Let's open our Bibles again to
Romans chapter 1. The title of the message this
morning is, What Gospel Does Faith Believe? What Gospel Does
Saving Faith Believe? Paul begins here in verse 8.
He says, First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you
all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
After his salutation in the opening verses, Paul says, The first
thing that I want to do is thank God for the faith that he's given
you Roman believers. And that's what I wanted to this
morning, bring a message on that faith. I want us to see some
marks of that faith. And I want us to see the gospel
that saving faith believes. The first thing I want to point
out is this, that faith is a gift of God. That's why Paul thanks
God that these Roman believers had saving faith. He says, your
faith is spoken of through the whole world. I wonder why that
is. Why throughout the whole world
do people speak of the faith that God had given these Roman
believers? Because it was miraculous. People in Rome believe the gospel? Yeah, they do. Why? God gave
them faith. And the same thing's true of
any of us. Through the years, I've seen so many people, Lord
save them, they come to confess their faith, their Savior publicly
in baptism. And every time, it's a miracle
of God's grace. What a miracle. God gave that
sinner faith. Paul said and told the church
at Ephesus, for by grace are you saved through faith. And
that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God. Every time somebody
believes on Christ, it's a miracle. And that faith that God gives
is faith to rely. upon the Lord Jesus Christ to
be all of our salvation without any of our works to help him
out. It's to rely on him to be everything. Saving faith is to
trust Christ to be all of our salvation so there's no need
for me to try out any of my works. He is all of my salvation. And
if we have that kind of faith, if God has given us that kind
of faith, We should constantly give thanks because that faith
is a gift that God gave us freely. That's why Paul says in verse
nine, for God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in
the gospel of his son, that without ceasing, I never stop. I make
mention of you always in my prayers because God's given you this
great gift of faith in his son. The second thing about faith
is this. Faith is fed. through the preaching of the
gospel. Faith is given through the preaching of the gospel.
Verse 10, or verse 11, excuse me. Yeah, verse 10. Making request, if by any means,
now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to
come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto
you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established. That
is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith,
both of you and me. Now Paul had never seen any of
these Roman believers before face to face, but he longed to
go and meet them so he could preach the gospel to them. And
he longed to preach the gospel to them because faith is given
through the preaching of the gospel. Faith in Christ can only
be given through the preaching of Christ. We've got to know
who he is for us to believe him. And saving faith is fed and strengthened
by the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, I desire to go there
that I might have some fruit among you, that I might give
you some spiritual gift. The only way that Paul could
give them a spiritual gift, the only way that he could have any
fruit there is by being able to go there and preach Christ
to them. Now, how does that apply to you
and me? Paul wanted to go to Rome and he wanted to go preach
there. How does that apply to you and me today, here at the
end of 2016? How does that apply to us? Well,
faith is a gift. Faith is fed through the preaching
of the gospel. Is there anybody here this morning
who's lost? There is. Is there anybody here,
a better question would be, is there anybody here who's lost
and knows it? Do you desire to have saving faith? Do you desire
to be saved? Then I'll tell you what I'd do
if I was you. I'd be here when the gospel's
preached, because that's how God gives saving faith to his
people. It's through the preaching of
his word. Paul said in Romans 10, verse 17, that faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If you desire to
have saving faith, I'd be here when the word's preached, because
this is the means that God uses to give faith to his people.
Third thing about faith is this. Faith is the same in every believer. Paul says here at the end of
verse 12, by the mutual faith, both of you and of me. same person
has mutual faith, like precious faith. Every believer believes
the exact same thing about salvation in Christ. Every person that
God's given faith to believes this. Salvation is not our decision. Salvation is God's decision.
Salvation is not our work. Salvation is a work that Christ
already finished. Salvation is not in our goodness
or our morality. Salvation is in the goodness
and the righteousness of Christ. Salvation isn't in something
we give up. Just don't even bother trying
to give up something thinking it'll make God pleased with you.
That's some sort of sacrifice we're trying to offer to God.
