I didn't realize it until late
last night, but it was 35 years ago today that you called me
to be your pastor. For my family and I, it has been
a blessed, blessed, blessed 34 years, starting 35 today. Had I planned to do so, I could
not have chosen a better text and a better subject with which
to celebrate this day than the one God has given me, I believe
for you. Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter
1. The gospel I preach to you and
have preached to you at every meeting God has given us for
34 years, the gospel revealed in this book The gospel we preach
around the world is given many names in the scripture. There
is but one gospel is given many names. People sometimes get the
idea that because it's given different names, it's a different
gospel. It's one gospel. It's called
the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son
of God, the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel of God. the
gospel of his son, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of peace,
the gospel of your salvation. Have you found my text? Romans
chapter one. Romans chapter one, verse 15. So as much as in me
is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome
also. For it, that is the gospel, is
the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth,
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein, in the
gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. 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.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
Even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse
Paul says I'm ready to preach the gospel to you Because the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation I'm ready to preach
the gospel to you because the gospel is the revelation of the
righteousness of God I'm ready to preach the gospel to you because
you're under the wrath of God without it. He said, I'm ready
to preach the gospel to you because the light of creation is not
sufficient to save you. You must hear the gospel. There
is no other way by which you can be saved. Now, my subject
is verse 16. This is my subject, the title
of my message. I am not ashamed of the gospel. I am not ashamed of the gospel. This man, Paul, knew by personal
experience, long experience, that the gospel of the grace
of God met with opposition everywhere. It did in his day, as it does
in our day, as it does in every generation. There has never been
a time on the top side of God's earth in which men and women
delighted generally in the gospel of God's grace, but rather everywhere
the gospel had been preached, men have mocked and derided the
gospel and mocked and derided those who preach the gospel because
men hate the gospel of God's free grace. Noah was mocked in
his day, just as Paul was mocked in his day, just as we are mocked
in our day for the gospel of the grace of God. The world looks
upon the gospel of redemption through the crucified redeemer,
the Lord Jesus, with ridicule. It deals with it with persecution.
It holds it in utter bitter contempt. In Galatians, the fifth chapter,
the apostle Paul spoke of the offense of the gospel. He tells
us the offense of the gospel is not ceased. The offense of
the gospel is not ceased. Now we need desperately to understand
this. The gospel of the grace of God
is offensive to men. And that offense can never be
taken away except men be born again by God the Spirit. Men
keep trying to make the gospel palatable to unregenerate men. And they do so by compromise,
by trimming off the edges, by trying to put it in more acceptable
phrases and in more acceptable words. But the gospel offends
men. And you cannot make the gospel
without offense, except by compromising the gospel. And if you compromise
it, you've done no good for the souls of men, but only detriment. And you dishonor God who has
revealed the gospel. Paul tells us that the cross
of Christ, the gospel of Christ, is offensive. Offensive to fallen,
depraved humanity. Offensive to all who are lost.
You remember in John chapter 6, our Lord Jesus had been preaching
the gospel. He had spent the day preaching
the gospel. He had performed miracles and men loved the miracles.
They loved the loaves and fishes. They loved to see a demonstration
of power. But when he began to preach the
gospel, preached about faith, heart faith, the gift of God,
preached about redemption, blood redemption by the sacrifice of
himself, preached about grace, irresistible grace, the call
of God's spirit, men were offended. And the master looked squarely
in the eyes of those standing before him and said, doth this
offend you? Doth this offend you? How can
it be that many women are offended by the gospel? The preaching
of the gospel is offensive for at least these four reasons.
First, it offends men because it reveals to men, it declares
to men, it exposes to men their sin. Men think they're good. All of us think we're good. All
of us think we're good. That sense of goodness doesn't
leave us even after we've been converted. The old man still
thinks he's good. Still thinks he's good. We look
at something and say, how could a man do that? How could a woman
do that? And when we say that, Bill, we're
saying, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. Men think
they're good. Men think they are superior to
other men. Others are less than they are.
