And Paul says in verse 15, he
says, I'm ready. I am ready to preach the gospel
to you at Rome. Paul was ready to fulfill his
calling. He was ready to tell sinners
in Rome of the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
ready to do it. willing to do it, anxious to
do it. And he was ready to suffer reproach
for Christ's sake, because he knew when he went to Rome that
he was going to suffer for it, for that pagan city. And he knew
he would suffer for it. Therefore, he says to them, I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's a shame that
we didn't have to say that, isn't it? I'm not ashamed. The amazing part of the gospel
is this. He's not ashamed to call us brethren. He was not ashamed to call them
brethren. That's the amazing part of grace. That's the amazing part of it.
But Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. There
were many who were ashamed. To the Greek, it was foolishness.
This gospel that we preach and we believe here. Paul said to
the Greek it was foolishness, and to the Jew, the religious
man, it was a stumbling block. Paul knew firsthand the opposition
that the gospel would meet with. He knew it firsthand. He knew
that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
because they are foolishness unto him. Paul knew that the gospel that
he preached offended man's pride. He knew that the gospel that
he preached would offend man's thoughts of himself. Men think
highly of themselves. Like I said in the message not
too long ago, nobody thinks more highly of us than us before the
grace of God comes in. And it offends our thoughts of
ourselves. It offends man's wisdom. A gospel that does not offend
is no gospel at all. It's no gospel at all. The gospel
lays man's righteousness in the dust. It lays all our good works
in the dust. It disarms a man of everything
that he counts as good and acceptable to God. It just disarms him of
it. Scripture says all our righteousness
are as filthy rags in God's sight because they're all full of sin.
That's all it is, full of sin. And of this gospel, Paul said,
I'm not ashamed. I want you to know this. I want
you to know this in Rome. When I'm coming there, I'm going
to preach the gospel, and I want you to know this. I am not ashamed
of the gospel I preach. Paul never preached the gospel
in private. He preached it openly, publicly,
from house to house and place to place. He'd go in the temple.
He never held back because he was not ashamed of it. He was
not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the God it
reveals. In the gospel is revealed God
Almighty, who He really is. You can see something of God
in nature, but it's in the gospel that we find out who God is.
I'm not ashamed of the God it reveals. I'm not ashamed of the
Redeemer it reveals, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not ashamed
of Him. There were many who were ashamed of Him. They made nothing
of Him. I'm not ashamed of the righteousness
that it reveals. He is. I'm not ashamed of that.
I'm not ashamed of the grace it reveals, or my need of it. My need of it. Oh, I need much
grace. Paul said, I'm not ashamed. Is it possible for a believer
to be ashamed of the gospel? Paul told Timothy, and he told
Timothy this for a reason. Timothy, be not ashamed. of the
gospel, nor of me his prisoner." They told him that for a reason.
There is enough sin in us, there is enough sin in us to cause
us at times to hold back. There's enough sin in us at times
to cause us a little shame. That's a shame, but there's enough
sin left in us. That maid said, to Peter, weren't
you with him? Didn't I see you with him? He
said, I don't know that man. You'd have never thought that,
would you? Well, that's why Paul said, I'm
not ashamed. He said, Timothy, don't you be
ashamed either. And don't you be ashamed of me. Don't you be
ashamed of the Lord's servant. Now, what is Paul not ashamed
of? He says here, the gospel of Christ. The gospel of God's grace. The gospel of God's glory. I'm
not ashamed of it. Paul was not ashamed of the person
of Christ. They said, can any good thing
come out of Nazareth? Yes, God. God came out of there. In Christ He did. Christ is Emmanuel. God's with us. But they said,
can any good thing come out of that place? Paul was not ashamed
of the person of Christ. There were many who saw him and
said, we know who you are. You are the carpenter's son.
They saw a poor man. They didn't see God in the flesh. They saw a poor man. They saw
a man that they were ashamed to call their king. But Paul
says, I'm not ashamed of this man. I'm not ashamed of him.
And Paul was not ashamed of his work of redemption. He was not
ashamed to preach that he's the Redeemer and we need his redemption. I need his redemption. I need
his blood. I need it. Paul was not ashamed
to admit that. He was not ashamed. And why was
he not ashamed? He says here, for it is the power
of God unto salvation. Christ is the only way God will
save sinners. He is the only way. Christ is
the power of God to save as opposed to man's own works to try and
save himself. Christ is the power of God. It's
the power of God unto salvation. The gospel, which is Christ,
is concerning God's Son. The gospel is Christ. If we don't
have Christ, we don't have a gospel to preach. There's no good news
to tell. I wouldn't have a message for you this morning apart from
Christ. Not good news. Not good news. It's the power of God to save.
The gospel, when it comes in power, makes us willing to receive
Christ. It makes us willing to bow to
the authority of Christ. It makes us willing to receive
His righteousness and abandon our own righteousness. When it
comes in power, it's the power of God. It subdues the power of sin.