We give up something, that's a sacrifice we're trying to offer
to God to make Him happy with us. Every safe person knows salvation
is not in something I give up. Salvation is only the sacrifice
of Christ. It's all in Christ. And you know,
every believer, I don't care where you find them or when you
find them, every believer believes Christ that way. Even the Old
Testament believers, Old Testament believers were saved through
faith in Christ the exact same way we are. The only difference
is they look forward to his sacrifice and we look back to it. But every
believer is looking to Christ who was sacrificed for us. Look
over a couple of pages of Romans 4, I'll show you that. Romans
4 verse 20. It's here speaking of Abraham,
the father of the faithful. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. That's how Abraham was made righteous
through faith in Christ. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that was imputed to him. but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. That's how a person is saved,
no matter where you find them or when you find them. It's through
faith in Christ. Every believer has the same faith. Now, there are degrees of faith,
but it's all the same faith. Some people have weak faith.
Some people have strong faith. But it's not the strength of
our faith that says. It's always Christ, the object
of our faith. And whether it's weak or strong,
it's the same faith. It's faith in Christ. Every believer
believes the same savior, the same gospel. Here's the fourth
thing. Faith believes that God is in
control of everything. All things are of God. Look at
verse 13. Now, I will not have you ignorant,
brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was let
hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as
among other Gentiles. Now, from what we understand,
Paul had planned a few trips to Rome so he could go preach
there. He's the apostle to the Gentiles. This is a Gentile church. He determined he would like to
go there and preach Christ to them. But every time he planned
a trip, something came up. and prevented him. He couldn't
go like he wanted to. I thought of just a few weeks
ago, I was supposed to go, I purposed, I planned to go to Pennsylvania
and preach. Circumstances came up, prevented
me from going. Now, I hate that. I really do.
I was really disappointed not to be able to go. But you know,
we don't have to get all bent out of shape about that. I wanted
to go, but the Lord prevented me from going. It was the Lord
that prevented me from going. That's why I have to worry about
it. This, I can promise you, nobody who was supposed to be
in that service is going to be lost because Frank didn't go
there and preach. God's in control of everything.
God's the one that prevented me from going. And faith believes
that. No matter what happens, it's
ordained of God. It happened by God's will. And
God will save his people from their sins. God is in control
of everything. So there's nothing that can happen
that will derail God's purpose and cause somebody he chose to
be saved to perish. Can't happen. Because God's in
control of everything. And that's not just good doctrine.
That is good doctrine, but that's not just good doctrine. That's
the comfort and assurance that God's people have. God will accomplish
his purpose to save his people from their sin. None of them
compares. And, you know, usually we don't see why God does what
he does. We seldom see why God prevents
us from doing something that we desire truly to do for his
glory. He prevents it and we don't know
why. But we understand why God prevented
Paul from going to Rome when he wanted to. It was so Paul
would be forced to communicate with these people via this letter.
He couldn't go there and preach to them in person. So he thought,
well, the only way I'm going to be able to communicate with
them is through this letter. God prevented Paul from going
to preach at Rome, so he'd write this masterpiece of God's gospel. So you and I would be blessed
by it. Paul thought, I'd like to go to Rome and preach. So
I could have some fruit there in that church. So I give those
people, that little group there, I could give them some spiritual
gift. That's what Paul wanted to do.
God did something far greater than Paul ever thought about.
He prevented him from going, so he'd write this letter. So
he would have some fruit among those Roman believers. And so
he'd have some fruit across the whole world, across all the generations
of God's church who would read this letter and see justification
by faith in Christ alone. Aren't we thankful that God's
the one who's in control of everything? He's able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think, and He always does. Here's the
fifth thing about faith. Faith comes from hearing the
gospel, and everyone, I don't care who they are, everyone needs
to hear this gospel and be given faith in Christ. Verse 14. Paul
says, I'm a debtor, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians,
both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I'm ready
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. Now we are
debtors, brethren, debtors. God has given his servants the
message of salvation in Christ. He's given us that message in
a world that's lost in sin, man. Every son of Adam is ruined in
sin. They're dead in sin. They have
no hope of doing anything to save themselves. They're dead.
And God has given his servants the message of salvation in Christ. He's given us the remedy that
every person needs. God's given that. He's not given
it everywhere, but he's given it to us. That ought to humble
us. God's given us this gift. We
owe it to men to preach the gospel to them. We're debtors. We are
debtors to this community, to this tri-state area, to preach
the gospel to them. God's given us the remedy. I
thought sitting up here, Mike and I were talking about growing
up under the sound of the gospel. We owe it, Mike, to our children.