The gospel is offensive because it puts all men and women on
one level before God. Do you hear that? You and I are all on one level
before God. You have no more acceptance with
God than the most base adulterer, fornicator, whoremonger, prostitute,
dope dealer, rapist, pedophile there is in the world. All men,
all women are on one level before God. It's called sin. That's
what you are. That's what I am. That's the
nature of man and man can't stand it because he thinks he's good.
He thinks he knows he's not perfect. He knows he doesn't do everything
perfect. None of us are perfect. As an
excuse for being as The wretched we are. Well, none of us are
perfect. Men do think, however, they can do some good things
by which they elevate themselves above others and they give themselves
a presentation of righteousness before God. They can do something
by which to win God's favor. How often folks express it. Well, I'm sure that good is going
to triumph in the end I'm sure that that that good will outweigh
the evil and God will accept me because I've been a good man
Let me tell you something there. They're all sinners. All of us
are on the same level before God but there are Degrees of
guilt There are degrees of guilt. Let me tell you who's most guilty
Let me tell you the most guilty Are you ready? Let me tell you
who stands in the greater condemnation before God. Are you listening?
Oh, who do you think that'd be? Well, that rapist, that mass
murderer, that serial killer, that barbarian heathens. No, read this book. Merrill,
our Lord said Sodom and Gomorrah will stand in judgment over this
generation. How can that be? Sodom and Gomorrah didn't hear
the things you've heard and shut their ears to them. Sodom and
Gomorrah didn't have set before them Jesus Christ and Him crucified
and say, let Christ be crucified. Sodom and Gomorrah did not have
the privileges that you have. Oh, no. Those who have the greater
condemnation are those who sin against the greater light and
the greater opportunities. So the gospel offends men because
it puts all of us on one level. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Listen to this. Every imagination
of the thoughts of every man's heart is only evil and that continually. What a state. God saw that every
imagination of the thought of every man's heart is only evil,
and that continued. Oh, not me. Well, you're a liar,
and you know it. Now, that doesn't describe me.
You're a liar and you know it. You don't want us to know it,
but you know it because you know that every imagination of every
thought of your heart is only evil all the time. When you think,
you think evil. When you feel, you feel evil.
When you dream, you dream evil. Every imagination of every thought
of every man is only evil continually. That's the nature of humanity. The scripture says Christ came
into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Christ died
for the ungodly, but the gospel addressing those very sinners
is offensive to men until God makes them to see who and what
they are by nature and reveals to them his glory and grace in
Christ Jesus. Second, the gospel of substitution,
redemption by Christ Jesus is offensive to men because the
gospel can only be known by divine revelation and man thinks he's
real smart. Man thinks he can figure out
anything. And preachers, approach men as if they could, they're
just smart. If we can present apologetics
in just the right language, if we can defend our faith in just
the right way, we can make people understand it. No, the scripture
tells us plainly that the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. How come? Because there's foolishness
to it. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. The only way you can ever know
the things of God is to be taught of God and to be taught of God
by divine revelation. The Apostle Paul was a learned
man. The Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus,
He was a learned man. I'm not, I'm not talking about
a fellow who just, uh, you know, he, he quit school when he was
16, 17 years old and went to work and sold his wild oats.
And then when he was 40 years old, God saved him. No, no. Paul
was a learned man. not just learned academically,
though that's so. He was learned in the most precise
teachings of theology and philosophy in the Jewish world in his day
and in the Roman world. He was a learned man, a brilliant
man, a brilliant man, and he didn't know God from a billy
goat. He didn't know God from a billy
goat. He could recite the scriptures front and back. He could take
you to the text and prove his doctrine, but he didn't know
God from a billy goat. Until one day when God was pleased,
he separated him from his mother's womb to reveal his son in me,
he said. Salvation comes not by your decision. but by God's revelation. Salvation
comes not by something you do, but by something God does. Men
think they're smart. They think they can figure anything
out. Prove it to me and I'll believe it. No. If you believe,
it's proved. When you believe God, things
are evident that you cannot otherwise understand. The natural man cannot
know the things of God. They're spiritually discerned.
