Jesus Christ, are believers. And of course, because of our fallen Adam, and having been brought down into a state of death and depravity, We will not believe on our own. People say, well, if you'll just believe. Well, you can't believe.

But if God gives you the gift of faith, you will believe. And do you want that gift of faith? Then pray to God to get it. It comes forth from the Spirit of God. The gospel being the power of God is the gospel in the hands of the Holy Spirit, in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about a new birth, a new birth. So there's salvation from sin to everyone that believeth. And so it says to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, back then, it was a Greek world. And so, he mentions the Greek. He's not just talking about people from Greece there. He's talking about the Gentiles.

In other words, this gospel of God's grace through this person, Jesus Christ, that saves his people from sin, has no national ethnic barrier. or sexual barriers, male or female. It's for anyone who wants it. No matter the color of their skin, no matter where they're from. It's not just for the Jew. He says here to the Jew first, because Christ, the savior from sin, he came through the Jewish nation, the tribe of Judah. And so the gospel, you might say literally, was preached to them first, but not to them alone. So the gospel of salvation by God's grace through Christ, that gospel is for anybody who wants it.

Now, again, go back and deal with the first problem of sin. Because of our sin, because of our fall in Adam, You see, because of our fall into that state of sin and depravity, by nature we don't want it. And you won't want it unless God gives you the desire for it in the new birth. So preaching the gospel to a reprobate, a goat or whatever, is only for the glory of God in justice, bringing judgment down upon them.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians, I believe, chapter two, he said, to some it's the savor of life unto life, to others it's the savor of death unto death. So if you are a believer, you need to understand that you are only a believer not by your free will. and not by a decision that you made and not by walking an aisle or not by getting baptized in water that didn't make you a believer what made you a believer is God the power of God for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Ephesians chapter two eight and nine so understand it see that's how faith is the gift of God It's not the natural choice of man, because the natural man, again, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. The new birth, well, Paul wrote in Romans chapter 9, that it's not of him that runneth, nor of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy.

Salvation is a sovereign act of Almighty God. Salvation's of the Lord. So it's, but there's no national, ethnic, there's no racial, sexual barriers to salvation. God doesn't save anybody because they're a natural Jew or a natural Gentile. That's why Paul said, he wrote in Galatians chapter six, God forbid, verse 14, God forbid that I should glory, boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world, the unbelieving world, is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision, being a Jew, nor uncircumcision, being a Gentile, availeth anything but a new creation.

A new creation. Now look at verse 17 of Romans 6. It says, for therein is the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just, the justified shall live by faith. In the gospel message, a righteousness is revealed, but it's not man's righteousness. It's the very righteousness of God. because that is the ground of our justification before God.

Now, let me explain it this way. Because of our sinfulness, because we sinned in Adam, and like I said, like we read back there in Romans chapter five, that all fell in Adam, because of our sin and because we deserve and have earned nothing but eternal death and damnation, we are impotent. We have no ability to produce the righteousness that God requires for salvation. Over in Romans chapter three, listen to this in verse 10. Now, when Paul says the gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God, we might ask the question, well, why do I need the righteousness of God?

And he starts off in Romans 1.18.

He says this, listen to this, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. Now what he's saying is here is that by nature, all we deserve and all we can earn by our works is the wrath of God. So what does it take to keep us from the wrath of God? It takes the righteousness of God. And why is that?

Well, over in Romans 3 in verse 10, it says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Among fallen men and women, there are none righteous, no, not one. Not even the best of us. And this is what we have to understand. From the best of us to the worst of us and everybody in between, there's not one human being who can claim before God now to have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and justice. If we claim that we have been made righteous by our works or our will, we're boasting in ourselves.

And the gospel of God's grace in Christ, based upon the righteousness of God, leaves us no room to boast. We're mercy beggars, objects of His grace, So he goes on in verse 11 of Romans 3, he says, there's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. Man is religious, he seeks a God, but not the true and living God. And he says, they are all gone out of the way in verse 12, God's way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. Now he's talking about good according to God's standard, which is perfect righteousness, right living, right doing.

And because of our sinfulness, we always fall short. And he comes down here in verse 19, Romans 3, 19. Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, now here's the conclusion.

By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now, what is it to be justified? It's to be forgiven of all our sins on a just ground. And it's to be declared righteous before God on a just ground. Well, what is the only just ground for justification?