We're debtors to them. To give them what you and I have,
we're debtors to them. We're debtors to them to give
them a place where the gospel's preached. You teachers, Terry,
you grew up in a town of gospel. From the time you understood
language, you were taught the gospel. God saved you. He'd given her a gift. You're
a debtor. You're a debtor to those children
that teach them faithfully like you do. Eric did grow up in the
sound of the gospel. God called him. God saved him. God gave him a gift. Eric, you're
a debtor to give our children what you did not. You're a debtor
to teach them Christ, to teach them the gospel. We're debtors. And that's not just preachers.
That's not just teachers. That's every one of us in the
church. We're obligated. We're debtors
to this community to teach them the gospel. We're debtors to
support the gospel so it can be preached. We're debtors. We have a responsibility to people
we know to invite them to hear the gospel. When visitors come
in, yes, they may have wrong ideas. But you know what? We're debtors to them. We have
a responsibility to make them feel welcome here so they'll
keep coming back because this is the purpose. They hear of
Christ. We're debtors to preach Christ
to them. And that's all that matters. Now that's the summary
of faith that Paul gives us. Now, what gospel is it that we're
obligated to preach? What gospel is it that we're
obligated to believe? We must believe on the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. What gospel is it that we are
obligated to believe? Faith always believes this gospel.
Well, you know, there is a gospel that we're obligated to preach.
We must preach this gospel. Paul said, I'm a debtor. And
in verse 16, he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Now isn't it, it's a horrible feeling to be ashamed. Don't
you hate that feeling? And I grant you, there's a lot
for us to be ashamed of about ourselves. We ought to be ashamed
of our sin. We ought to be ashamed of our,
rebellion against God. Believers, we ought to be ashamed
of how weak our faith is, how weak our love for God and love
for other people. We ought to be ashamed of that.
And you know, man has been full of shame ever since Adam fell
in the garden. The moment Adam took that fruit,
God told him not to eat and he ate it. Adam and Eve immediately
felt shame. They're trying to hide from God.
They're trying to cover their nakedness because they were ashamed.
All of mankind has been ashamed ever since. There is a lot for
us to be ashamed of in ourselves. But there is no shame in Christ.
Because Christ our Savior took away the sin of his people by
his sacrifice on the tree. And when sin is removed, there's
nothing left to be ashamed of. Christ took the shame of his
people on himself. And he suffered and he died naked
before God, and man, showing us He bore the shame of His people
away. In Christ, we don't have anything
to be ashamed of. He took our sin away. There's
no shame in Christ, and there's no shame in the gospel that declares
salvation in Christ. But there must be such a thing
as someone being ashamed of the gospel. Otherwise, we wouldn't
be warned about it here. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. He told Timothy, don't you be
ashamed of it either. There must be a way that we can
be ashamed of this gospel that we're obligated to preach or
our scripture wouldn't warn us about it. And I tell you where
shame of the gospel comes from. Someone who's ashamed of the
gospel, they're ashamed of it because they're more afraid of
man than they are of God. That's why. The natural man is
ashamed of the gospel. It's a shame to him. Paul called
the gospel the offense of the cross. And our gospel is offensive
to the natural man because the gospel says all men, whether
they're barbarians or Greeks, whether they're wise or unwise,
all men are lost in sin. And all men are completely dependent
on God to save them. If God doesn't save them, if
God doesn't have mercy on them, they'll perish. They're completely
dependent upon God. and we can't have any input in
it whatsoever. If we do, we'll defile it. Well,
now that gospel offends man's dignity. It offends our pride. It's offensive to man's free
will. And any preacher who twists his
words, who just uses words so it's not exactly clear what he's
saying, he does that because he's ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. Any preacher who does not make
a crystal clear that salvation is all in Christ, is ashamed
of the gospel. I'll tell you why he's ashamed
of the gospel, why he preaches that way. It's because he doesn't
trust the Lord to save his people by the preaching of Christ alone.