Except a man be born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God. He has no eyes with which to
see. He's blind to all things spiritual. The scriptural says
the carnal mind, the mind of man, the natural mind is enmity
against God. It is not subject to the law
of God. Neither, indeed, can it be. Our Savior said, Father,
I thank thee, Lord of heaven and earth. because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it pleased
thee, so it seemed good in thy sight. The God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." We teach our children from their
youth. the Word of God. And I commend
you. I commend you. Do that. Teach
them the facts of Scripture. Teach them the doctrine of Scripture.
Teach them the Word of Scripture. Teach them to recite Scripture.
But don't ever dream you're going to teach them the Gospel. It
ain't going to happen. It ain't going to happen. You
teach them the word of God and by the word taught them, God
reveals the gospel. But you will never come to know
Christ by your knowledge. You will get spiritual knowledge
when you come to know Christ. What a statement. What a statement. People have the idea they arrive
at Christ by knowledge. You get so much knowledge and
then you, now we've arrived. No. You see Christ and you've
learned of God. If you have the anointing, you're
taught of God. If you don't have it, you're
not taught of God. You can just as easily teach
a jackass nuclear physics as teach a natural man the things
of God. It can't be done. Third, The
gospel of Christ, the gospel of God's free substitution through
Christ the Lord, the gospel of blood atonement by the crucified
Redeemer in the place of guilty sinners offends men. For it tells man that he must
be saved by another. He must be saved by the merit
of another. must be saved in the person of
another, must be made righteous by the doing of another, must
have sin atoned for by the dying of another. The gospel of substitution
tells sinners everywhere that Christ alone is the way to God. Our Savior said, I'm the way.
No man comes to the Father, but by me. There's one door by which
sinners may enter into heaven. The Lord Jesus said, I'm the
door. You can't come any other way. Salvation is not something
earned by what you do. A preacher, everybody knows that.
Find me somebody who knows that. Go talk to your brother. Go talk
to your sister. Go talk to your mother, your
daddy, your son, or your daughter, who goes and listens to the fellas
brag about their will. And get them to tell you about
that. Well, everybody knows salvation
by Christ alone. Christ alone, but you got to
do what you can. Christ alone, but you got to do something.
Christ alone, but you know that we've got our part. That just
stands for reason. Reason to a lost sinner. That's
all. That's all. Give men something
to do and they'll do it. They'll do it. That's the reason
why religion is so popular. We've got Campbellites all around
us here. They call themselves Church of Christ, Christian Church. If you get wet, you get saved. All that does is be baptized.
That does it. That does it. Now salvation by
grace, but not by grace alone. You got to do something. You
got to be baptized. You got to, you got to perform
a ritual. You got to receive the sacraments. You got to go
to church. You got to eat the Lord's supper. You got to drink
the wine. You got to do something. You got to read your Bible. You
got to pray. You got to quit. You got to start. Give them something
to do. A duty to perform, a ritual to
endure, a service to perform, and they'll do it. They'll do
it. Go on two years missionary journey. Two years of just spending
their lives devoted to missionary work and build up the Mormon
church and that'll do it. That's the reason folks do it.
That's the reason they do it. Go to the mission field and sacrifice
everything. Give your life to sacrifice for
others. Go live among lepers until you
become a leper. That'll do it. That'll do it.