Well, he tells us, verse 21 of Romans 3, but now the righteousness of God, without the law, that is, without our law keeping, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, verse 22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe, for there's no difference.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Well, what is the glory of God? The glory of God is the person and work of Christ. So go back again to Romans chapter one now. He says, the gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God. What exactly is that righteousness of God? Well, we've already seen that the gospel reveals a person, involves a person. And who is that person? It's the gospel of Christ. Look over at verse one of chapter one, of Romans one. It says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.

There are false gospels, but this is the gospel of God. which he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Now that's the deity of Christ. He is God, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God. And he goes on to say, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. That's his sinless humanity, which came from the tribe of Judah. That's why he's called the seed of David. He was born of the Virgin Mary, who was a member of that tribe.

And he united his deity with his sinless humanity. That's called the, hypostatic union of the two natures of Christ, God and man. And it says in verse four, and declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. The reason that he came was to accomplish salvation by his death on the cross in his holy sinless humanity, shedding blood to accomplish death that would satisfy justice, and as God and man bring forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value, whereby God could be both a just God and a Savior. And so that's the righteousness of God. It is the entire merit, value, worthiness of the obedience unto death of Jesus Christ as the representative, the surety, the substitute, the redeemer, the keeper and mediator of His people given to Him before the foundation of the world by the Father.

And they're called His elect, they're called His sheep, they're called His church. And how do you know who they are? God sends the Spirit to bring them under the preaching of this gospel and He gives them faith to believe. And here's how He does it. Look back at verse 17 now. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Now that means if you understand and know and submit to His righteousness as the only ground of salvation and justification and eternal life, if you submit to Him, it's because God has revealed it to you. Now it's written in His Word.

But fallen men and women by nature won't receive the word. It's the righteousness of God. It's not the righteousness of man. The righteousness of man will do you no good because man has no righteousness. If none righteous, know not one. In ourselves, by our works. The only way I can be righteous before God is by Christ's righteousness accounted to me, imputed to me, That's why Paul wrote in Romans 4, 6, of the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.

But look back here in verse 17, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. Now that first faith is the revelation of the truth, the body of truth that God brings to our minds and writes upon our hearts, the gospel and its particulars, its implications. And the two-faith is the faith He gives us in the new birth to receive it, submit to it, and believe it. So it's from faith revealed to that faith that receives.

And He says, as it is written, the justified, those who are forgiven of all of their sins based on the blood of Christ, those to whom God cannot impute sin, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Those for whom Christ died, who can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather He's risen again. Those who are forgiven by the blood of Christ, those who are righteous in Him, based upon the merits of His righteousness imputed, they live by faith. Now what does that mean? That means they live their lives looking to resting in and following the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what the gospel is all about. Giving glory to God.

And you can go through this scripture. Look back at Romans 3 that we read a while ago. After he says, After he says that none shall be righteous by their works, he launches into this beautiful description. I read part of it, look at verse 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested.

It's made known. Unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference. I'm preaching it to you now. But the only way that you're gonna believe it is by the power of God and the salvation. He says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So he says in verse 24 of Romans 3, being justified freely, without a cause, unconditionally, that's what that means, by his grace.

It's a free gift. It's given to whomever God wants to give it. And it's through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the work that Christ did, not any work that you do. The decision that God made, not any decision that you make. Now you'll make a decision for Christ, but it's only because God first gave you life and a desire to believe in Him and submit to Him. And verse 25, whom God hath set forth, that word set forth means foreordained. to be a propitiation.

What's a propitiation? It's a sin-bearing sacrifice that brings satisfaction. In other words, Christ's death was not a blanket pardon for everybody who can take or leave it. His death was not some kind of an attempt to save everybody. No, it's a propitiation. It was intended for the people of God whom he gave to Christ before the world began.

That's why Christ said in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. He said, my sheep, I lay down my life for the sheep in John 10. And he said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them. And they'll follow me.

So he says, propitiation through faith in his blood, not just faith, not just believing something and not faith in faith, but faith in his mediatorial substitutionary work, his blood, which is his righteousness for the remission of sin to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed.

That's the Old Testament saints through the forbearance of God. And so you think about this, that's the gospel. And it's a complete salvation that brings everyone for whom it's intended to eternal glory with God in Christ. There is no such thing in the Bible of any kind of gospel that leaves sinners in hell for whom Christ died. He died for his people.

Hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening today and may the Lord be with you.