He thinks, well, I got to I got to trick him, I got to trick
him into believing something, you know, they don't believe
because God can't save his people just by the preaching of Christ
alone. He's ashamed of the gospel. Any preacher who holds back part
of the truth of the gospel because it's gonna be offensive to people,
does that because he's ashamed of the gospel. Anybody who holds
back preaching God's electing love, that God elected a people,
those people that God elected, and only those people will be
saved, if he holds that back, he's ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. Someone who holds back the necessity of the substitute,
someone who holds back the necessity of the new birth, our Lord said
you must be born again. When we hold back the necessity
of the new birth, we're ashamed of the gospel of Christ. He hadn't
done what Paul said he did. Paul told those Ephesian elders,
you know this is so. I've declared unto you the whole
counsel of God. I didn't hold anything back that
was profitable to you. And I'll tell you why that man's
doing it. He's holding back part of the truth because he wants
a bigger audience. He's ashamed of the gospel and he doesn't
trust the Lord to provide for him. to a smaller audience that's
made up all of God's sheep instead of goats that he tried to convert.
That's why. Well, what is the gospel that
faith is not ashamed of? What is the gospel that faith
publicly says, that's the gospel I believe, that is all my salvation? What is the gospel that faith
boldly proclaims? Number one is this, faith believes
the gospel. In verse 16, Paul says, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now, we looked at this last week.
There is only one gospel. Look at Galatians chapter one.
There's just one gospel. Now, there's a lot of different
messages that people preach. There's a lot of different ways
of salvation. There's a lot of different denominations
men have made up, but they're just one gospel. And if they
call it another gospel, Paul said, no, it's not. It's not
another. Galatians 1 verse 6, I marvel that you are so removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. These other gospels
are perversions of the gospel of Christ. Look how serious this
is. Verse 8, Paul says, but though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, than
that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said
before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed, let him
be damned when Christ comes. For do I now persuade men or
God? Who am I serving here, God or men? Or do I seek to please
men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. Do I certify you, brethren, that
the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." That's the gospel and that's how it's revealed.
It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. They're just one gospel. Last week we looked, Paul called
it the gospel of God. Here in verse 16 he calls it
the gospel of Christ. We're not talking about two different
messages. No, just one gospel. When Paul says the gospel of
God and the gospel of Christ, he's talking about the same gospel.
Because the Lord Jesus is God. It's just one gospel. And every
believer believes that gospel. The gospel that declares that
God has purposed and planned salvation all in the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith believes there's one way
sin is forgiven. It's in the blood of Christ.
Faith believes there's only one righteousness for everyone that
believes. It's the righteousness of Christ. Faith believes there's
just one way of eternal life. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith believes the gospel. Secondly, faith believes a powerful
gospel. Verse 16, Paul says, for I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God. The gospel of Christ is the only
gospel God will ever use to save a sinner. He'll never use a lie
to save a sinner. This gospel of Christ, brother,
this is all we need to preach. It's a powerful gospel. It's
a sharp two-edged sword. Two edges that are sharp. One
edge that kills, the other edge that makes alive. All on the
same sword. This gospel that faith believes believes that
God Almighty has all power. It all depends upon Him. That means God's the only one
who has the power to decide to save anybody. And He's the only
one with the power to carry it out too. You and I don't have
any power at all. Somebody's telling you, you've
got to decide to accept Jesus as your personal Savior. You
quit listening to them. You don't have that power. You don't have
the power to decide that. We don't have any power. Only
God does. And we are totally dependent
upon Him to use that power to save us. If He doesn't, we'll
be damned. God has all power. And the means
that God uses to reveal his son, the means that God uses to give
faith and save his people is the powerful gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This gospel has the power to
reveal the son of God to your heart. And only this gospel will
do it. In this gospel, that's the only
place salvation in Christ is revealed. You can look around
nature and other places. You can see the power of God
in creation. You can look around how God governs
the world, the events that unfold in the world, how they unfold.
You can see God's power and providence, i.e. rules and reigns. But the
only place you'll see that salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ
is in the gospel that declares him our savior. This gospel is
the power that God uses to reveal the cleansing of sin through
the blood of Christ. There's power in the blood. There's
power in the gospel that declares the blood of Christ. This gospel
is the power of God to give eternal life to His people. We mentioned
this earlier, how all men, that includes us, all men are born
dead in sin. We're dead. Christ is life, but
how does a dead sinner get it? It's through the preaching of
Christ. Declaring Him is through faith in Him. This gospel is
a powerful gospel. Powerful. A man's a fool who
gets up here and plays a game of chess. Like playing with dynamite. Earl Wooten tells me about a
commercial he saw when he was a little boy. So he used to have
it on all the time. I think he said it was Willie
Mays was in it. Talking about dynamite. Somehow kids were finding
dynamite laying around. I don't know, construction places
or whatever. And Willie Mays would get on there and say, don't
touch that. Don't touch that. This is gospel like dynamite.