Surely that counts for something. It does. It does. Let me tell you what it counts
for. All your goodness, all your righteousness, you just gave
your gifts this week, and if you give those, without faith
in Christ, to give your gifts, hoping thereby to get God to
give you something. Whatever it is, all of it. I
don't care if you put a million dollar check in the offering
plate. I don't care if you cut off your right eye. I don't care
if you pluck out your right eye. I don't care what you do. Whatever
it is you do to get God's favor, to improve God's favor, or to
keep God's favor, it does count for something. It counts for
filthy rags. Just filthy rags. Brother Don,
you talk like there's nothing we can do to save ourselves,
nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God, nothing we
can do to present ourselves more holy, nothing we can do to make
ourselves good in God's sight. That's exactly what the book
says. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. The gospel
of substitution is offensive. The Babylonian gospel of works
is not offensive. The Babylonian gospel of human
merit is not offensive. The Babylonian gospel of self-righteousness
is not offensive. The Babylonian gospel of free
will is not offensive. But the gospel of salvation by
the crucified Redeemer, that offends man. And fourth, the
gospel is offensive. The gospel of God's grace is
offensive because the gospel declares salvation to be by God's
will, not your will. We talk about sovereign grace,
sovereign mercy. I'm often asked, as I'm sure
you are, what kind of Baptist are you? And I want to say to
folks, the kind you wouldn't recognize. I will say to them,
the kind you've never heard tell them before. I want to say something
that will identify us in a different way. So I'll say, I believe the
sovereign grace of God. And when you say that, they look
at you like, huh? What are you talking about? Sovereign
grace, sovereign mercy. Turn to Romans chapter nine for
just a minute. I'll show you. Romans chapter nine. I'm going
to get to our text, just hang on a minute. Romans chapter 9.
Now this is exactly what we mean when we talk about grace. We
use the word sovereign in front of it as an adjective. So you'll
understand what I'm talking about. Everybody talks about grace.
The Pope talks about grace and the Campbellite talks about grace
and the Pentecostal talks about grace and the freewheeler talks
about grace. I forgot where I was now. I drive in somewhere and
saw a sign said Grace Nazarene Church. I even saw one said Grace
Free Will Baptist Church. Everybody talks about grace.
Well, what you talking about? We're talking about sovereign
grace, grace that rules. Grace that's effectual. Grace
that gets the job done. Grace that actually saves. Not
grace that offers salvation. Not grace that provides salvation.
Grace that saves! All right, here it is, Romans
chapter 9, verse 13. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Oh, what does that mean? You know
exactly what that means. That's the reason you don't like
it. Jacob have I love he saw have I hated? churches these
days have Signs and billboards they put a text out on I'll tell
you what I'll do. I'll tell you what I'll do y'all
drive around, Kentucky all week long I'll give you $100 for every
church building. You see got a sign on it says Jacob have
I love but he saw have I hated You can't even get a preacher
to read it let alone preach from it Well, that's that's deep nothing
deep about love or hate. I Jacob have I love but he shall
have I what does that mean look what he says? What shall we say
then? That's not right Is there unrighteousness
with God who are you to raise that question? Who are you to
challenge God? God forbid, for he said to Moses,
this is what he's talking about. I will have mercy on whomsoever
will let me have mercy. I will have mercy on whoever
will choose for me to have mercy. I will have mercy on whoever
wills to receive mercy. That's not what he said. He said,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Well, preacher, That takes it
all together out of the hands of a man. Well, read the next
verse. So then, what does that mean? So then, this is the conclusion
of the matter. It is not. Did you get the word not? I don't
care how many translations you read. I don't care where you
get it. I don't care who makes it. You're
not going to get rid of the not. It is not of him that willeth.
It is not of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is not by your will
and salvation not by your doing. Salvation is by God's mercy.
Salvation is God's choice, God's decision, God's work. Man just
has to obligate God. It is the nature of the sinner
in some way to try to obligate the sovereign God. But when we
preach the gospel, The gospel of sovereign mercy, it offends
man's concept of freedom, the freedom of his will. Oh, how
men love their free will. I've got a free will. I've got
a free will. I've heard it. I'm sick of it.
God's sovereign. That's what the scriptures universally
declare. Thou hast given me power, the
Savior said, to give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given me. In the fourth chapter of Luke,
our Lord Jesus was preaching one day to some religious folks,
Jews. And he said to those folks, he
said there were many, many widows in the land of Israel in the
days of the prophet. But God didn't send his prophet
to one of them. Instead, he sent him to a Gentile
woman down in Sarepta. What? What? We've got a corner on God. a
gentile? God, I thank you I'm not a gentile,
a woman or a dog. God sent his mercy to a gentile
female dog? Who are you talking to? The prophet
said, or our Lord said, The Lord God had many, many in the days
of Elijah, many who were lepers, and he sent his prophet to a
Syrian by the name of Naaman. We won't stand for that. I mean,
they were enraged. I know exactly how they looked.