The law does not subdue the power of sin. In fact, when the commandment
came, Paul says, sin revived and I died. You just tell a kid
not to do it. And you see if there's a power
in that for him not to do it. No, it'll bring up in him rebellion. It'll
make rebellion rise up. That's what the law does. You
threaten somebody, you say, don't go out that door. Just as sure as you turn your
back, they've got to go out that door. But the gospel, when it comes
in power, it makes you obedient. The Lord says, don't go out that
door. You don't want to go out that door. That's what the gospel does.
When it comes in power, it breaks the power of canceled sins. And
then when it comes in power, it gives light. It gives understanding. to dead sinners. He gives light
and life to dead sinners. Nothing else can do this but
the gospel. It's the power of God. It's the
means. Here's what Paul says. It is the means by which God
saves sinners. The gospel is. It's the power
of God. It's the means of God. It's by
which He saves sinners. It's the power of God by which
He creates faith and repentance in the heart. The Ten Commandments can't do
that. You can hang them in every room in your house, and it's
not going to create faith and repentance in the heart. But
the gospel will. The gospel can do that if it
comes in power. He said it's the power of God
unto salvation. The end result is the salvation
of our souls. No one has ever been saved, ever
been saved apart from the gospel, ever. And he says here, it's
to everyone that believes. It's the power of God unto salvation
now to everyone that believes. This power is applied through
faith. No man is saved who does not
believe this gospel that Paul is preaching here. No man is
saved. We can't just believe anything.
No, it's this gospel. And there's only one gospel of
which God saves sinners. Only one. Very narrow. Straight as a gate and narrow
as the way. There's only one way. Christ. I am the way, the
truth, and the life. And when it comes in power, faith
embraces Christ as its all in all. He's all I need. That's the greatest news you
can tell a sinner. All he needs is found in that man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul says to the Jew first and
also to the Greek. The gospel was sent to the Jews
first. They were given the Word of God first. They were given
all the types and the pictures. And when Christ came, He came
to the Jews first. They have no excuse. It was sent
to them first. And then it went throughout the
whole world. The same gospel is preached to all. We believe and preach the same gospel Abraham
believed. No different. There's no difference
in what we believe and who we believe than Abraham. Same one. Same gospel. Our Lord said, Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. Now he says here in verse 17,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The righteousness
by which sinners are saved is revealed where? In the gospel. In the gospel. It's not revealed
in the law. The law demands righteousness,
but it doesn't reveal a righteousness that God will accept. That's
revealed in the gospel. That's revealed in the preaching
of Christ crucified. God demands righteousness. We
don't have any. We don't have an ounce of righteousness
of our own, not at all. But there is a righteousness
established by this one man. There is a righteousness that
God accepts. And it was established by the
obedience of this one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his righteousness,
and God accepts it, and we have it through faith. To everyone,
he says, that believes, righteousness is imputed to them, reckoned
to their account. Abraham believed God, and it
was reckoned unto him for righteousness. I tell you this, when we are
brought to faith in Christ, it's reckoned unto us for righteousness. What God demands, Christ provided,
and sinners receive by faith. By faith. Just believe in God. That jailer said, what must I
do to be saved? Paul said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He said, oh, but that's
too easy. Well, do it. You think it's too
easy? Do it. I like to meet people
who actually believe God, take God at His word. It's not possible for the natural
man to believe God, because he is so totally contrary to God. God is light, and men by nature
are darkness. Men are liars, God is truth. And it takes God to make a believer
out of me and you. But when he does that, righteousness
is imputed. Then he says here, it is revealed. It is revealed. Salvation comes
by revelation. There is a supernatural revelation
of God to the heart. I'm not talking about seeing
an image. When you hear the gospel, you say, I see. That's it. You know it. You know that's it. You understand
it. You understand how God can be
a just God and a Savior. You understand something of the
wisdom of God in Christ in the way He saves sinners. Well, the
world doesn't see that. It's foolishness to the world.
It is utter nonsense to the world, to the intellectual. Have you
ever watched Suddenly, I watch the Discovery Channel from time
to time, and they'll have these biblical programs on there, and
then they always have these Professor of Theology. These guys are so
far out in left field, it's not... I thought, how in the world do
you get to be a Professor of Theology? They are so far, they
are so liberal. So liberal. And yet, you take
a dummy like me, and understand the Gospel. I
can understand how God can save sinners through Christ. I understand
that, but by the grace of God, there go I. It's revealed. The Holy Spirit
takes the things of Christ, who is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption, and He reveals it to us. He reveals
it to us. And it's revealed, he says here,
from faith to faith, from one degree of faith to another. Faith
is a growing grace. Whatever God gives you grows.
Love, joy, peace, those are growing graces. And faith is a growing
grace. And the more we learn of Christ,
the more we grow in faith. You want more faith? You say,
oh, I wish I had more faith. Learn more of Him. Study Him. Come to know Him. You cannot
exhaust the knowledge of Christ. He's the wisdom of God. Can you
exhaust that? That's infinite wisdom. And as He says here, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. This is spoken of four
times in the Word of God. We begin our journey by faith. We don't begin it in the flesh.
We do not begin this journey in the flesh and then wind up
in faith. No. We start this journey, this
spiritual journey. We begin it by faith. And we
continue our whole walk in this life. Our whole walk is by faith. Looking unto Him. Looking unto
Jesus. Not one time look. It's always looking unto Him.