Don't you touch it playing with it. Don't you touch it for your
own, trying to use your own agenda. This is a powerful gospel. We
don't play with it. We just declare it. This is the
power that God uses to give life to his people. Third, this is
the gospel faith believes. Faith believes a saving gospel.
Verse 16, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation. This is the only gospel
that God will ever use to save a sinner, because this is the
only gospel. that declares that Christ is
the only Savior. This is the only gospel that
declares Christ is all in salvation. Now, I know other people and
other messages, they use the name of Jesus. They use the name
of Christ. They use the name of God, Father,
Son, Holy Spirit. They talk about sin and forgiveness
and salvation. They talk about eternal life.
But in some way, they always make it dependent upon the creature. Somehow, some way, you've got
to decide to do something, you've got to know something. Brethren,
that gospel is not another. It's what Paul called a perversion.
And there's no salvation there. The only gospel that God will
ever use to save a sinner is the gospel that declares that
Christ is all in our salvation. This gospel is the only gospel
that declares how can God save a sinner and still be just? How can God save a sinner and
still be true to the rest of the character of God? How can
God save a sinner and still be holy, still be righteous, still
be just? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the only gospel that declares how God can be just
and holy and at the same time justify the ungodliness. is through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Four, faith believes a discriminating
gospel. Verse 16, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. Now when I say a discriminating gospel, this is what I mean.
Faith believes the gospel that declares God elected a people
to say. That's what I mean. Saving faith
will never believe a gospel that says God will save you if. No, that gospel is another gospel. God will save you if you decide
to accept. God will save you if you decide
to let Jesus be your personal savior, be the king of your heart.
Saving faith never believes that. Saving faith never believes a
gospel that gives an invitation that says, oh, now, won't you
just come down front here and accept Jesus? He died for you.
Wouldn't it be a shame if there's an empty spot in heaven because
you decided not to accept him? That's no savior. I wouldn't
accept that either. I wouldn't come down an aisle
for that either. What a pitiful savior. I do a lot better off
my own, thank you. That's no savior. Saving faith. believes the gospel that says
God the Father elected a people unto salvation. He chose them
out of the fallen lump of Adam's wrath just because He would. They weren't better than anybody
else. They were just as dead, just as lost, just as vile as anybody
else. But God loved them. And He chose to save those people
just because He would. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son, came to this earth as a man and He saved those people. And
He saved only those people. by His perfect life. He imputed
unto them a perfect righteousness, and by His death is their substitute
that put away their sin. And those people are saved. Saving
faith believes the gospel that says the Holy Spirit comes to
all those people that the Father chose, that the Son died for,
and He gives them life. He gives them faith to believe
Christ. He reveals Christ to them and irresistibly draws them
to Christ. That's the gospel of saving faith.
And Paul says this gospel saves everyone who believes it. Everyone. Both Jew and Greek. I don't care
what your background is. Believing Christ saves everyone
who believes Him. It doesn't matter who you are.
If you believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall
be saved. I say that with absolutely no
reservation. This morning, if you believe
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Savior. I say that based upon
authority of his word. Now, does that mean I'm begging
everybody to come accept Jesus? No. Who will believe this gospel? The only people that ever believe
it is God's elect, because they're the only people God gives this
faith to. But here's my question for you. This is my question
for everybody here. Are you lost? I want you to think
about that for a minute. Are you lost? Are you dead? Do
you know Christ? You know if you know Him or not,
are you lost? Well, would you like to be saved? Would you like
to know Him? Would you like for God to give
you this faith in Christ? Then believe. Believe on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. I told
you this before, I'm going to tell you again and I promise
you in the future, God helping me live that long, I'm going
to tell you again. Don't try to figure out if you're
one of God's elect. Just don't try to figure that
out because it's not going to do you any good. Here's what
you need to know. Ask God to show you that you're
a sinner. Ask God to show you that you're a sinner who needs
Christ to save you because you can't do it for yourself. Ask
God, show me I'm a sinner and give me faith in this Christ
who came into this world to save sinners of whom I am chief."
See, ask God to show you that you're a sinner. Don't ask Him
to show you if you're one of God's elect, because nobody ever
came to Christ because they knew they were one of God's elect.