I've seen it many times. I've seen fellas, I'd be preaching
to them, and their faces get red. Have you ever seen a fellow
get really mad? Face gets red, and before they
can speak, their veins start to pop out. And fires in their
eyes. I can see that crowd. I've seen
them a lot of times. You know what they tried to do?
Those good religious folks said, we'll kill you. And they took
the Lord Jesus and tried to throw him off a cliff near their city.
They were thrown off the cliff. That's the reason they crucified
him because he declared that he is God He's God Now let's
look at Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1 In our text the Apostle Paul
declares that he is ready to preach the gospel of Christ and
it tells us why I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel. I like Paul's words and I take
them to be my own. Not only that, I'm here to tell
you that no man called, gifted, and sent of God is ashamed of
the gospel. No man called and gifted of God
is ashamed of the gospel. Many are. Many who know it in
their heads. Many who know it in theory. Many
who know the word and letter of the doctrine are ashamed of
the gospel. They'll talk about it in their
offices, they'll talk about it in their papers, they'll talk
about it in their magazines, they'll talk about it at their
conferences, but they don't dare talk about it in public. They
don't dare preach it in public. I was shocked. I was really shocked. Where's David Burrage? First
time I saw David face to face, I was preaching down in Florida,
and I preached a message on the atonement. on limited atonement,
the most hideous doctrine in the world of dealing with universal
redemption. And I got done preaching, and the pastor said to me, the
pastor said to me, would you preach that at First Baptist
Church? What town was that in Florida?
Tampa? St. Petersburg. He said, would you
preach that at First Baptist Church? Mark, I was mad, I could
have hit him in the jaw. I said, of course I would. He
said, no you wouldn't. I said, you make the arrangements
and I'll pay the plane fare and the motel bill and I'll be there
next Sunday. What? Preaches anywhere? Anywhere. To anybody. Everywhere! To everybody! How come? I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not
ashamed of it. God's servants aren't. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel that addresses all men as sinners, though it
offends man's dignity. I'm not ashamed of the gospel,
which comes by divine revelation, that offends man's wisdom. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ crucified, ashamed of
definite, effectual, sin-atoning sacrifice of the Son of God.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace,
though it offends man's concept of freedom and moral uprightness. These days everybody worships
his will, his free will. Let me tell you about your will.
It is free. It is free. You can do just whatever
you want to within the realm of your ability. You can do whatever
you want to within the realm of your ability. You sure can.
You sure can. I'll tell you what you do. You
step out there on the parking lot and take you a bounding leap
and jump over this building. If you will, you can. If you've
got the ability. If you've got the ability. But
you don't have the ability. Your will is bound by your nature. And your nature is sin. So that
all you can do by your will is sin. You have a will to rebel,
a will to sin, a will to hate, a will to violate God, a will
to violate men, a will to rebel against God, a will to kill God
if you can, but you can't do anything contrary to your will. These days, men want to obligate
God and make God subject to their will. Our Savior said, is it
not lawful for me to do with my own what I will? Man says,
is it not lawful for me to do with God what I will? Our Savior
said, is it not lawful for me to do with my own what I will?
Man says, is it not lawful for me to do with myself what I will? No, you belong to God. And God not only can, God will
do with you exactly as He wills from eternity. You're in His
hands. All right, now here's an evident
warning. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And he keeps on
saying this. I read 2 Timothy 1 to you because
Paul repeated it to Timothy when he was about to leave this world.
He told the Corinthians, he said, I'm determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. He said to
Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus. Don't be ashamed to be his prisoner. He said in verse 12, Now, don't
you be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. I suffer persecution. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed.
I'm not ashamed. He just keeps on saying it. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel. Don't you be ashamed. I know
whom I had to leave. You do, Timothy. Don't be ashamed.
