Northern Todd's Road Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, we read these words by Paul the Apostle, inspired by God the Holy Spirit, of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of God." There's no more important phrase than that, therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel The word means the good news. Now, the only time I hear is when I hear as good news. If it's not good news to me, it's not gospel to me. I'm not ashamed of the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there is a whole lot I'm ashamed of with regard, first of all, to myself. I feel so inadequate in everything that I do. My zeal is lacking. My love is too weak. My faith is mixed with unbelief. I'm not saying that I'm proud of myself because I have nothing to be proud of. The Lord said, who made you to differ from another? And what do you have that you didn't receive? If the Lord gives me the grace to do what I'm supposed to do, it's His grace that did it. I have nothing to be proud of in that sense. And I can say, honestly, I'm ashamed of myself in comparison to what I should be. I'm ashamed of religion. I don't want to be identified with what is called Christianity in this day. I'm always embarrassed to call myself a preacher, not in the sense of being a true preacher of the gospel, but being identified as a preacher of this religion that I find to be so offensive, the religion of today, the, quote, Christianity of today, which is so far from what the Bible says the gospel is. I'm ashamed of plenty, but let me tell you what I'm not ashamed of. With Paul, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Now, it's not the power of God to salvation to all men. It's only the power of God to salvation to those who believe. All men are not saved. Only those who believe the gospel are. Now, he says it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." There's no distinctions, fleshly distinctions, with God. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. So the incumbent question is, what is the gospel of which Paul was not ashamed? He calls it the gospel of Christ. Christ means anointed. It is the New Testament translation of the Old Testament, the Messiah, or the anointed. Now, in the Old Testament, there were three offices that were anointed by God, anointed with oil. the office of the prophet, the office of the priest, and the office of the king. And in the Old Testament, no one man had all three of these offices. It is only the Lord Jesus Christ who has all three of these offices--the gospel of Christ, the gospel of Christ the prophet. A prophet would bring men the Word of God. Christ is the Word of God. Christ is what God has to say to men. This is my beloved Son. Hear ye Him. Priest is one who brings men to God. Oh, what a priest Christ is. He brings men to God. If He brings you to God, you must be saved. And He's a priest like no earthly priest. Earthly priests bring sacrifices of animals. He brings His own blood. He not only is the sacrifice and the priest, He's the altar. His body is the altar upon which the sacrifice of Himself was offered. What a priest, the priest of God. And He's King, a mighty King, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel, is the power of God into salvation. Now, I want to look at a passage in this same chapter, the first part of Romans chapter 1, where Paul identifies to us what the gospel is. Remember, I need to understand what the gospel is if I can be like Paul and not be ashamed of it. He said in verse 1 of Romans chapter 1, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God. The gospel is the gospel of God. It's not the gospel of men. It's not the gospel of church creeds and confessions. It's not the gospel of certain denominations. Every denomination is nothing more than man-made. This is the gospel of God. And look what he says next. This is God's gospel, and he identifies it even more succinctly in verse 2, which he had a promise to fore by his prophets in the holy scriptures. This is the gospel of the Scriptures. All that counts is what the Bible says, not what I say, not what some preacher says, but what the Bible says. The gospel is the gospel of the Holy Scriptures. And what he says next in verse 3, it's the gospel concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, our Now, when Christ is called God's Son, I want to read a verse of Scripture that tells us what that means. In John 5, verse 17, Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Whatever the Father is doing, I am doing. Therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus Christ, the Son, is equal with God for this one reason. He is God. He's God the Son. God is one God in three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God in three distinct persons. I love that scripture, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God as a separate person, and the Word was God. Jesus Christ is not like God. He's not like God at all. He is God, and the gospel is the gospel of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus, His name means Savior, Christ. We've already seen the prophet, the priest, and the king. our Lord. Somebody says, make Jesus the Lord of your life. He is the Lord of your life, whether you know it or not, because He's the Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He created the universe. He's the Lord of providence. Everything that happens in time is according to His will. He controls everything. Most especially, He's the Lord of salvation. That means if you or I are saved, it's up to Him. It's not up to you. It's up to Him. He is Lord. Next, He says, in verse 3, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Now, this speaks of Christ coming through the lineage of David. God became flesh. Now, this is one of the most mysterious, glorious truths of Jesus Christ He is the God-man. He has two separate natures in this one person. He's 100% God, and He's 100% man, the God-man, made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead. He was declared by God to be God the Son with power, omnipotence. This is the Holy Spirit's declaration with regard to Him according to the Spirit of holiness. The power of God is seen in His holy life. He's the only man to ever live a holy life, a life without sin, in perfect conformity to the law of God. And what declares him to be the Son of God? The resurrection of the dead. He raised himself from the dead. He lived He died. Somebody says, how could somebody who's the God man die? I don't know, but he did. And I know why he did, because he took the sins of people upon himself. And he was raised from the dead because he did what the father sent him to do. He put away the sins of his people. He worked out a perfect righteousness for his people, and now God raised him from the dead. I love what Paul said, remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. I'm not ashamed, Paul said, of the gospel of Christ. As a matter of fact, I'm proud of the gospel of Christ. It is worthy of God. It glorifies God. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel I preach. I'm proud of it. It glorifies God. It honors God. It honors every one of God's attributes. It saves the very chief of sinners. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe. Not to everyone, but to everyone that believe it. believing the gospel, believing who Jesus Christ is and what he accomplished. Now look what Paul says next in verse 17. For therein, in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed. From faith to faith, as it's written, the just shall live by faith. Now, if you ask the average religious person, What does the gospel of Christ reveal about God? How would they answer? I say, without hesitation, it reveals the love of God. Now, there's no doubt the love of God is behind the gospel. But that is not the word Paul chose to tell us what's revealed in the gospel. He said it's the righteousness of God that's revealed in the gospel. Now, if my first answer is the love of God, I prove by that I don't really understand the righteousness of God or the love of God. What does Paul say is revealed in the gospel? The very righteousness of God. Now, I'm going to read a passage of Scripture from Romans chapter 10. This is such an important passage of Scripture. Beginning in verse 1, Paul says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, he's talking about his Jewish brethren that did not believe. He says they're not saved, and I desire for them to be saved. Oh, love these people he was speaking to, and he desired their salvation. Now he says in verse two, for I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, and he's talking about the God of the Bible. They're very zealous about their religion, very sincere, very devoted and dedicated to their religion. They have a zeal for God, the God of the Bible, but not according to knowledge. Zeal without knowledge is a useless and a dangerous thing. Now, let's go on reading. for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Do you know every natural man is born into this world ignorant of God's righteousness. Now somebody says, I'm not ignorant of God's righteousness. I believe God's righteous. Well, think what Every man by nature believes that salvation is by works. What that means is we all believe that God cannot save us until we first do something that will enable Him to save us. And that's really the message of modern-day Christianity. God loves you, Christ died for you, and God the Holy Spirit is calling you, but He can't save you unless you let Him. Your salvation is dependent upon your will. Now, let me tell you, that's just not so, but yet that's what most people believe. Most people believe in salvation by works. And if I believe in salvation by works, if I believe my salvation is in any way dependent upon me doing something first, I prove that I'm utterly ignorant of God's righteousness. I think that I bring him down to my level. I think that he can respond to something I do. I demonstrate a complete ignorance of myself. I think there's something about me that God could accept, that could commend me to God. I demonstrate my complete ignorance of salvation, salvations of the Lord. It's not what you do for God, it's what he does for you all together. Here's what these folks do who go about to establish their own righteousness. He says, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness. They think there's something they can do. that will obligate God to save them. If I do this, God has to do that. Now, all that is some kind of sense of entitlement. It's utterly wrong, yet it's the way we are by nature. I was born believing this way, and you were born believing this way. Ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish our own righteousness, here is what this person does. they've not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now, what does that mean? They've not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Well, first of all, it means they have not submitted themselves to His righteousness in their condemnation. Now, when I hear people make objections to the gospel, for instance, men object to the great, holy, glorious truth of God's electing grace, how He chose a people before time began to be saved, and they will be saved. These are the people that Christ died for. People will say, well, how can that be fair? What they're doing when they make that objection, is God would not be fair if He didn't save me. And that's not submitting to His righteousness in my condemnation. To call into question God's righteousness and fairness is to sit in judgment on God. It's to say, I don't agree with Him. It's to not submit to His righteousness. Now listen to me. If God sends me to hell, just and holy is His name. Can you say that? And the only reason I won't go to hell is because Jesus Christ died for me. Somebody says, well, didn't He die for everybody? No, because if He did, everybody'd be saved. He died for His people. He died for the elect. He died for those who would believe. And everybody He died for must be saved. But I also know this, if the Lord passed me by, Just and holy is His name. Now, not only is there a submission to His righteousness in my condemnation, there's a submission to His righteousness in my salvation. The reason I'm saved is because the holy law of God demands my salvation, because I stand before God without guilt. That's what Christ accomplished on Calvary Street. He put away my sins. He gave me his righteousness. And now I stand before God, having never sinned. That's my righteousness before God. Christ is my righteousness before God. Look what he says next in verse 10. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. to everyone that believeth." Oh, beloved, listen to me. If you're a believer, Christ is your righteousness before God. You don't stand in your own righteousness. You stand in His righteousness. Now, let's go back to Romans 1, verse 17. Verse 16, For I am 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, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." From God's faith to the faith He gives us. Somebody says, does God have faith? Of course He does. We read of the faith of God in Romans chapter three, and He gives every believer faith. And here are these words, as it is written. That's the only issue. As it is written. The just shall live by faith. That's written four times in the scripture. One time in the Old Testament, three times in the New Testament. than just, and that word is also translated the righteous, those who are righteous before God. Now understand this, there's only two kinds of people in this world, the righteous and the wicked. All the righteous believe themselves to be wicked, and all the wicked believe themselves to be righteous, or at least have the potential to be righteous. But the righteous, the just, those whom God has justified, shall live. They have life before God. The just shall live by faith. Now, let me give you the four places where that's Habakkuk 2.4 says, Behold, the soul which is lifted up, proud before God, boasts before God, has a high view of himself, so opposite of that one who is poor in spirit, and mourns over their and his meat before God, and hungers and thirsts after righteousness because they realize they have none. No. Here we read of the soul that's lifted up. It's not upright in him. This is utterly corrupt. But the just shall live by faith. Now, what that tells us is that faith is opposed to all that in any way lifts up the flesh. No flesh is going to glory in His presence. That's what the Scripture says. No flesh is to glory in His presence. And something that makes me glory before God other than Christ is evil. Paul said, God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then in our text, in Romans chapter 1, verse 17, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith. It is only faith that receives the righteousness of God as their righteousness. You see, I realize, by the grace of God, that I have no personal righteousness. As Isaiah said, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I wouldn't bring anything that I've done into God's presence and think that he can accept it. But all faith receives the righteousness of God. And that's exactly what Paul meant when he said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness. Now, is that a desire of yours to not stand before God in your own righteousness? not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, which is according to the works of my personal obedience, but the righteousness which is of God by the faith of Jesus Christ." Faith receives the righteousness of God as its personal righteousness. And then we read in Galatians chapter 3, verse 11, but that no man is justified by the law on the side of God. It's evident for the just shall live by faith." You see, faith is opposed to salvation by law. A salvation by law is salvation being dependent upon anything that you do. If your salvation is dependent upon anything that you must first do before God can do something for you, you believe law. faith is opposed to law. And then in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 38, now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. That means the just persevere by faith. They continue in the faith grounded and settled. They never graduate past looking to Christ only as everything in their salvation. The only way I'm going to continue in the faith is by continuing to look to Christ only as everything in my salvation. The just shall live by Now, this is the gospel of which Paul said, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone that believes, 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's written, that just shall live by faith. To receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com or you may write or call the church at the information provided on the screen.