Every day. Every day we are looking unto Him. And then we die in
faith. A person who begins this journey
in faith, a person who walks by faith, I promise you this
person will die in faith. God will see to it. God will
see to it. Now faith here is not salvation. We're not living upon our faith.
We live upon Christ. Faith lives upon Christ. That's
what it does. That's what he's saying here.
And then Paul turns here and he says in verse 18, For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold to truth in unrighteousness. God has revealed His grace. We've
just read this. He has revealed His grace in
Christ to sinners. He has revealed His righteousness
as the way of justification, but God has also revealed something
else from heaven, His wrath against sin. When He kicked Adam out
of the garden, God revealed His wrath against sin. When He burned
up Sodom and Gomorrah, God revealed His wrath against sin. When He
flooded this world and killed everyone in it except Noah and
his family and the animals that were on that ark, God revealed
His wrath against sin. God has revealed His hatred of
sin. He's revealed it. He's revealed
that sin must be punished. And this has clearly been revealed
from heaven. I know when the news programs come on, they'll
say, well, Mother Nature did this, you know, Mother Nature.
No, no. That tsunami that happened two, three, four years ago killed
hundreds of thousands of people. The wrath of God was revealed
from heaven. That's what happened. He hath his way in the whirlwind
and in the storm. That's what the scripture says.
You say, but oh, that's pretty hard. Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of this message.
Because this is what's revealed in it. God has revealed it. Men are without excuse. Outside
of Christ, every man and woman will perish. It doesn't matter
how charitable they've been, how charitable they've lived,
what a good mother or father they have been. Outside of Christ,
they'll perish. Now, it's hard to stand and look
at a mother who's been very faithful, and say, outside Christ, you're
going to die. You're going to perish. You take someone who's just religious,
but they don't believe this gospel, and they lived an outwardly what
we call good life, and you look at them, and you say, you're
going to perish. You say, boy, that's hard to say that. I'm
not ashamed to stand in front of any man or woman and tell
them the truth, to tell them the gospel. I'm not ashamed of
it. Outside of him, men and women
will perish. And the greatest of all sins
is this, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Every congregation
that is meeting this morning, that's not preaching this gospel,
is holding the truth in unrighteousness. People naturally, they just naturally
think of people going to the bars and walking the streets. No, it's the ones standing in
the pulpits. And people sitting in the pews supporting that lie
that's coming out of the pulpit. They hold the truth in unrighteousness. They take revealed truth and
they turn it and they twist it. And they say what is not said.
And they say, well, no, this is not what it says. That's not
what it says. But then he says here in verse
19, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them
or to them, for God has revealed it to them. God has revealed
in creation. He's revealed in creation. I
mean, since the fall. He's revealed that He is. There
is enough light in creation for a person to look at it and say,
God is. They may not, and they don't
know who He is, but they know that He is. It didn't just come
with the Big Bang Theory. He is. And He must be wise to
make such variety work in such harmony. He must be wise to make
that happen. And good, look how the earth
brings forth and we eat from it. And yet man in his ignorance
and in his darkness turns from that light. He says here, because that which
may be known of God, his existence, The heavens declare the glory
of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day utters
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. Knowledge
of what? God is. That's the knowledge he shows.
God is. And from that light, men and
women can seek after him. They can seek after him. It's
been clearly revealed. And he says in verse 20, and
I'll close. For the invisible things of him God, from the creation
of the world, things we can't see. We can't see into heaven.
We can't see God. God's invisible. God is spirit. Now let me read it. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood,
if a man has any intelligence at all, being understood by the
things that are made. You look at the things that are
made and you say, well, who made that? You come here and you look
at this pulpit here and table, and you say, well, who made those?
Well, somebody made those. Well, we know who made them.
And if somebody came in here who
did not know who made them, they could ask. They said, well, who
made those? Start seeking and asking, well,
who made this? And these things are clearly
seen, and men and women ought to say, well, who did this? Who
made these animals? Who made that sun? Who made the
moon and the stars and the universe? Who made them? A man walking, the light is given,
and God will give him more light. But you know what they do? They
say, well, there's the God of the moon, the God of the stars.
They just come up with a bunch of gods. And then that ends it. They say, we figured it out.
We figured it out. They're just all these gods,
all these Greek gods. He said, being understood by
the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are what? Without excuse. No one will stand in glory with
an excuse. No one. There is enough revealed
in creation that should cause men and women to seek Him. There
is enough revealed to leave everyone, everyone, without an excuse. And I wrote down here how much
more now that we have the complete Word of God. How much more now
that Jesus Christ has come and revealed the Father. He's come
from glory. He's come from that place. He
spoke of God. He revealed the Father. And when
those Jews, those religious people heard Him, they said, you're
a blaster. You're a nut. But some of us believe. Some
will believe. Paul said in one place, some
believe and some believe not. And that's the way it will always
be. Some believe and some believe not. But the righteousness by
which sinners are saved, the righteousness that we need, is
revealed in the gospel. It's revealed in the gospel.
And Paul says, I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. It's the power of God to save
me. It's the power of God to save sinners.