And then he speaks of a fellow named Nyssaphorus. And all I
know about him, Nyssaphorus, is this one thing. Paul said
he wasn't ashamed either. He wasn't ashamed. Now listen to
what our Savior says. Listen to this. Sit up and pay
attention. Set up and pay attention. Whosoever, therefore, shall be
ashamed of me and of my words, my gospel, in this adulterous
and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be
ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
How about you? Now, let me give you these four
reasons and I'll be done. Number 1, verse 15, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel because the gospel of God's free grace, the gospel
of saving grace flow into sinners through the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ, the sinner substitute. The gospel of God's free grace,
salvation by the doing and dying of the Son of God is the power
of God unto salvation. So as much as in me is, I'm ready. 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 unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, let me again be crystal
clear. The issue here is not whether
God can save his people. without the use of means. That's
not the issue. God can save his people without
the use of means. He could send angels down here to deliver his
people like he sent angels to Sodom and Gomorrah to bring light
out of Sodom. He could save sinners however he chose to do so. He
could just will it and it be done. In fact, he did just will
it and it was done from eternity. But it pleased God, Frank Hall,
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The
gospel is described here by God, not by me. By God, not by a theologian. By God, not by a doctrinalist.
By God, not by a preacher. He said the gospel is the, that's
singular, definite article. It is the only, the singular,
the alone power of God under salvation. This is the means
by which God has chosen to give life and faith to lost, ruined,
doomed, damned, dead sinners. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Of his own will began he us with
the word of truth. It's the power of God. unto salvation
to every one that believeth." Oh, what a word. If right now
you believe on the Son of God, the gospel has been made of God
to you, the power of God to salvation, and the evidence, the proof of
that is your faith in Christ. Faith in Christ didn't save you. Faith in Christ didn't give you
life. Faith in Christ is that by which
you receive God's salvation and experience God's salvation. So
that our Lord Jesus spoke to that woman and said, thy faith
hath made thee whole. Well, wait a minute. He did that.
He did that. Yes, but she experienced it and
she knew it and she felt it by faith in him, believing on the
Son of God. Faith is the fruit of life, not
the cause of life. You see somebody breathing, a
baby's breathing. You say, well, he's alive because
he's breathing. No, no, he's breathing because
he's alive. There's a big difference, a big
difference. You believe. because God's giving
you life. Faith is the gift of God and
it comes to sinners through the power of God, the preaching of
the gospel, as God works in the heart according to his will.
Number two, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, verse 17, because
the gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God.
You got your bullet in front of you? right below the hymn on the front
page. Would you look at this? I hope you've already read it,
but if you haven't, read it now. Salvation, the complete deliverance
from the ruins of our fallen Adam, requires four things which
God alone can perform and give. Salvation requires perfect righteousness. Salvation requires complete satisfaction. Salvation requires a new nature
and salvation requires a new body. These very bodies shall
be saved by God's free grace and resurrection glory. These
things God alone can do. Only God can perform perfect
righteousness and give it to you. Only God can satisfy the
wrath and justice of God against sin and make it yours. Only God
can give you a new nature. Only God can raise you from the
dead when that body has been laid in the depths of the earth.
Salvation is God's work. The gospel is the revelation
of the righteousness of God. Righteousness. Turn to Romans
chapter 3 for a minute. You remember what our Lord said
to his disciples in Matthew 5? He said, Except your righteousness
shall exceed, exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Wow! What? The Pharisees, the scribes, The
Pharisees gave tithes of everything they possessed. If they got ten
eggs out of the hen house, they'd give them one. They gave tithes
of the vegetables in the garden. They gave tithes of the money.
They counted it out on the gross, not the net. They gave tithes
on everything. They were meticulous. They prayed three times every
day. They fasted twice every week. They memorized scripture, and
they were a good testimony for the Lord. They walked around
with tracts stuffed in their pockets so everybody could see.
Oh, he's a good man. They had signs on their cars
that said, I love Jesus. Hulk, if you love Jesus. The Pharisees were good folks.
The scribes, when they transcribed the scriptures, they'd come to
the name of the Lord. And before they'd write it, they'd
get up and go wash their hands and write his name. They were
good men. And the Savior said, you've got
to be a whole lot better than that or you're going to hell. Well,
how can men be better than that? How can men be better than that?