They come to Christ because they know they're a sinner. You come
to Christ because you're a sinner needing a Savior. God will save
you. Soon enough, you'll find out,
oh, I came because He chose me first. I came because he loved
me first. I came because he draw me. But
you come because you're a sinner who needs a savior. God will
take care of everything else. Here's a good one. Faith believes
a revealing gospel. We don't just believe a gospel,
some sort of religious, you know, set of points or something. Faith believes a revealing gospel. Verse 17, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. For faith to faith, as it's written,
the just shall live by faith. The gospel that faith believes
reveals the righteousness of God. Now that doesn't just mean
God's righteous character. The gospel reveals the only righteousness
God will ever accept from you and me. It's the righteousness
of his son. The gospel reveals the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only righteousness we can ever have to stand before
God. The gospel reveals man's sinfulness and Christ our righteousness. The only way we can be righteous
is in Him. The gospel is a gospel of representation
and substitution. We were represented in Adam.
When Adam fell, we all fell. When Adam died, we all died.
That's how we became sinners. God's people become righteous
the exact same way, through representation, through the righteousness of
Christ. Everything Christ did, his people did. Every time Christ
obeyed the law, his people did. That's how we're made righteous.
In Christ our representative, by his righteousness being imputed
to us. And then Christ took the sins
of his people. He took them into his own body on the tree. He
was made sin for his people. He made their sin his. and he
put that sin away by the sacrifice of himself. It's gone. And now
God's elect are perfectly righteous in Christ. That's what 2 Corinthians
5.21 is all about. For he hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. That's the righteousness that
Paul's talking about. And faith believes this. Christ
is all of my righteousness or I don't have any. Christ is all
of my righteousness. I can't contribute anything.
If I contribute anything to it, I've ruined it. I've polluted
it. Christ is all of my righteousness,
or I don't have it. That's the gospel that saving
faith believes. And last, faith believes a gospel
that reveals the wrath of God, verse 18. Well, the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. It seems like
all men want to talk about today is God's love. Here's getting
to be Christmas time and people want to talk about the birth
of Christ and how loving it is. God sent his son into the world.
All they want to talk about is God's love. Now, listen to me. I never want to diminish God's
infinite love for his people. God is love. That's true. That's
the only way anybody say it. God loves the people. But don't
ever forget this. God's also holy. God is just. God must punish sin by His holy
wrath. And God can never violate one
attribute of His character to to exalt another one. God can't
ignore His justice. God can't ignore His holiness
to exalt His love. God can't overlook sin because,
oh, He's so loving, He just wants to, you know, no. You may or
that way, God's not. God must and God will punish
every sin with strict, absolute justice and wrath. Well then what hope do I have?
All I am is sin. What hope do I have if God will
in his absolute wrath and fury punish every one of my sins?
How can I have any hope? Here it is. Substitution. God poured out his wrath on Christ
my substitute. My sin is gone. And because of
that sacrifice, God's wrath is gone. That salvation is accomplished
in justice and it can never be taken away. God saves sinners
because he loves them, yes. But God saves sinners because
he satisfied his justice by punishing their sin in the person of their
substitute. And all God has left for his
people now is love and mercy and grace and eternal bliss. That's the glorious gospel of
salvation in Christ. Why would we ever be ashamed
of it? Why wouldn't we boldly proclaim it? Why wouldn't we
publicly identify and say, this is my Savior? May God be pleased
to give every one of us a heart that believes this gospel, that
gives us a boldness to preach it and to publicly identify with
it. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I would thank you that,
Father, in your mercy and grace and providence to your people,
you've given us this gospel to preach to our community, to our
children, to our family, to our loved ones, to anyone that you'd
bring to hear it. Father, we're thankful. Father,
I beg of thee that you'd give this congregation the heart and
boldness to Preach clearly this gospel to support it, to invite
people to come here. Father, bless your word as it's
preached to your glory and to the good of your people. Give
us a heart, Father, that believes this gospel. Faith is the gift
of God. We are completely dependent on
you, Father, to bestow this gift of faith in your son. We humbly
beg you, would you give that gift the gift of faith in your
son to someone here this morning. Open their eyes to behold the
Lord Jesus Christ, to run to him, to find refuge and salvation,
forgiveness of sin in him. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, for his glory we pray and give thanks.