You've got to be better than that or you're going to hell.
What's that require? The very righteousness of God. The righteousness of God in the
flesh. The righteousness performed by
God in our substitute the obedience of Christ Romans chapter 3 verse
24 were justified freely by God's grace Through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus Justification comes to us freely, but it cost
him dearly verse 25 whom God has sent forth to be a propitiation
a propitiation, a satisfaction, an appeasement, an atonement,
a reconciliation through faith in his blood. Now, what's this?
To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. I got a call the other day from
somebody who's supposed to be here today. They said, we want
to come up and they said, we believe doctors. I said, how
are y'all on the practical? He said, I said, what do you
mean? Of course, I knew what he was talking about. He said,
well, how do your folks dress? I said, most of them wear clothes. Most of them wear clothes. Oh, we believe in the practical. That means we believe in doing
righteousness. We believe in doing righteousness.
We believe in doing, that's not what he's talking about. The
gospel is not the revelation of how righteous you ought to
behave. The gospel is not the revelation of how you ought to
dress. The gospel is not the revelation of whether you ought
to drink or smoke or cheer or go to folks who do. The gospel
is the revelation of God's righteousness. Righteousness performed by the
obedience of God in the flesh. Look at it. To declare God's
righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth. Now here's the problem with the
religious folks. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans
chapter 9. Here's the problem with the religious
folks. Verse 31. Israel which followed
after the law of righteousness Israel fuck tell us what to do.
We'll do it Moses you go and talk to God have God tell you
what we ought to do You take you you come back and tell us
and we'll do it and Moses said God said walk before me and be
that perfect Lead pipe since we'll start today We'll do it. Well, give us a Sabbath to keep
we'll keep it. I Give us a commandment to keep,
we'll keep it. Give us a law not to break, we
won't break it. Give us something to do, we'll do it. Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. Why? Wherefore? Because they
sought it not by faith, but by doing. The law never was written
so that you clean up your life and start acting right. That's
not why God gave the law. God gave the law to show you
you can't. God gave the law to show you that righteousness comes
not by works but by faith in Christ. Not by the works of the
law. For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. What stumbling stone? What I'm
preaching to you. Christ crucified. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense. And whosoever
believeth on him, look at his word, shall not be ashamed. Look at chapter 10, verse 2.
I bear them record, Paul says. They have a zeal of God. They're
as religious as all get out. But they're as ignorant as a
box of rocks. They have a zeal of God, but
no knowledge. A zeal of God, but no knowledge. I've known
people all my life, just like you have. I have friends all
over the world right now, family, scattered here and there. They're
all zealous, all so zealous, and don't know God, have no knowledge
of God. Read on what it says. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. And here's what I mean by that,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Not ignorant of
the fact that God is righteous. Everybody knows that. Ignorant
of the fact of God's righteousness accomplished for sinners by Christ
Jesus. Ignorant of God's righteousness.
And going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Well,
Pastor, how do you know that's what he's talking about? Because
I read verse four. For Christ is the end. End. Oh, what does that mean? End. Y'all watching? Watch close now.
This is deep. I'm going to go to the end of
the desk with my finger. What's that mean? That's as far
as you can go. Go any further, you're off
the desk. Let's see if we can get it again. I'm going to go
to the end of the desk with my finger. That's the terminating point
of the desk. Is that, is that terribly complicated?
That's where the desk ends. That's where it ends. That's
the finishing point of the desk. That's the stop of the desk.
That's the period of the desk. That's the exclamation point
of the desk. That's the end. That's the end. Our Lord said, it is ended. Very same word. Finished. Christ is the finishing of the
law. Christ is the fulfilling of the
law. Christ is the end of the law
to everyone that believeth for righteousness. To the Jew first,
also to the Gentile. Christ is the end of the law
to everyone who quits working. So just rest. Just rest. Rest in the Son of God and Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to you. This righteousness is
not known and cannot be known by nature, but it's revealed
from faith to faith. I'm not exactly sure what that
means. I won't limit it. I know it means
something like this. This righteousness is revealed
from the faithfulness of Christ to you who believe. This righteousness
is revealed from this believer to you as God gives you faith
in Christ by the preaching of the word. This righteousness
is revealed more and more and more and more to you who believe. When God first gave me faith
in Christ, I understood Christ is my righteousness. But my soul,
I didn't have a clue. I just didn't have a clue. Christ is all my righteousness. Christ is my only righteousness. I have no righteousness but Christ. And the more I grow in the grace
and knowledge of the Son of God, The more I apprehend and rejoice
in this blessed fact, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
of every kind to everybody who believes. And God, oh bless his
name, I do believe. For the just shall live by faith.
Four times that's stated in the scriptures. Does it mean that
the just obtain life by faith? No. The just live by faith. Faith receives experiences and
enjoys life. I live by breathing. By breathing. Now, if I stop breathing, I quit
living. If I stop breathing, I quit living. The breathing,
as I said earlier, is the fruit of life and the proof and evidence
of life. I live by faith in Christ. I
live by eating. I live by eating. Some folks
imagine that I live to eat. That's not quite so. I live by
eating and I enjoy it. Unlike you folks who are scared
to death to eat anything, I enjoy it. Man alive. Shelby fixed chicken
and dumplings the other night. Friday night she fixed a pot
of chicken and dumplings with rice. and all that rich, rich,
rich gravy, cream, and butter, the real stuff, and dumplings,
a little bit of chicken. It's a big pot. We had chicken
and dumplings for supper Friday night. She said, what you want
for lunch? I said, chicken and dumplings. Last night, she said, what you want
for supper? Chicken and dumplings. Before I went to bed, what you
want for snack? Chicken and dumplings. Oh, it's good stuff. Good stuff.
But I lived by eating. by eating. I feed on Christ by
bread. I drink Christ the water of life. That's called faith. The just
live by faith. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ because it's the revelation of the wrath of God. The wrath
of God revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and godliness
and unrighteousness of men. The wrath of God is revealed
against all the violation of the character of God by man. The law reveals and exposes the
violation of man against man in his unrighteousness. The gospel
reveals the wrath of God against that. How is that? Look yonder to Calvary. Let's
go on to the Calvary. Folks ask, will God punish sin?
Go to Calvary and find out. Will God punish sin? Will God
really send a man to hell? Surely God wouldn't send me to
hell. Oh yes, He will. Skip Gladfelter, he sent his
son to hell for us. He made him to be sin for us. And at one time, he drank into
himself all the furious hail of God's offended wrath and justice
until he completely swallowed it up in himself. The gospel reveals the wrath
of God against sin, and it reveals the satisfaction of wrath and
justice in the crucified substitute. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, look at verse 19, because there's no other way
for poor, lost, ruined sinners to be saved but by the gospel. That which may be known of God
is manifested in them, for God assured it to them. For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power in Godhead. Now watch this. So that they are without excuse. You see, the light of nature,
the light of creation, the light of conscience, that's sufficient
to condemn. That's sufficient to damn. Men
know that God is. All men do. Men know that God's
righteous. All men do. Men know that God
requires satisfaction. All men do. But they refuse to
acknowledge Him as God even by the light of creation and conscience. So they're without excuse. But
the light of creation, the light of conscience will never give
anybody life. Never give anybody faith. Will
never give anybody God's salvation. We preach the gospel everywhere. Everywhere. Brother Cliff Teller, 45 years
ago, went down to Papua New Guinea to live and raise his family
in the most primitive, barbaric, dangerous
circumstances in which any man could live in this world. Why? Why? What? What? What insanity possesses a man
to do such a thing? Oh, not insanity. God has his
elect in every corner of the earth, even among the tribesmen
of New Guinea, and he saves them by the gospel. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe. Just maybe. He'll use me as an
instrument by which he calls unto himself. Oh, then what a
privilege is mine. What a privilege is yours. What
a privilege is ours. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. Let us then not be ashamed of
the gospel. Don't be ashamed to confess Christ
to men. Don't be ashamed to proclaim
the gospel. Wherever God opens a door, preach Christ crucified
and watch God work. Amen.